New-York tribune., 1896-07-24
TILE POPILISTS.

Yesterday brought little real progress at st.
Louis, although the first formal test Of strength
supports the claims Of those who have asserted
that the nomination Of Bryan would be forced.
For permanent chairman the Bryan candidate,
Senator Allen, had 15S votes, which is more
than has been claimed for Bryan, against 5ti4
for Campion. who was supported by most. but
not all, Of the Middle Of the Road" people.
Yet 1t by no means follows that the next test
will show similar division. The struggle
over contested seats in which some decisions
of the committee ale resisted as likely to throw
away States which might be carried, may alter
the membership to some extent. and still great
or uncertainty exists as to the shape OF the
platform which may be adopted. For though
the Omaha platform is expected to be followed
as n precedent, changes one way or the other
may affect the action OF some delegations on
the candidates. 1t is a slew body, and its most
skilled manipulators appear to think they can
gain by delay
1t Is also a curious body Some leading men
seem not to know how many votes the dclega
tiOns have. as they go on giving to the public
statements Of pledged votes from various States
exceeding their whole number OF delegates.
The disproportion Of delegations seems incom-
prehensible to those who do not remember that
about two-thirds of the representation is based
on the Populist vote, and the stern opponents
Of all fraud are not above counting votes OBJ
tanned by Democratic or Republican fusion, as
in Kansas or North Carolina, to swell their
delegations 1t looks odd 10 see New-IOrk and
Pennsylvania together with fewer votes than
Kansas, and Ohio with fewer than Alabama
or Nebraska, and Illinois with fewer than North
Carolina or Texas The ten largest delegations,
If they could vote one way, could about control
this Convention. but voting one way Is the pre-
else thing they cannot do, and that makes the
Convention amusing.
Behind the strife and the noise, and the Sc
cret but effective work Of the agents OF silver
millionaires there is always the question
whether fusion will fuse, whether oil ana
water will mix and stay mixed. The dead
ly antagonisms between Populists and the
Democrats who have Ostracized and swin-
died them at the South. between fat-money
cranks and tools Of silver monOposts at the
West, may easily be plastered over by the vote
of majority in Convention, but will they in the
least cease to divide? All that is said of the
intensity of feeling and desperate fanaticism
pervading the Convention goes to show that the
voters behind the delegates are terribly in ear
nest but mainly against each other. The Popu-
lists who have been robbed Of their votes. rot
ten-egged and even shot at. in Texas. Mssis-
sppi and Alabama, may prove more Willing 10
help elect Mckinley than Democrat. The
Mississippi leader Burkitt declares: I'VE can
mot deliver our full strength to Bryan by half
"a million votes" THE Democrats who have
been left the mere skeleton Of party in West
ern States, driven out OF State and local offices,
and denounced without limit as traitors 10 all
their pledges and to the people, may more easily
bolt than fuse Oh terms dictated by Populists
Necessity and silver will force the COnven-
ton. it seems probable, to make some effort
to unite with Democrats. But then will come
the ugly question about division OF electors
and of local offices. 1t Is easy 10 see that In
some counties and States combination can be
effected, but In many others the discordant ele-
ments are likely to fly apart, and fight each
other more savagely than they fight the Repub-
licans. Little knowledge Of political affairs Is
needed to recognize that such fusion will be
found most difficult where II has once been tried
and has resulted In cheating both parties, and
In bad blood on both sides, as 1t has In most Of
the Western States. Thus in Nebraska fusion
had bare plurality of 5000 in 1894 for Gov
ernOr, with 6,9S5 Democrats refusing to fuse.
and the next year the POpulist vote was 1900
smaller; 1896 Democrats voted for one Demo
cratic candidate and 1894 for another for the
same office, and the Republicans had plu-
rality of 5000. Are the Democrats who kicked
then anxious to be swallowed this year:
At bottom the question is whether it Is pos
slble to bring together, not the leaders, but all
the voters of the warning elements Whoever
reads the reports of the St Louis Convention
will be strongly impressed with the probability
that both POpulst and Democratic organza-
tions will be well smashed In the operation,
without getting nearly the whole number of
votes which have been cast for the two parties.