The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1896-05-22
MR.. BURKIIT TALKS.
OPPOSED TO SACRIFICE OF ANY
VITAL PRINCIPLE.
The vice-Presideut OF the National
Reform Press Association Favors A
Union Only on an Honorable Basis
A Clever Painter.

4 Clever Painter.
One of the shrewdest politicians in
the south is the Hon. Frank Burkitt of
Mississippi, vice-president of the Ma
tlonal Reform Press association and
late candidate for governor of that state
on the populist ticket. He has also
Deen prominently mentioned as a pos
slble candidate for vice-president on
the populist ticket. Speaking ola union
OF reform forces, recently, in the Peo-
Pies Messenger, his own paper, MI.
Burkitt says:
We publish elsewhere a communica-
ton from Brother T. N. Jackson of
Amlte %favoring a combination of all re-
form forces in opposition to a gold
standard. Such we apprehend is the
Keeling of every populist in the country,
II 1t can be done without a sacrifice of
vital principles and an abandonment of
OLD tim friends, who regard the land
or transportation question as of para
oun Importance. Brother jackson puts
stress on the fact that the free silver
party were invited to meet us at S. .Louis
and seems to think, we, by this act are
under obligations to surrender a part of
the Omaha platform. Just as we'll con-
tend that Brother Jackson, when he in
vltes a friend to his house to partake
OF his hospitality, is under obligations
to surrender a part of his family gov
eminent.
Brother Jackson assumes there is a
free silver party, when in fact there is
no such party. An aggregation of gen
tlemen, members still of the two old
parties, are dissatisfied with the man
ner in which both the rep, licans and
democrats deal with the silver question
and they are threatening to secede I'm
less their respective parties shall meet
their views OF this subject, when their
conventions are held and nominations
are made. If this is done, we are told
the free silverites will be content to
stay with the old parties and they are
not expected to surrender any of :heir
old principles But before they can
condescend to fight for their rights IN
der the populYst banner, we are in
formed by Gen. Warner, speaking for
the silverites, we must surrender some
If not all of our old principles
Nov we think we know Brother
Jackson well enough to say that he will
not accept any such terms, for a union
under such conditions would mean the
degradation and utter overthrow of our
party organization.
Like our brother, we desire to see
every man in America opposed to the
English system of finance marshalled
under one banner in the coming battle,
but it must be done, if done at all, upon
terms that will be honorable to all and
humiliating to none. We are not de-
handing any sacrifice to be made by
the silver men in order that our 1espec-
tive forces may cooperate as allies
against the gold power, and while we
can and will make concessions for
sweet harmony's sake, we are not pre-
pared to make sacrifices of principle to
secure cooperation.
when it is an lncontrovertable fact
that the peoples party is the only ma
tional organization that has pronounced
emphatically for free coinage at the
rates of 16 to 1, and none of it's members
have ever failed after election tt vote
as they promised in the canvass pre-
ceding, the honest free silver man will
not refuse to vote with us as against a
gold standard of a cowardly, s%traddling
plank in the old party platforms, and
the man who would hesitate because
the populists uphold the three cardinal
declarations of the Omaha platform:
Finance, Land and Transportation
leaving him free to accept or reject
whatever he pleased, would prove a
weak ally, and probably a traitor in the
end should he enter our camp. We say
let's get together with Brother Jack
son, but let it be upon a basis that re-
quires no sacrifices at the hands of
any party to the compact"