The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-11-17

O"NS6 OAO S1N0E WCug Which, IL"
their victory, the representatives of the
Eastern corporation interests, railroad
interests and manufacturing interests
shrewdly manipulated the nomination
OF Mr.. Sewall, and thus, before the
Bryan men well knew what had been
done, they had been checkmated in the
very hour Of their rejoicing.
Following the Democratic C0nven-
ton, came the Populiet National Con
ventiOn at st. Louis.
Two distinct factions appeared. O1e
was composed of D mocratic emissar-
les who demanded that the Peoples
party should Internationally endorse
the Democratic ticket, and thereby
abandon it's own separate existence,
surreLdor it's own creed, and trust the
future of the country to the patriotic
impulses Of a party which had so re-
Gently plastered the continent with
bonds, closed the minis to silver, &C,
quleeced in Clevelrud's ''siDgle gold
standard and made no effort to stay
the lavish extravaganza in Congress,
which was then, and is now, adding
from two to ten million dollars month
ly to the national debt.
OF course the Democratic emissaries
at cur National Convention we're broad
minded statesmen, patriotic and uu-
selfish. We know this because the
Democrats, in whose interests they
went, tell US SO.
They proved their loftiness Of aim
and consistency of purpose by not only
~demanding that the Populists nominate
Mr.. Bryan, but that they nominate Mr..
8ewall also.
The other faction in the convention
was known as Middle OF the road"
The men who composed it had the
brs zsn effrontery to claim that Popu-
liem should adhere to the principles
upon which the party had been founded
and TO the policy which had given it
growth. They commended that our
party had been born of deep distrust of
both the old parties, and that a com
promise with either meant surrender
and death. They claimed that the sill
yer movement was a South and West
movement, and believed that the best
way to unite South and West was to
nominate a Southern man to Tun with
the Western man. They likewise said
that the best way to unite P0pulists
and D-mocrats was to nominate a Pop
uiist to run with the Democrat. These
Middle of the road men said that it
would be eilly to allow party to be
scoop9d eff the face Of the earth by a
mere political trick. The party had
been built up under many trials, diff
Cultieg and discourRgements. It had
worked its way onward through abuse,
ridicule, misrepresentation and cleo
tOral frauds. In the South the Demo
Gratis had said we were in the pay OF
the r 9pu0licans. In the West the Re
publicans had said we were hired by
the Democrats. We had grown stead
lily in spite Of all ISLANDERS and rascal
ties, and now at length we were mas
tiers Of the situation. It seemed a pity
to let our enemies snare US and destroy
ua. The Middle of the road men said
that ours was the only silver party,
and that all patriots who really wanted
silver coinage, could afford to join us
Four years of fidelity, under the mos
trying circumstances had shown thai
we could be trusted al champions Of
silver. Not a man in I'LL party was
against it. On the other hand, the
Middle of, the:road men said they coulG
not Internationally trust the Demo
Gratis. They had too recently slaught
cred silver. They we're too fresh from
the debauch of broken pledges. They
were still Keeling from their mac
carOusal of claes legislation. They
could not be accepted as our politica
masters, when so powerful a minority
opposed to silver, still remained in theil
ranks; a minority which remains with
Bryan because it can better ~assassinate
silver from the inside of the Democratic
party than from without.
1t was Populist pressure which had
forced Democracy to quit straddIing
and get down on the silver side of the
fence. To remove the pressure by dis
banding the Peoples party was to in
vite the Democrats to renew their
straddling.
These Middle Of the road men said
that they were willing to help the
Democrats open the minis to silver,
but that the Chicago platform was,