The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-12-08
FUSION I.

CratIC-8um OF Prosperity-A Fusion
of He'll and Observation-Disclosures
ism-Its Remedy-Guiles-Direct Leg
islation-The People the Boss.
Correspondence of the Progressive Farmer.
Fusion is confusion and it cannot be
accomplished without compromising
principles, To fuse with the opposition
is to forfeit the respect of honest men.
He who holds his principles supreme
will not do anything to compromise
them. A party with a principle can
not fuse with it's opposers without
bringing the party into disrepute. A
party with moral ideas must conduct
their campaign on high moral
grounds. They must discard practical
politics, as now understood e the
utilizing Of all Of those forces that Sc
cures control OF the pUrchaseable vote
and this means the use of whiskey and
money and the moral debauchery that
follows in the wake of political cam
paigns. A reform party cannot fuse
with g party who adopes these without
FORGETTING self r, Spect. Fusion is al
ways Matched in the brain Of al office
seeker, and if it were not for this class
Ch8re would never be any fusion with
the OppOs9rs OF reform. The fusiQnist
matches up some local issue and meg
4 f8s its Importance to secure cooper
elton with the minority party, and Of
fce-getting Is the controlling motive. In
the canvas that follows, the principles
which called Uhe reform party into ex
latonce is forced to the rear and this is
true in every State and county where
it has been adopted. Fusion will de
stroy any party of principle. It killed
the Greenback per5y in every State
that adop.ed it, and it Destroyed the
National organization The cancer Of
fusion has a death grip On the Populist
party in every State where they hold
the balance Of power. Its machinery
is being used by selfish men to advance
their self-intereat. He who barters
| principle is liking in that degree Of
| patriotism that will bring success to
the cause he advocates. DacaGence al
| ways follows in the wake of fusion
with its opposers and dissolution is
near at hand. A party cannot grow that
swerves from their principles The
P0pulist party contains an immortal
principle which if chrystaliz9d into law
would bring prosperity to every class,
Greed for Cfi 20 has parel z:d it's power
to in fIence the people.
A party with a great principle can
not fuse with the opposers and remain
! aparty of p~rincipleno more than heaven
can fuse with hell and remain heaven.
Fusion of the good with the Dad forces
the good to the level of the bad. Fus-
ion was conceived In the hell cf selfish,
ness and is the devils straight road to
political damnation. Fusion is the leg
innate Offspring Of party. Each party
necessarily has an organization, and
/ there Is the machine that controls the
| policy and line of action. The party
machinery always controls the party.
Parties are ~pluTOcratic. The machine
| OF the party makes it possible for the
; few machine men to control the party
| and selfish men ore not slow to take
advantage of the opportunity. II the
machine is under the control Of patriots
like Washington, jefferson end Lin,
coin it is run in the interest OF the PEG
pie. The machinery Of parties have
and always will control as long as
parties exist. So far self has forged to
the front and patriotism is forced to
the As time grows, harder the
Struggle for office, growing in value,
will increase. To succeed in the great
battle for industrial freedom patriot
ism must lead. He who is not content
to battle for the cause OF human free
dom without entering into a struggle
for Office will never lead the nation out
of the wilderness. Bossism is the order
of the day. They are supreme in all
parties, National, State and county.
A few men control and tax the PEG
pie withC ut their consent. Pick up the
papers of all parties and you read of
the bosses controlling that party. It ls
Bcss Br.ce in Ohio, Boss Platt in New
York, Boss Quay in Pennsylvania,
German in Maryland, Boss Cleveland
and boss this and boss that down to
the little county and ward boss con
trolled by the big bosses. Nowhere
will you read of the boss people, and
nowhere will you find where they are
the bosses. This is a struggle inside of
each party by the different factions for
the control of the machine. II one