The advocate., 1897-09-08
AND NOW IT Is MRS. DIGGs.

Capital, the following appears
Mrs. Annie L. Diggs was in the city
yesterday, having just returned from
Iowa. where she has been making
speeches for the allied silver forces. /
am sorry Senator PETER went to Iowa,
she said. He went up there and talked
for the middle-of-the-rOad movement,
and that was wrong The anti-Republi-
cans OF Iowa are thoroughly united, and
those so-called middle-of-the-rOader are
disturbers. can't understand why Sem
atOr PETER gave his support to the dis
gruntled element And then Senator
Peffer had all along been for federation
you notice don't say fusion. He de-
clared for it at st. Louis and in the cam
paign. Why is he opposed to it now? /
shall leave that for Senator PETER to ex-
plain,
II Mrs. Diggs' body were as large and
powerful as her heart is tender and wo>
manly she could remove mountains
without the aid Of faith and If her will
were as strong as her soul is intense,
she would ride over these little quirks
and eddies in politics as trained horse
o'erleaps the hurdles in his way.
Mrs. Diggs could not be natural and be
anything other than a refOrmer, for she
was bred and moved among people OF
that class, and of the best order Of them.
Her life training, like her life itself, has
been clean. So, when the Populist party
was born, Mrs Diggs was present, she
witnessed it's baptism, prayed for its
life and vigor, has helped fight its bat
ties. and has carried it's banner on many
field. Her pen and her tongue have
been enlisted in the work. Look into
the files of the Advocate and you will
see her footprints in announcements OF
her public appointments, and in printed
articles and letters in great number scat
tered along through the years while this
new party of her choice was growing.
Probably no woman, unless we except
Mrs. Lease, has denounced "both of the
old parties" more frequently or vigor-
ously than has Mrs. Diggs. And her
denunciation was not because Republi-
cans and Democrats, considered as men,
are not as good as other people, but be-
cause the great parties to which they
belong are utterly unfit to grapple with
the problems Of the time and to adjust
the difficulties which beset u.s.
And now we find this gentlewoman
turning her back on the party which,
with her help and that Of others who
believe as she does would move the
world and set the country on its feet
again. Not only that. She is reported
in the above quoted interview as sane
tioning the effort of a faction to trade
off the party and turn its votes over to
one that has not yet got beyond the sill
yer mile post.
Mr.. PETER was invited to attend a
State convention of POpulist delegates
at Des Moines, Iowa, and deliver an
address He did so, and though he said
not word contrary to the Populist
creed, Mrs. Diggs is sorry he went, and
she asks him to explain his conduct.
Why, bless her soul, don't she remem-
Der the campaign Of 1890, when this
same man whose recent visit to Iowa
now requires an explanation went about
over the State, without ceasing or COM
planning, in response to demands of the
people, to the extent that his public
addresses delivered between April and
November occupied at least the working
hours of twenty-five full days work?
Does she remember what he and she
taught the people then? Does she re-
member how earnestly these two speak