Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1896-07-31
Mr.. BUTLER'S SPEECH.
Populism Lauded aud the Two Old
Parties Bitterly Arraigned.

airy Chairman Butler to the Populist
national convention:
"A cyclone of patriotism! Fellow citizens,
all historj teaches that there come great cri-
SEES In the affairs of man, and all history teaches
that humanity il blest and raised to a high
level or is temporarily cursed, acco-din as the
men upon whose houlders rest tn respons bill
ity are able to mat the crises with wi dom and
patriotism and to help it for the bett,rmcnt of
humanity. tApplause) Two political pi ii IS
have held national conv 'ntions this year Both
| have had their say made I'll sir promise. and
| put forward their leaders, Another political
| part,, young. but n growing gi,nt of strength
(app.ause), has as emb ed to speak to the
Americ people at this important ID critical
hour (Applauss) We are Ii re because there
is need for us to be here applause The two
parties that have already spoken have between
them had charg, of the ma hiuery Of great
representative government. in which kind of
government there are the greatest pos Utilities
for K ,od and for evil the kind O, government
whcr, the prosperity o. tAe people or their
misery can be e.fec;el to the greatest d,gree
The two parties havl b,tw on them had
charge of your government for over thirty
years, and du ing that time grsat and pros
porous people, people laboring to carry out
the injunction to make two blades of grass
grow " here one grew Def ,r,. Ia i've performed
| their duty in tho eyes of God and man, and
| have mad, this country bios som like a Sc, so
far as creating wealth Wa concerned yet dur
| lag this time of unox ampcd creation of wealth,
o. unexampled industry and economy on tho
| part of the people thes, two parties have sue
cceded in bringing this great nation to tho
verge OF ruin. Great applauss.) Di they
know better, or didn't thcy know bitter
| daughter and appl ius,.) We're they honestly
mistaken or did they do it on purposc2 In
ei her cveat til 'ir leadership is discredit to
the existence of the part. and the necessity of
this organization i proven (Applause.)
Old Parties 4arraigned.
Every candidate put before the American
people since the war by both these parties has
been a man whose nomination and election has
carried joy to tho hearts of the aggregate
capital and combined greed. Great applause.)
They have selccte men who have stood in
touch and been the allied agents of tho ele-
ments of powers that have brought this country
to the verge of bankruptcy, and thos. pow ers,
which have des royed every republic in the
past, will destroy this one unle oh, cked
Great applausc.) My friends, these two great
parties, under false leadership have, during
this p 'riod, sue .ecdeJ in kee ling from the
peopl, the greatest issue in American politics.
| (Applause They have managed to array the
eat masses of the American voters with
frenzicd zeal on two sides of great national
campaigns whea the issue was a sham put up
for the purpose of dividing tn. people. 1t
made no difference which sid, won, the people
lost. Great applaus..) Wall st eet in the
Unit ID States and Lombard street in England
won. (Che 'r;.)
while those things ware going on the great
American heart WIS wrappe in prejudice of
party 1t was not until thei had awakened
from this condition and aroused themselves
that they began to think upon tn sc questions
Then it was that the great middle classes
began to put their heals together for their
common good; AMI when that email cloud APP
peared upon the horizon the heart of the peo-
pie of the country went forth, ald the light of
this do II. ne spread throughout the lam.
Growth of Populism.
I'm 1e9, We went down to defeat but though
our principles grew and fl 'urishel they
could not be trampl,d down They were eter-
nal they we're right, and from that hour to
this they have n,inued to grow throughout
this broad land. lew W eAs ago the great
national Republi .an party met in this city.
The politicians wanted to straddle the gre It
issue again that WIS before the people. but
the Peoples party had exposed the straddling
treach,ri. The logic of evcats caused them to
express themselves clearly upon the question
of the day. and consequently they went over
bag and baggage TO the great money kings of
Wall street and of Europe. A few weeks after
that there came another evidence { T this great
movement. The great national Democratic
party met in Chicago and was fore I'd there to
take position fo- they could not evade the
issue longer; they wee frightened: theY were
SO alarmed AMI som, of them doubt so
conscience stricken that they formally decided
to deliberately commit petty and grand larceny
by stealing the Peoples party platforn almost
entire. They almost tried to get into our
party. Cheers and laughter
Nc
III the Peoples rty to go out of ex-
istence tomorrow, tbs next Democrats con-
vention would repudiate the platform thy
have just adopted, and Mr.. Bryan would re-
pudiate it sls,. loud applau e. He woul
not only repudiate tn, platform but he would
stand no more chance four years hence of b,ing
nominated than Tn mas Jefferson would il he
wer. alive. Applause)
Now my friends, we have don, good deal.
No young party has ever c;ompl shed so much
in the same length of time u, we have done.
We HAYS endured the bitterness of denuncia-
ton and tn abuse and malignity of party feel
ing Right here comes upon us the greatest
respons ibility that has ever rested upon any
party We have raised an issue so universal,
SO great, SO important, that We have split both
of tn CID parti IS in two Lau ,hter and
cheers) Now we have either to save that is
sue or renounce what we have gained and lay
sponsibiity ever 'tcd upon any convention.
Il hiv, heard IA few thou ,h.les mn ch rse
that Hanna was running one SIT of Populists
and Others charg, that tn, Democracy was
running the other NJ friends, have enough
faith in the faces b,fur, mo aud on )ugh faith
in the God above mea to b lieve that tIis con-
vention will not turn t4cf into Dcmo ratio
annex (Applaus, and CHI 'crs hav. got too
mucl faith in its patrio ism and in is sense to
believe that it will turn ITS III into Republic
an annex. Npplausc) There is your danger
There sta IDS danger and here stands an
oher, an one is as big tn other 1t has
been part Of my experclc, that VII 'n,ver
you see som, good mon going to one extreme
and other good men going to the other axtrem,,
the p 9TH of trut lies b 'tw,el them. "
At this point Delegate Doggatt of California
shouted: Nominate Populst without re-
gard to whatever Their par .i,s have done here
toforer'
MY friend there has an honest belief, con.
tinue the SPEAKER II am mighty apt to hear
from another man over here on the other side if
wait n little Roth think they are right But,
if this party lives (and God grant tina; it shall
never die) and rises to the mission it was born
to accomplish it must at tn 5 critical hour.
have the patriotism, the unseltshncss of party
pride, to do just what we have been preaching
for the last fouryea Ifthis convention won't
follow its own teaching it is unworthy to repre-