The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-08-12
OMEN AND FREE SILVER,
A REPLY TO AN INQUIRy!.

~ -&SAv &4&v4< - AsASAS 49, y sHe>Ssft=
A REPLY TO AN INQUIRY.
A Minneapolis subscriber writes rs
under date of July 31st:
II am astonished at the statement
in your paper this week that Mr.. S. NJ.
Owen, only two years ago proposed to
throw free silver overheard: Can 1t
be true? II it is he Is not fit to send
to Congress. He will betray-us
1t is true,-every word of IT,.
On January 10, 1894, Mr.. Owen said,
in . public speech In Minneapolis, as
reported in the Times, and other daily
papers:
I'VE must not ask them. (the new
and details, but We must invite them
to unite with US on some great moral
principle: something that Will arouse
their citizenship and inspire their en-
thusiasm and patriotism.
'sHave VT such principle on which
We can all unite? think that we
have. That plank IL this:-'the politi-
Cal power of corporate monopoly must
be destroyed We can all unite on
such . plank and we will gain much
OF what we desire. We may differ
about the government ownership of rail-
roads. and the ratio Of sitUer to gold; BUT
THAT DOESN'T MATTER. We are not
united ON these questions ourselves, for l
noticed that the question of govern
ment ownership Of railroads came
near dIsrdpting the Indiana Alliance
on which We can all stand. :
Let US invite all those thinking peO-
nlo tn 1nifA wtf n N n this nj k ami
LET ALL OTHER DIFFERENCES- sTEB
ONE SIDE" ~.~.- r.-c>.
Upon this we mmented as follows,
In our issue of January "a, 1894:
1.-THE Peoples Party of this state, or
nation, never would consent to 20 into
q campaign on the single plank: The
political power OF corporate monopoly
must be destroyed
would adopt 1t also, as a barren and
should be without a platform. 1t
would be too attenuated STRUCTURE.
to build q great party on. In India
the fakirs place two swords upright
on the ground, and rest a hypnotized
subject on their sharp points; they
then quietly remove the swords and
the man remains floating in mid-air,
suspe nded on nothing. We fear that
the Peoples Party would rest on q
platform as gauzy and unsubstant1al
} II they attempted to maintain them
selves on single phrase like that pro
posed by Mr.. Owen. 1t is painful per-
haps to have to fight 70: principles not
universally assented to. but nothing
worth having was ever yet obtained
in this world without fighting for it.
Whenever you whittle away the sharp
points OF your party. and make 1T so
fcatureless that you can't telE.it from
the Democratic or Republican organ:
any one should support it. Reform Is
q hattle;-a battle SO fierce that often
times it has to be fought out on
hi, ody fields with guns and cannon.
soft words butter no parsnips' and
raud lurketh in generalties;' and you
emit upset Plutocracy from his
throne with lady's fan or toasting
fork" 49, 100
In THE REPRESENTATIVE for yany.
"a. 1S94.-1st p. 9Th cOlumn.1 q. Mr..
John L. Macdonald, of Minneapolis, a
work ngman, mot that abortion, John
L. Macdonald, Of St. Paul, la'wyer.)
wrote to THE REPRESENTATIVES,, I'M
der date of January II. 1894, protest.
Ing against Mr. Ovens speech. He
said
II venture the prediction that Mr..
Owens ambiguous subs titute for our
present (Omaha) platform wfliHet.. be
accepted; nor his attitude tolerated
unless. lin campaign parlanceO Mr..
Owen is ready to throw aside his COM
positions Of political hog-wash, and
stand shoulder to shoulder with the
rank and file."
We had all we could do to make ex-
cuses for Mr.. Owen and prevent,a big
fight against him, among the i'm
censed workingmen Of Minneapolis,
who, on instinct, never took kindly TO
him. We are sorry now that we did,
Tor as soon as he was nominated for
governor, with our help, he turned on
as and, with the help Of the s.. Paul
Macdonald, selected BY him for chair
man of the State Central Committee,
land who has since left the party and
joined the R ,publicans.) he proceeded
to organize scheme to use the ma
chlnery Of the party to break up and
destroy The REPRESENTATIVES,
circulars for that purpose being con-
cocted by his brother. H. r. Owen,
and sent out from s. M. Queens ne,Dspa-
per office, in this city.
This man, S. M. Owen, is the most
persistent piece of malignancy we
have ever encountered in our long and
varied experience of mankind. . He is
implacable. No amount ofG5 mag
nanimity, or generosity. or forbear-
ance, or assistance, or kind treatment
counts for anything with him. Three
times he has been put up for office by
the Populists, even while he did not
at heart belong to them; three times
we supported him; and three times he
has plunged the long knife of hatred
and jealousy into our vitals. He
wants everything. He will tolerate
no other man to live in the same at
mosphere with himself.
II these thing are possible in the
green tree what will they be in the
dry? We feel that it is duty we owe
mankind to keep such a man out of
high Office, If 1T is possible. o-d s..til
We have spent many thousands of
dollars for our party's principles, and
Mr.. Owen, 50 far as we are aware, has
never spent one cent except for per-
spnal expenses when candidate. In
1892 Gen'l. James H. Baker, who was
running for Congress. in the I'd district,
showed us a letter from Mr.. Owen To