The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1897-08-25

getting hold of the reins, turned the
hearse toward the Whitehouse, and
the mourners' tears to joy for a brief
time. But it is time this delusion was
dispelled. Populists should play no
longer in the back dooryard~ of the
Democratic party. The voters of the
Peoples party have been used as door
mat for the Democratic politicians and
fusion pie-hunters to wipe their feet
on. They are revolving against It and
will not submit to it any longer. Votes
may be sold, but they cannot be de-.
nvered. So much the worse for the
buyers. The time has come when the
sheep and the goats must be separated.
Those who want to go tothe Democratic
party are welcome to GO, but they can
no longer masquerade as Populists. If
the Democratic ticket is good enough to
enough to join. There could be no OBJ
ject of men who persist in working with
the Democratic party still claiming to
be Populists, other than that OF be-
trayal and making merchandise out Of
1t. If a man thinks the best way to re-
form and prosperity Is in the Democrat
ic party he should join that party out
right and go in at the front door, md
not by the back door OF fusion"
What is the Populist situation in
the South?'
'The majority of the Southern Popu-
lists are from the ranks of the Demo-
cratic party and never, under any cir
cumstances, will they return to 1T. They
have been vilified, abused, boycotted
and ostracised until the gulf is 50 wide
that it cannot be bridged. Some Of our
best men have been murdered in cold
blood ON account of their opposition to
the bourbon Democracy. In my own
district a sheriff, deputy clerk, and
negro were brutally murdered in one
day, over fifty shots being fired into
the negro''s body after he was dead
These were all respectable, law-abiding
citizens and were killed solely on ac-
count Of their opposition to Democratic
supremacy and not a man was ever
punished for the crime. This is not an
isolated instance, but the like has hap
pened all over the South. Capt. Bur-
kit, a member of our national organi-
cation committee, was shot down in the
streets of Okolona, Miss, his home city,
for no other purpose than having left
the rotten bourbon Democracy, and
thrown his powerful influence with the
Populists.
This is the class of men which the
Bryan Democracy invites us to join in
rise-above-your-party' effort to os-
tensibly secure the free coinage of sill
yer, but really to restore the Demo-
cratic party to power.
will we do it?
1--WE would rather be wOOlly dogs and
scratch the feas off the back of our
necks with our hind feet than to be
such POpulists as that. If we knew
that the Democratic party would give
us free silver, by uniting with them,
the price would be too dear. Alliance
with the Democratic party means the
undoing of 100000 Populist voters in the
Southern states, who have helped to
build up the organization under the
most trying circumstances Alliance
with the Democratic party means dis
sension, disorganization, and the de-
struction of the Peoples party"
do you think all fusionists are Of
flee hunters?"
mo; but no convention could be car
ried for fusion or Endorsement without
Office hunters in it. 1 would stake my
life on the proposition that if every man
who favored fusion was compelled to re-
nounce, for the next five years, any
official position, no convention could be
carried for it. While this is true there
are those who are deceived into believ-
ing that it is -the best thing to do and
the shortest cut to prosperity.
ut Is one of the purposes of the ma
tional organization committee to unde-
ceive those who are honestly and sim
cerely lending themselves to what must.
If persisted in, lead to the destruction
of the Peoples party and the last hope
of peaceful revolution in this country.
l cannot think that the Populists of
Ohio, with proper conception of the
situation will do thing so repugnant
to their Populists brothers in the South
and destroy the effects of their heroic
sacrifices for years.
II am a native of this state; lived in
1t until I had almost attained to- the
years of manhood; I have lived in the
South for fifteen years, and l bring q
message from the brave and self-sacri-
ficing men OF my adopted home to the
no less noble and unselflsh patriots Of
my native state, to not, by word or
deed, bind us to the living corpse that
reeks with corruption and is dishonored
with broken pledges"
"YOu have heard, suppose, that the
e-of-the-roaders in this state are
charged by their fusion brethren, Of
being in the pay of the Republicans?
Eyes, that is an old song have been
in Independent reform work all my life
and have always heard 1t. IT originated
with the Democratic politicians-or the
6ovi1-Dyo mt crro xuvh{ob r,,o. ,,aal