The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1898-03-23
To
~ do notb
/ \ and will
a cheap1y
ius.
CARL l.. STE CART L UMBER co..
1888 First North MInn

Massachusetts, that in New Y : had a
gold bug candidate while it atforn
was silent on the money ques.scn; that
In Greater New York, under Tammany
repudiated the Chicago platform, and
still there had the support of the lead
ers OF free silver democracy; that in
Maryland was for gold; that in PennsyI-
vania was for silver and elected gold
bugs; the party whose history tells us
that it opposes scientific money, initia-
tive and referendum, direct elections,
government ownership of railroads and
OF telegraph lines, postal savings banks;
opposes every Populist principle save
the minor ones on which fusion was
agreed in 1896 The silver Republicans
agree with us on the coinage question
Only-are enemies to all the Populist
want us to support our enemies polite
and work against what we as Peoples
party men consider to be right, Just to
get few fusionists into office if pos
s1ble and take our chances to get a free
coinage law which at its best will be
Of little benefit to the people Many Of
the would-be leaders of the peoples
party Qeaders to defeat) are in favor CT
unconstitutional fusion. They have be-
come infatuated with the idea that If
fusion succeeds the Peoples party cause
nprh9nS If
ceeds; and, of course, the Peoples party
cause would in such a case, succeed to
get quiet burial.
Fusion, whenever practiced in the
past, has always succeeded in killing
one of the parties to the deal and giving
the other tremendous setback Re-
member the fate of the greenback party
when 1t became party to a fusion deal
in 1872; the fate of the fusion between
liberal Republicans and Democrats in
1878; contrast to these the fate of the
Republican party, formed in 1S54-58, 1t
was composed of former Free Soilers,
Wings, Democrats, Know Nothings and
Abolitionists; but they did not fuse as
members Of their respective former par
ties but as men who stood for a common
principle and who gave up their former
political organizations and united in a
new in order to work for and further
their common principle. Fusion of the
first kind has never been successful and
never will be, which should be a warn
ing to the Populists today not to become
party to any such deal. 1t is about time
to quit trying to down one corrupt party
by putting in power another corrupt
party.
The fusionists are frantic in their en-
deavors to gather the so-called reform
parties to the support Of John Lind for
governor Of our state. Have these fu-
s1onists considered the impossibility Of
their scheme and don't they want to see
it? l do not always agree with the ut
terances of DR.. Johnson, but think the
doctor struck the nail fairly on the head
when in his article Of last week he
said: eff Lind could not be elected two
years ago with Clough as an opponent,
he can not be elected this year against a
strong man and possibly Swede at
that; and the rest of the ticket wouldn't
know it was in the field" Are the FL
sionists aware that the Democratic vote
in this state dwindled from 11O255 in
1888 to 1854 in 1S94-a decrease Of
over 81 per cent in six years, while the
total vote increased by 34,627; that the
Republican vote was increased in the
same time by only 1858 or about one
third Of the total increase; and that the
Peoples party, which was not in exist
ence before 1892, in 1894 polled 1880
votes, an increase of over 120 per cent
over the vote of 1892? If the Peoples
party had not been a party to fusion in
1896, there is good reason to believe
and the above figures point that way,
that the Peoples party at the next elec-
ton would have been In excellent trim
to carry the state Shall we have an
other dose of fusion and then go and
read the funeral rite over the Populist
party while the victorious Republican
machine is running on as before?
W. V. OLSON.