The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1898-11-29
TaR SITUATION AS BRO. M0YE
SRGS 1T.

Correspondence Of the Progressive Farmer,
That reform" In North Carolina has
indeed received O decided ''set back"
no one ConSonant OF. our present posi-:
ton In politics will for q moment gain.
say. The cause or causes Of this deplor.
able state isnot 90 well recognized by
an, i-indeed BY any Of Us. Still I have
my Jews. andtfor the amusement Of
some Of my late colleagues I will give
it, or maybe them, to yOu for publiCas
ton.
First, it is @ settled conviction with
me that the immediate occasion at
least Of 90 overwhelming q defeat at
the polls in November last was the
split in the Populist party i'm the last
General Assembly. A young party, ?
minority party, o party tARt pro
bclaimedft to the world that the Two old
parties were rotten, boss ridden, mo
nopoly governed and false to the best
interest OF the common people-fof
such q party to split for any cause
would have been disastroup, but that
its members in the second legislature
Of its existence should act so unWiSe as
to divide and form two separate eau
cuses and the minority part OF them
Join with one Of the old parties, the one
against whom the majority Of the peo-
pie had only three months before
voted against,
WAS CERTAINLY SUICIDAL
Any politician Of any prescience knew
it and we little fellows just felt it.
The people Of North Carolina, the
white people, at least, are not Republi-
cans. They are prej1diced against
that party and all the teachings Of the
Populist party were such az to drive
honest refoPmers further from that
party. II we had instilled into our
followers any one thing it was that one
little thing that we must have before
any permanent benefit was to accrue
to the cotton planter YES the free and
unlimited coinage Of silver. Then we
were going to abolish National banks
and issue currency direct to the PEG
pie. This, at least, was only prelimi-
nary.
The Republicans in this State in 1892
were, or pretended they were, with
US upon these two Issues. In "a they
were also advocating these reforms.
In go q msj 0rity Of the delegates to the
Republican National Convention voted
against the gold plank in their plat
form, but as it was inserted contrary
to their views and they Wer outvoted,
nearly every prominent Republican in
the State Immediately become con-
verted to the gold standard. They
failed to realize how much they we're
leopard Eng their prospects for any
voice in State matters One at least
saw the danger and pointed it out to
them, but without avail. J. Wiley
Shook advised the Republicans IT to
put out any candidates for electors but
to vote for Bryan and Watson. Now
I believe, and I believed Thea, that to
! have been THE ONLY WISE COURSE the
only procedure that could have saved
the fusion forces. Jim Young advo.
Gated in his paper the same thing and
was only choked of when the Execu.
tive Committee of the r publican
party threatened to expel him from the
committee il he did not Geese writing
such editorials. Senator Butler saw
the danger and therefore proposed
fusion with the Democrats, which
might have been consumated had not
the Democrats believed the anti Butler
element in the party was too strong foI
him to control it. ALI our ills date
from about this time.
A second blunder was made when
the Republicans nominated q ticket
ahead of the Populists and placed 6
candidate upon it for Governor expect
ing at the same time to receive the
Senator, In fact, the under deg waG
getting on top. The party whom G
On Irity Of the whites did not want
and we're not in sympathy with wal
assuming to lead.
We also made a serious blunder ir
nominating a skeleton ticket, in the
nomination Of Guthrie and Dockery
Why they we're nominated / have
never heard any man explain. Maj
Guthrie's environments were such al
to utterly prevent him from being anG
remaining a Simon pure Populist. AnC
as for Col. Dockery-he had 30 recent
ly left the old party and had beer
blind so long that he could at best only
see men as trees walking.
Two more unfit men with equal abil
ity and character could not have beer