Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1899-12-27
THE PROPER WAY.
vention and Third Party Men Run Their
Convention Upon Independent Lines.


vention and Third Party Men Run Their
Convention Upon dependent Lines.
The Kansas City Times, a demo-
cratic newspaper, under the caption
"A Split in the Populist Camp" writes
as follows:
Even at this distance from the ma
tional conventions of 1900 n bolt in
one of the three parties is a Ger
tainty. The populist national con-
vention will be a double-barreled af-
fair. Kansas populists recognize this
much and are sleeping on their arms.
The middle-of-thc-roader it will be
remembered, met at Cincinnati in
July last and nominated Wharton
Barker, of Philadelphia, for president,
somebody from the south for vice
president, and adopted platform
which was a defiance of the fusion
populists, the world, the flesh and the
devil, to do their worst.
Things have been shaping them
selves in democratic as well as popu-
list circles since that time for a CO.
operation of anti-republican forces.
Western populists are very thorough
ly in line with the national demo-
cratic organization SO far as Bryan,
opposition to trusts, tax upon peo-
Piles fighting for their independence
and opposition to the perfection of
the imperialistic programmes are con-
cerned. This is true of Kansas popu-
lists, of the populist organization in
Nebraska, which only recently partici-
pated in n magnificent victory, and
the populists of all states in the west
| and northwest which can be carried
by fusion of anti-republican forces
for Mr.. Bryan.
"The populist organizations in these
states thoroughly understand each
other. and they propose to hold a ma
tional populist convention, which is
expected to meet, and in all probabil-
ity will meet, at the same time and
place as the regular democratic con-
vention.
''But a populst convention cannot
well be held without permitting the
middle-of-the-roaders to participate
in it. The dle-of-the-roaders will
be entitled TO delegation from New
Hampshire or Vermont or Maine,
states in which, all told, they would
not poll perhaps 500 votes, and these
niddle-of-the-road states, according
to the usual convention custom of
permitting two delegates for each
senator and representative in con-
gress, will have an overwhelming ma
jority in the convention. To put it
differently, the states in the union
which, all told, do not poll as many
populist votes as either Kansas or Ne
braska, will have clear majority in
the convention, and the states in
which the populists are a power
would be powerless to help them
selves if they should abide by the de-
terminations of the middA-of-the-
roaders to run things.
But they're not going to stand it,
and two plans of procedure have al
ready been discussed. One of them
is to call n populist convention to be
composed of those who ctood by the
3ryan ticket in 1896, and refuse ad-
mittance to the middlc-of the readers
on the ground that they had already
met in convention and nominated
their candidate. Another plan is to
proceed with the convention and if
the middle-of the-roaders insist upon
forcing Wharton Barker upon them,
to withdraw and declare for Mr.. Bry-
an. But the populists of the Bryan
stripe would much prefer to have the
middle-of-the-roaders take the initia-
tive in the national convention dis
turbance. They are, however, deter
mined to promote the candidacy of
Mr.. Bryan and will declare for him in
the states essential to his success, no
matter what the middle-of-the-road-
ers may do
1t will be noticed that the Times
does not mention silver, or public own
ership of public utilities, or the initia-
tive and referendum. 1t also fails to
mention the fact that the south is
likely to send solid delegations to the
national democratic convention in ia
vor of expansion and the retention Of
the Philippine islands. Nor does it
call attention to the further fact that
quite number of democrats voted for
the referendum currency bill, and
that Mr.. Richardson, the democratic
leader, was afraid to call caucus for
the reason that an out-and-out free
silver proposition might have been
agreed upon and then there would
have been detection of 25 or 80 dem
ocrats. He thought it safer to let the
ten or dozen out-and-out gold stand
ard men go, than to chance a much
wider division in the party.
Washing dirty linen, like charity,
should always begin at home