The advocate., 1897-09-15
POpulism and BrYanism.

Editor AdvOcate:-POpulism and Bry-
anism are synonymous terms, growing
out of the same cause and aiming at the
same object Let us consider for a mo-
ment. Since the foundation OF this gov
ernment the voters have been divided
into two great parties, with one or more
dissenting parties, at nearly every Pres
idential election. 1t has been the fate
Of these third parties to disappear after
a few years, either by the disappear
ance of the cause from which they
originated, as the OConnOr Democrats
in 1872, or by some other party taking up
their issue, as the Republican party TAX
ing the side of free soil, relieved the
party of Garrison and Phillips. So it Is
with our Populist party. 1t grew out Of
the depression in prices and hard times
caused by the destruction Of silver
money as money Of ultimate redemp-
tion by this and other nations The
shrinking in prices caused almost all
productive business to be improbable
along in the eighties, when the first ef
fort of producers to stem the tide Of low
prices was by borrowing, which, owing
to the still continued shrinking in prices,
was found to but aggravate the evil Of
low prices and hard times, with no appa-
rent benefit except to mOney-lenders and
those drawing a fixed revenue. These
evils became so great that along in about
1S87-8-9 the farmers, particularly Of the
West and South, began to have meetings
and form Wheels" Farmers Mutual
Benefit Associations" Alliances" ETC.,
all with the aim and object Of, if pOssi
BILE, finding out what was the cause of
the shrinking prices and hard times, and
If possible applying the proper remedy
for their relief from such suffering and
loss Of property. These agitatiOns cul-
minated in a series Of meetings or con-
ventions in the fall of 1889 in the city Of
St. Louis, Mo-, that first drew the atten-
tion of the nation to-wit: The wheat con-
vention, called by our distinguished citi-
zen, Walter N. Allen, and if my memory
is correct, presided over by Ex-Governor
Charles Robinson, of Kansas; the first
national silver convention, presided over
by Gen. A. J. Warner, of Ohio (the writer
had the honor of being member of this
silver cOnyentiOn), and then came the
meeting of the Alliance and other kin
dred organizations, held in December,
1889. It was this meeting that issued
the platform of seven resolutions that
were rallied to so generally by all farm
organizations and were the nucleus on
which the Peoples party was rallied at
Cincinnati, Co., in 1891 and at Omaha,
Neb., in 1892; and also were the real liv-
ing issues that were engrafted in the
Chicago Democratic platform of June,
1896, on which w. ]. Bryan made his
wonderful campaign that originated the
term Organism" l will not take your
time to make any extended extracts
showing the unity of these ideas. Suf-
flee it to say that, on the issuing Of the
currency by the general government, on
the free coinage of silver, on the land
question, on taxation, and on demanding
that the money of the people shall be
taken from them only for the general
good and then carefully and econOmi-
cally expended All the essential ideas
of the original seven st. Louis resolu-
tiOns around which the hosts of reform
have gathered being engrafted in the
Chicago Democratic platform, it is nat
ural for the parties Of reform to form a
close alliance with that great Organiza-
tion.
You see from the above that regard
that you have wandered far from the
fold, as shown by your Des Moines, Iowa,
speech as set forth in the Advocate of
August 25. The difference in theory of |
Populism as represented by you and Of |
my conception of POpulism is fundamen-
tai. Your idea of Populism seems to be
to nationalize all the essentials of exist |
ence-land, labor, transportation and |
money while my idea of POpulism is that