The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1896-08-01
An Interview With George Wilson on
the Peoples Party Convention
In ST InniS-

looker-on and adviser, having beef
requested to do so by some high i'll thu
counsels of the party. He was IL deter
mined middle-of-the-road man rs Ions
as the convention was in session. The
INTELLIGENCER asked what was thu
kernel of the difficulty that the men o
that kind found in their way.
eft was the act that the silver-pro'
ducIng states came in already i'll thu
Bryan column. Although it is charged
that silver coinage Is solely for theil
benefit, it is not true, for the rise il
price in corn, wheat and cotton by tree
coinage will bury the profit to silver
miners out of sight. But it was th'
very looks of the thing Colorado
where there is no democratic party ,yor
might say, and the greatest silver
bearing state, asking for Bryan, made
an obstacle that the middle-of-the-
readers had to stop and consider"
What other strong causes were
thereP
ssOne general feeling, not to be over
looked, was the feeling that 1t is a good
thing to put a far west man in the
presidency. Besides that, MIR. Bryan
is strong in his own state. l was struck
with that fact when the secretary OF
agriculture came out for him. L knew
Mr.. Morton during the war, when he
particularly endeared himself to Mis-
sourians; put he has been lecturing in
New England in favor of the gold
policy, and was particularly bitter on
silver. When Bryan was nominated
he at once accepted him as a democrat.
Bryan only had $4,000 votes in his
own party, but the representatives OF
10000 ~populists came in asking for his
nomination.. 1t had to be considered
as Nebraska's voice."
When Nebraska was followed by
Kansas, what was the opinionP
cit was understood that all populist
candidates In Kansas depend on demo-
cratic help, and every one thought that
PETER, Simpson, ct al were looking out
for themselves. They are paid before
the election. They have no claim on
Bryan if he is elected"
What were the other attacks on the
solid populist column that made il give
wayP
s.North Cardinals detection was the
| flank attack that made the next most
u lulpICSolOh l. WON w nav
Buffers room in the interest of the
staunch men, but he was not in. He
had written me that some of us ought
to be in a Jew days before the nven
ton to talk matters over. found out
while waiting that he was a Bryan
man, and did not go to see him; did
not want to-
How was Virginia's influence?
ssHer stand for Bryan was OF great
Importance. Among her representa-
tive Bryan men were such men as the
sons of Col. Robert Beverly, represent
ing the old Virginia stock of b very
best kind, and who were among the
first settlers of the colony in the 18th
century, one of whose members put
down Bacon's rebellion a hundred years
before the Revolution. Gen. Field,
the last populist candidate for vice
president, is, l think, a patriot, and
though 1 did not agree with his judg-
ment, 1 do not deny his sincerity.
Thus the populist army found that the
western wing would not stand, and
the eastern had given way, and all
the force of the battle fell on the south
ern center. Texans showed the true
spirit of Crockett and Bowie at the
Alamo. Georgia vas like a rock. Mis-
souri, was firm. But when such a man
as Kolb, the Alabama martyr, as he
was considered, gave way, the populists
felt like Washington did when he heard
of Arnold, and asked: WHO car be
trustedP'
What was the middle-of-the-road
planP
s.My advice was not to wait for the
Bryan men to gather strength, to pros
elyte and send missionaries of both
sexes, as they were doing. L wanted
notice served on the Lindell hotel outfit
that they must either take off their
Bryan badges and name only populists
as candidates, or be shut out of the
convention. Strong measures at the
start would have crushed them, or the
readers should have thrown them over
board. No one aver had better mater
ial to work with than Texas furnished.
One of the Texans came near fighting
with Weaver for coming into the COM
mittee with u Bryan badge on. Weaver
stood up for his right to wear any
badge he pleased, with firmness worthy
OF a hetter cause. Field got up and
left in a dudgeon. But after awhile 1t
was fixed up enough to let the plat
form making go on. But as l stood
and sat around waiting for Gen. Coxey
to let me make a suggestion on a finan
cial PLANK Gas he was writing the plat
form it was most natural for me to
think that the populists did moi know
how to select a man who understands
the financial question from one who
does not), l looked back over the o
of years and the score of languages
that | have worked and studied on the
matter, and it was natural that l should
be preiudiced in favor of my W ideas.
Warriors are rarely fnancialists.
Washington, without whom we could
not have gained our independence,
made the worst blunder ever made in
our history when he signed the bill for
the Bank of the United States. He in
that act sowed the dragons teeth that
have produced the crop of horrors that
we are facing today. 1t should be a
warning to all parties not TO give to
the worlds great captains the task of
writing a financial platform, especially
on a hot afternoon II a st. Louis hotel,
when one of them is just raking his
wits together on that point"
What was the feeling in Georgia,
Louisiana and other southern statesP
''Georgians were as bitter as gall.
They said that the democrats had voted
against them thousands of negroes that
had been dead for twenty years; had
counted them out, ostracized them
socially and treated them like dogs n
calves. They fled from the Lindell AS
from a pest house, and secured the
town for mlddle-of-tne-road brethren"
What did the women do in this part
of the contest?
ssThey worked, most of them, among
the men, in the hotel corridors, in the
meetings, and wherever they could get
q listener. They were moved by the
feeling that might be expected to affect
them most. They would answer the
middle-of-the-road men: That means
Jour years more of the present times,
of these horrors And that argument
had much weight for after all they are
the ones who are suffering most In the
famine that drives men INTO crime,
murders infants, and drives women into
prostitution"