The San Francisco call., 1898-06-04
THIRD PARTY
 DISAPPEARING  Losing It's Identity in
 California. ONE RESULT OF FUSION
PoPULIST VOTE DWINDLING
 RAPIDLY.
Data of the Last Election Indicative of the Early and Complete Ob- liberation of This Political
 Faction.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

SACRAMENTO, June 3-The Peo- ple's party is losing it's identity in the State of California. Secretary of State Brown on May 2S sent a circular letter to the various County Clerks through out the State, in which he asked for the following information:
 Will you kindly favor me by sending to this office the total Peoples party vote in your county at the election of 1896. 1 wish only the total and not the detailed vote. The vote was added to that of the Democratic party, and, thinking perhaps you had it segregated, l have taken the liberty to write. Ii certain said vote without going to too much trouble 1 would appreciate the favor.
 Replies have been received from Mono Inyo, San Mateo, Butte, San Luis ObispO, MOdoc, Fresno, San Fran cisco, Monterey, Kings and Kern coun- ties The reply in each instance states that by reason of the fusion with the Democrats no record was obtained showing the number of votes cast by the Populists. The Clerk of Kern County writes:
 The Peoples party did not have ticket in the field. but fused with the Democrats and generally voted that ticket, SC there is nothing to show what their strength was.
 All the other replies are in substance the same.
 Were it not for the fact that several :. Republican counties returned the Pop ulist vote as segregated, the Populists. would at the coming election be- with out. the means of showing the. percent age of their vote, and. not being able to show 3 per cent of the vote, cast, they could not be recognized as a political organization. and. the only way they could secure a place on the State ticket would be. by petition.
 The counties which returned no seg- regation of the vote were Colusa, El- dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Kern, Kings. Lake, Madeira, ModOc, San Benito, San Francisco, SisBiyou, Stanislaus and Tulare. All these being Democratic counties it would seem that it was the design of the Democracy to oblfterate all traces of the Popufists as a party. The present scheme to fuse under the head of Democracy will In all proba- biAty, if carried out, result ia the final obliteration. of the Populists as party =:
 Secretary of State Brown, in speak ing of the endeavor to. bring about a fusion, said to-day:
 r' ~."It is amusing to note the .eagerness which the leaders of the Democrats dis play in their. endeayor: to bring about I Populisfs fuse. with the Democracy, having in view the accomplishment of but one of it's several principles (and the two parties agree on silver only, with that question being national, and not State), they are nothing more nor less than an annex in disguise to the Democratic party. If, after the treat ment accorded the Peoples Party by its partner in fusion at the election in 1896 wherein a determined effort was made by the State Democratic Com mittee to wipe 1t out of existence, by having it's vote counted in with the Democratic group only, and the action of the national committee in ignoring the Peoples Party candidate, Watson, the. party enters into a coalition with the Democracy at this time, 1t will be its ending.
 'In. the election of 1892, the Peoples Party vote was, approximately, 25.000. In the State election of 1894. only two years subsequent, it equaled nearly 52,- 00O In 1896, under fusion, for the first time, the vote fell on the face of the returns to %, 900. In the very nature of things the larger and older party, if fusion continues, will utterly engulf the other. The smaller organization in fu- sion, loses it's individuality and char acter, being overwhelmed by the larger of the two parties. If it is the desire of the Peoples Party to live only for a day, as 1t were, it could not do better than to keep up fusion.
 ''In arranging the fusion. ballot, 1t will be impossible to have the names of the two political parties opposite the names of their candidates, because the votes cannot be segregated. The only course fusionists can pursue is to al- ternate with the names of their respec- tive parties, and that can be brought about only by making alternative nom nations in their conventions. The Silver Republicans, should they enter the fusion scheme, will have to petition, and. if the name Silver Republican ap- pears opposite the name of either can didate of the other two parties, then it kills the two organizations for the fu- ,ture, because it would be impossible to segregate the vote of the two, and thereby determine which received the per cent of all the votes cast " That the Populists have suffered greatly from. their affiliation with the Democrats is demonstrated by the fol- lowing facts:
 In 1894, without fusion, they cast 2S5 votes in Amador; in 1896, with fusion, they cast 75 votes in Amador.
 In 1894, without fusion, they cast 557 votes in Tehama; in 1896, with fusion, they. cast 294 votes in Tehama
 In 1894, without fusion, they cast Al votes in Yolo; in 1896, with fusion, they cast .95 votes in Yolo.
 In 1894, without fusion, they cast 945 votes in Mandocino; in 1896, with fu- sion.. they cast 3S2 votes in Mendocino.