The herald., 1896-11-12
Supplemented by Four Columns
of Advice
TOM WATSON'S ACCEPTANCE
OF the Populist Nomination for Vic,
President
He Complains Bitterly of the Treat
ment Which Made Him Footmat
for Wiping Democratic Feet.

| Associated Press Special Wire
ATLANTA, Ca, Nov. 1.-THE letter
of acceptance written by Thomas Wat
! son, accepting the Popuist nomination
for vice president. was today made pub
lie. Seven columns of Watson's Peo-
pies party paper are devoted to it. The
letter is supplemented by four columns
of advice to Populists to 'sit steady in
the boat and hold their party together"
The editorial tone of the paper is one
of fulfilled prophecy.
Watson declares that the failure Of
the Populists to support Bryan in the
close states brought about McKinley's
! election.
He goes into long review of the cir
| cumstances leading to his nomination
and accepts the vice presidential NOM
| ination because I said I would" He
| declared that if the ST. Louis Populist
convention had nominated straight
Populist ticket 1t would have been
| elected. 1t would, he said. have driven
! the Hills and Germans where they be-
longed-in the Republican ranks-and
the Bryans and BANDS would have join
ed with the Populists. He complains
| ed at the hands of the Populist leaders
and addresses himself particularly to
Senator Butler, in this way:
Senator. a reform has no right to eX-
| list if it has not valid complaint to make.
| Popuists cannot denounce the sins of
the two old parties and yet go into po-
litical co-partnership with them. The
moment we make a treaty the war must
i cease. And when we cease our war upon
the old parties we have no longer any
excuse for living; whenever right COM
promises wrong, it is the right which suf-
| fers. The Democratic managers seem to
resent as a strange piece of imperti
nance the fact that the Populists dared
to nominate ticket different at the rear
end from theirs. Coming to them with
two million votes they We're begging for
and piteously needing, l can say with
perfect assurance of telling the unqual-
flied truth, that my arrival on the field
of battle was not welcomed as heartily
as Butcher was received by Wellington
at Waterloo. They want my reinforce,
ment, but they do not want me to lead
them. They need Blucher's troops, but
hardly fair to either Butcher or his
troops, nor is it the best way to defeat
| Napoleon. For this attitude upon the
I part of the Democratic managers. I be-
| lieve you, Senator, are largely RESPONSE
I BILE. You made no effort to have me rec
ognized. You went into the fusion pol
icy over my written protest, with all
| the zeal of a man who wanted to elect
the Democratic ticket. In this I think
you We're wrong. AS chairman of the
Populst committee the party certainly
| expected you to do all you could to
elect the Populist ticket. Had you de-
manded Mr.. Sewall's withdrawal from
the ticket, he would have been with
drawn. 1 have a letter of yours in which
you state the Democratic committee ex-
I pected you to make the demand but
that you did not make it. From the
perversity of temper with which the
Democratic managers have refused to
do the right thing by the Populists, it
would seem they prefer McKinleyism
to anything which might seem to be
partly a Populist triumph. Their sub
tie purpose is to couple the Bryan cleo
! ton with the complete destruction of
the Populist party. The position taken
in this letter will be bitterly assailed.
Would that the pathway We're always
carpeted with flowers; it rarely is. By
making myself and the grand party
represent a mere footmat for Demo-
cratic politicians to wipe their feet upon,
l could win much applause from that
quarter. But if 1 were now lacking in
the loyalty which was expected of me
when chosenI would grieve the men who
have honored me. trusted me and de-
Tended and loved me.
mo one regrets more profoundly than
do that the Democratic managers have
so shaped the campaign that the south
has again been told she must grovel in
the dust and let an eastern plutocrat put
his foot upon her neck. Nor does any
one regret more than do that the DEM
ocratic managers, in shaping their fu-
sion deals, have considered those Popu-
lists only who are getting 1oaves and
fishes. They have lost sight of the great
army of privates whose honest hearts
and sincere souls form the strength of
the reinforcement Mr.. Bryan needs
These Populists of the ranks and file
! have the spirit Of crusaders and they
would die for a principle more quickly
than they would sell it. These men will
not vote for Sewall not for Sewall eiec-
tors If Senators Jones and German
really wish to defeat Mckinley let them
lose no time in realizing this truth