The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-08-19

Der of the national committee which.
In 1874, called the National Greenback
Convention together which met In
indianapolis, Ind, on May II, 1876
and of which we had the honor to be
temporary chairman.
Mr.. Schilling is known to every Re-
former in the United States. He Is
one OF our ablest and most effective
public speakers, and a man of I'M
shaken honesty and devotion to the
cause of mankind.
Why should he lie about S. M.
Owen? What object would he have?
He Is not his enemy? Where do their
interests clash? They do not even
live in the same state.
Mr.. Owen, on the other hand, has
every inducement to prevaricate.
His whole political future is at stake.
And note too that Mr.. Owen came
out of the committee room, at St.
Louis, and interviewed the Minnesota
delegation, and sought to persuade
them to instruct him to have direct
legislation apply only to municipal
affairs. They refused. What more
natural than that he should go back
into the secret meeting Of the COM
mittee and seek to stab that which he
was opposed to? There is a report
= current On the streets of Minneapolis,
which we hope to trace to It's source,
that he, Owen, said that II the
Omaha platform was not satisfactory
to Mr.. Bryan they ,could make one that
scould te' 1t is we'll known in this city
that he has been hostile to the 1nitia-
tive and Referendum for years. His
whole record in Minneapolis has been
that OF a trimmer and whittier away
of bold thoughts. He was nominated
a month ago by the PopulistS of the
Fifth district for Congress, and to
this hour he has not accepted the
nomination.; and he will not accept it
unless the Democrats also nominate
him! What kind Of Populist is that?
While every page and line Of this pa
per has, for four years, blazed with
advocacy of the Peoples Party, and
its principles, he has confined him.
self, during the same period, in has pa
per, to the safe shelter of discussions
Of hen manures and hog cholera.
Neither the hens nor the hogs, nor
the manures nor the cholera, could
take offense at these profound .iucu-
brations and stop their paper! We
have never enquired whether our ut
terances would help or hurt THE REP
REsENTIvE or Ourself: but we have
gone ahead with sledge hammer in
hand, beating down the walls of in
justice. And Owen was firing poison
ed arrows into our back.
We have at last got Mr.. Owen where
we want him. He is not the Popou-
list candidate for Congress, nor the
Democratic candidate. Like Ma
hornets coffin he hangs suspended be-
tween heaven and earth. He will not
run unless the Democrats endorse
him and the Democrats are not likely
to endorse him, His utter selfis hness
is revealed in his attitude. He says
to the Populists: II will not make a
campaign for you: will not spend a
penny for you; or a breath;-but if the
Democrats give me assurance of vic
tory 1 am ready to accept your
votes"
He has no claims on any one. He is
a legitimate subject of criticism.
In former years he sheltered him
self behind Darlington Phelps and R.
J. Hall and Gen. J. H. Baker and John
L. Macdonald, and others, and when
they were smashed he came up smil-
ing, and said, II have nothing to do
with those ill-smelling corpses. Take
them away. am the friend Of man;
and l want the best nomination you
have got.' And he got it.
Now he will have to furnish the
corpse himself. We pass by the
agents and strike the principal. The
Peoples Party can no more live di-
vided and distracted by this malign
and implacabie influence, than it
could have lived under the domina-
tion of Doctor Fish. A man without
wisdom enough to be lust or gener-
osity enough to be wise has no place
as a leader of men. He had better
devote himself to hen manures and
hog cholera.