The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-07-18
POPULISTS AND
SILVER PARTY.
I wO Conventions to Be
Held at st. Louis.
OF SIMILAR PRINCIPLES.
There May Be Much Done In
the WAY Of Fusion.

the Way of Fusion.
VIII They Indorse the Democratic Nom
inee Name an Independents Ticket?
win BE the First Gathering of the Sill
yer Party and the Second Convention of
the PopuIists-HOw the Peoples Party
Originated and the Power It Yields.
ST. LOUIS, July 16.-Two national polit-
ical conventions will be held in this city
next week. One will be held in the con
ventiOn auditorium where Mckinley was
nominated last month, the other in tho
Exposition building. It is expected con-
fdently by the Populists that their friends
the silverites will come over into their
yard and play before the first days session
is over. Whatever is done in the direction
of fusion, there is little doubt the two
gatherings will indorse the same man for
the presidency.
Will they indorse the. nominee of the
Democratic convention That is the i'm
portant question on which may depend
the result of the election in November.
On it may hang the possibility that this
country will go to policy which means
the free and unlimited coinage Of silver in
dependent of the other nations of the
world.
The gathering of the Populists and sill
yer men at the Chicago convention last
week and the missionary work they did
there are evidence Of the importance they
attach 80 the determination Of this ques-
ton. Their dearest wish is the resumption
of free silver coinage. To bring this about
they were anxious that the Democrats
could indorse him without giving up their
party organization. Mr.. Teller belongs to
no party just now. He focks by himself.
The anxiety of the Populists to have
candidate not identified with the Demo-
cratic party was due to the fact that the
Peoples Party supports some principles
which are. not recognized by the Democ-
.racy, and while these are less important
than silver coinage in the eyes of the ma
jority of the Populists, they are important
enough to keep the Peoples Party togeth-
er even if the coinage question was dis
posed of. To indorse a Democrat for the
presidency, a great many POpulists think,
would be to abandon these principles, to
give up their hopes of electing state tickets
in the south and west, and to disorganize
thoroughly a party which has become a
controlling element in some states and in
q great many congressional districts Aft
er combining the interests of all the small
er organizations of farmers and laborers
into one united political party and polling
for the presidential candidate of that party
1925. 1877 votes, the Populists are afraid of
sacrificing the results of their hard work,
faIung into the hands of the Democratic
party and losing their identity if they in
dorse Democratic candidate for the pres
idency.
Sketch of the Peoples Party.
The Peoples Party was organized at
Cincinnati May 10, 1891, at a national
union conference of all political organiza-
lions representing the farmer, the 1aborer
and the mechanic. From these-chief1y
the Farmers Alliances-the new party
was formed.
The Farmers Alliances go back to the
formation of a little protective organiza-
ton in LaInpasas county, Tex This Lam
pasas County Alliance was formed for the
protection of the farmers against land and
cattle thieves. 1t agitated the mo fence"
law and other issues, and the man with
a hoe found that collectively his people
could WELD political power. This encour-
aged the formation of other local Alliances
in Texas, and these, in 1886, were organ
lied into State Alliance. This Alliance
met and announced a platform which in
cIuded declaration for the education of
the agricultural classes in the science of
economical government, in strictly non
partisan spirit. -
Before the organization of the State AL
lance of Texas farmers, the National
Grange of Patrons of Husbandry had be
gun to take an active interest in legislative
matters at Washington. 1t was the first
secret order to admit men and women on
terms of equality In 1870 it had 80
oranges In 1876 there were 10, 600. These
maintained the headquarters of their ma
tional association at Washington, and its
officers exercised some influence on legis-
latiOn through granger members of con-
gress The National Grange never tried to
influence elections, and its career as a po-
1iticaI factor was short. 1t is now almost
solely a social and beneficial organization
But its members are almost all members of
+T,,5-- ion
in the grange made it easier for them to
get together and organize for political pur-
poses when the occasion arose.
Following the organization of the Lam
pasas County Alliance in Texas and no
doubt influenced by it, the farmers of Ar
kansas got together in a schoolhouse in
western Arkansas and organized the Ma
tional A gricuItural Wheel, and the farmers
of Louisiana met and formed the Farmers
union.
After the organization of the Texas
State Alliance the farmers of Louisiana
and Texas consulted and called a meeting
in Waco, where they formed in 1887 the
National Farmers Alliance and Co-opers-
tive union. A year later the Alliance and
the Wheel sent delegates to convention
at Meridian, Miss, where the two organ
izations were united as the Farmers and
Laborers Union of America In Deem
Der, 1889, a national convention was called
at St Louis, and there the name of the or
ganization was changed again. II became
the National Farmers Alliance and Indus
trial union.
In all this time the members of the
farmers organizations had been nominal
ing local tickets and taking part in state
elections, and they had shown a constant
ly in creasing strength. But they had at
tracted comparatively little attention out
side u few southern states until national
convention of the new party was held at
Ocala, Fla, in 1890. At this convention
was adopted a platform which attracted