The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-11-10
WHERE DO THEY COME INT


1t seems to us that there is food for
much reflection for men calling
themselves Democrats, who voted
for Mr.. Bryan this year, in the ad-
dress that Mr.. Marion Butler has is
sued to the Peoples party of the Unit
ed States. These gentlemen made the
great mistake of entering into an alli-
ance with the Populists. That is
an old story now, and we are not
going into it further than as it bears
upon the future political attitude of
the Bryan Democrats. The time for
sober reflection has come to them.
What are they going to do hereafter?
What is to be their policy, what their
party name, and what the hope which
they are to hold out to their associ-
ates and followers? The experiment
which they insisted upon this year has
been made and ended most disastrous
ly. Now, forgetting that, surely these
men, who have not lost their affection
for the old Democracy, must consider,
as practical citizens, what they are to
40 IN the future.
| Here is where Mr.. Butler comes in
very helpfully. His address is blow
! straight in the face of every Demo-
crat who voted for Mr.. Bryan this
year. 1t is a deliberate insult, made as
singing as possible, to the entire body
of the party that followed the lead Of
the Chicago convention. Mr.. Butler
says in effect that but for the partici-
patton of Democrats in this campaign
under the name of Democrats the Pop
ulist candidate would have won. He
! lays the failure of Mr.. Bryan to sue
| coed upon his connection with the So
called Democratic party, and condoles
and sympathizes with the Populists
that the fair prospect which he assured
them of winning this year was marred
by this ill-advised copartnership. He
also draws the lines of future action
without wavering. He says that the
Peoples party is very much alive and
still marching on it's way to victory.
He remembers what an irregular and
poWerless body it was in 1888. He
notes the few states that 1t carried in
1892. He sees the list of 1896, all of
which he attributes to the growth of
Populism, and he assumes that by 1900
the Peoples party will be in a major
ity. This view is conditioned on the
maintenance Of it's name and the as
| sumption of it's title and doctrines by
/ thnGn w 70 ~
hereafter. In other words, if the Demo-
Gratis who followed the lead Of the
! Chicago convention this year wish
to persevere in that line, wish to keep
the free coinage of silver at the front,
to support the men and measures to
which they yielded unwilling assent in
| this campaign, they must forego their
last claim to self-respect, be rebap-
! tized as Populists and formally incor-
porate themselves in the body of the
Peoples party.
The discord which followed the nomi-
nation at Chicago is a tri1e compared
with the outbreak of indignation which
! this statement of the case will cause
After all is said and done, nine-tenths
| of the Democrats who, at the last mo-
ment, voted for Mr.. Bryan did so, not
because they believed in or cared about
the Is to 1 business at all, but because
they considered him the regular Demo-
cratic nominee. The merest sprinkling
| of Democrats only are ready for the
last surrender. The mass of those who
| voted for RrUap this uoor o,,d oro 80
ashamed of it now are strictly party
men, following the party lead and par
| ty name and devoted to it above all
| things. To suppose that these men
are going to call themselves Populists
and submit to Populist leadership for
| the sake of free silver or any other
Populist doctrine, is to imagine a vain
thing Besides, there is an exceedingly
practical consideration which moves
practical men. The Democratic party
of the nation must be made UP of the
| Democratic parties in the several
states. The Democratic party in the
states, like every other political par
| ty, is, to some extent, held together
and made permanent organization by
the struggle and the hope for political
ascendency. Even in the states which
are most consistently Republican. a
Democratic success from time to time
encourages to action and holds men
together under the banner of Democ-
racy. This is human nature, and a
rule of the existence of all parties
whatever. Now take away this incen-
tive to action and your party must.
! sooner or later, dissolve. If it were
written across the armament in letters
Of fire tomorrow that such and such
a political party would never again
carry a state or county election in any
| commonwealth, then that party would
cease to exist there
Now, the election of 1896 tells one
thing Enthusiastically. And this is that
no party which advocates the free
coinage Of silver at 16 to 1 can ever
hope to carry a New England state or
a middle state or a Mississippi valley
state east of the great river. How is
a party which advocates free silver to
be kept alive in those communities?
Where are Democrats to be found in
those states who will consent to give
up permanently their party name and
relation, to accept permanently the
free coinage issue, only that they may
see each year adverse majorities grow
| from 10000 to $4,000, from $4,000 to
! 200, 600, and thence indefinitely increa SEP