The advocate., 1897-10-06
LETTER FROM MRS, DIGGs.

i
attendance upon the Iowa "middle-Of-
the-road" convention. For the first
| time during my acquaintance with Sen
atOr PETER, find myself out of align
ment with his views upon matter of
party policy. 1t has always been a
source Of qualification to me to discover
the precise parallelism of my own es-.
innate of events and my own judgment
Of conditions, with that Of one whom I
so highly esteem and honor both for his
serviceable public career and his cleanly
and noble personality.
/ do not consider 1t at all calamitous
that at this formative stage of political
affairs there should be wide divergence
of opinion upon questions of method
between many persons who are equally
conscientious and equally desirOus of
serving the cause Of humanity. That
which do deplOre and protest against is
recrimination and vituperatiOn. These
know Senator PETER does not indulge
in, and I am equally incapable Of the
same. 1t is a matter of much concern
that dle-of-the-rOaders" and fed
erationists" shall so discuss their differ
enCes which is simply one Of point Of
view, as to avoid estrangement. In
just so far as each belittles or misrep-
resents or suspects the other, is made
difficult the eventual unity Of action
upon which victory over error and evil
depend.
The only point in the above referred
to Advocate article to which 1 desire at
this time to refer is that concerning my
platform record as denounCer of "both
Of the old parties" and their unftness
to grapple with and adjust the problems
of our time. Most assuredly such ar
raignment Of both old parties did con-
stitute large and necessary part of
my press and platform work. The diff
ference between my past and present
attitude and utteranCe arises from the
fact that l do not believe that we now
have two old parties in the nation.
Leaving out the Palmer and Buckner
gold standard residuum of one of the
old parties as too inconsequential to
include in the statement Of the problem,
l believe we have but one old party
left. 1 believe that the agitation and
discussion of the dominant issue of Pop
ulism, /. e., the money question, which
had become universal in the years fol-
lowing the formation of the national
Peoples party, had created a popular
demand for free silver too genuine and
too strong to be suppressed at the ma
tional Democratic convention at Chi
cagO. The progressive leaders of the
Democratic party utilized this popular
demand and unified sentiment among
the masses Of their party and seized
the opportunity to wrench it from the
grasp of the mOnOpolistic machine which
had been managing in the interest of
corporate greed by precisely the same
methods employed by the machine"
which exploited the national Republi
can party.
believed, and do now believe, in the
integrity, the devotion and the ability Of
the Democratic leaders-Messrs. Bryan,
Altgeld and Sibley, who were the main
factors in resCuing that Democratic con-
ventiOn from Messrs. Hill, Whitney, ct
al. 1 believe in them and their deter
minaJion to compel the Democratic party
to grapple with problems and adjust
difficulties as certainly as l believe in
any POpulist living. AS watched the
progress of that great convention Of the
Democratic people at Chicago, saw
warfare between the old and the new,
between the champions of the present
wicked order of things and the cham
pions of the new and good time of
equal opportunity for all sons and
daughters Of the republic. At the first |
l looked on with the temper of cynic,
with the sullen certainty that Mr. Bryan |
would be forced to the wall and would !
walk out as did Senator Teller when he
lost in precisely similar contest be-