The herald., 1896-07-16
THE DANGER LINE
PopuIists nsy Split Over the Endorsement OF
BRYAN


Bryan
ST. LOUIS, July 15.-It becomes more
and more evident each day, as the time
for the meeting of the Populist national
convention draws near, that the men,
bers of that party will clash over the in
dorsement of Bryan for President. Let
iers from all parts of the country are
pouring into the national committee
headquarters, some demanding and some
denouncing the Endorsement of the Dem
ocratic ticket, and everything indicates
that there is a most decided difference
of opinion. The opinion of some Popu-
lists here is that the party is near the
danger line of a split over the question.
| They express the hope, however, that
some definite plan of action agreeable to
! all can be decided upon at the meeting of
! the national executive committee here
next Saturday. Many of the Populist
leaders are awaiting the coming of the
free silver senators who bolted the Re
publican convention. Upon the course
they take will depend in measure, the
action of the anti-Bryan following. If
the Republicans come out openly for
Bryan and the Chicago platform, the
opposition may not make much of a
fight.
! The headquarters of the national COM
mittee is beginning to show signs that
| the national convention will soon meet.
Chairman Taubeneck and his assistants
are busy completing the preliminaries
, and preparing Cor the big rush of Pop
ulists expected Saturday. Mr. Taube-
( neck still declines to discuss the move
/ ment in favor of Bryan and Sewall. His
| lnvariabIe statement is: Il have moth
! ing for publication"
! Ex-G0v. Waite of Colorado, who will
/ head a contesting delegation from that
state, is out for indorsing Bryan and
/ Sewall, and will begin work for it when
! he arrives.
The heaviest fight. next to the one in
| dorsing candidates, will be that over
the platform. A very strong wing of the
| party. headed by Chairman Taubeneck,
| Sergeant-at Arms Mcdowell, Chairman
| Roselle of the Missouri state committee,
propose to make a fight for the adoption
| of the Omaha platform, instead of an in
! dorsement of the Chicago declaration.
In discussing the probable action of
| the Populist convention in the matter Of
| indorsing w. J. Bryan for president,
| Mr. j. T. Flynn who is a delegate-at-
! large to the American bimetallic conven-
ton from California and also editor of
the Populist of San Francisco. said:
There may be some doubt about what
| the convention will do. but there is none
about what the Populists will do. They
| will vote for Bryan almost to a man.
| The fact that Bryan stands upon Dem
| ocratic platfOrm-and especially such a
| platform as was constructed at Chicago
is no disqualification. There is very lit
! tie difference between the Omaha and
the Chicago platforms.
Hon. George Keeney. general organ
tzer of the National Silver party, with
headquarters in New York city. is here
to attend the party convention, which
| convenes next week.
There has been for months" said Mr.
| keeney, "a bitter fight in New York be-
tween the representatives of plutoc-
| racy on one side and the middle classes
and daily wage-earner on the other and
it is going to be fiercer from row on until
the election. 1t has been among my du-
| ties to labor among the last-named
classes, and | think they will win.
Il have made q careful canvass of the
whole state, but put in most of the time
in New York city and Brooklyn. In the
| northern and western parts of New York
the agricuturists and viticulturists are
for free silver irrespective of party. just
as surely as the same classe are in the
! west and south
Mckinley and Hobart cannot come
down to the Harlem river with $4,000
majority. They would need at least
900 to stand any kind of a chance of
| carrying the state.
1T did not take me long in mixing
with the labor organizat tions to find they
were as much, if not more bitterly op-
posed to Wall street than the farmers
of Kansas. They were ready to rally to
any standard that would give them a
glimpse of freedom and a promise of
better times.
From them l went to the smaller