New-York tribune., 1900-08-29
THE PoPULIsT SURRENDER.

In countenaDcing the withdrawal of Charles
A. Towne and accepting Adlai E. Stevenson as
a Vice-Presidential candidate the Populist
leaders at Chicago last Monday confessed to q
collapse Of party vigor and party sentiment
which has long been anxiously but unsuccess-
fully concealed, That collapse may be said to
date from the merger Of Populist hopes and
fortunes in the triple coalition struck four years
ago to push the single issue Of free silver coin
age. Having attained its greatest strength
through accessions from the silver imitation ele-
ments in the two older parties, the Populist
organization fatuously choked it's own sources
Of growth when it united with triumphant
Silver Democrats and seeding Silver Republi-
cans to elect President and Congress pledged
to the establishment Of the single silver stand
ard The more wary Of the Populist leaders at
st. Louis In 1896 this peril and sought to
hold the party organization intact by insisting
on the nomination Of a separate Populist can
didate for Vice-President The Bryan -SeWall
Bryan-Watson canvass resulted, with all its
complicated and irritating maneuVres for cleo
toral fusion and personal harmony. But the
Watson nomination had at least the merit of
forcing recognition of the Populist organization
such in Western and Southern States. in
which it had hitherto been treated by its Dem
ocratic ally with studied insult and neglect In
most Of these States hitherto despised Populist
leaders were welcomed to Fusion councils and
put on Fusion electoral tickets, while at Ma
tional headquarters at Chicago Popuist ad-
visers like Butler, of North Carolina; Allen Of
Nebraska, and Simpson, Of Kansas, welded an
influence wholly disprOportiOnate 10 the strength
of the forces they represented and led.
In political coalitions it is generally the fate
Of the weaker organization to be dissolved and
hoo laH nv fk,a r4rO
the POpulist party since Colonel Bryan's first
defeat for the Presidency enforces the validity
Of this theorem Of political mechanics Since
1896 POpulism has shrunk as a political force
to almost pitiable dimensions. Its National
leaders have vanished. Kyle, Stewart and
Pcffer have abandoned its doctrines Simpson.
Allen and Butler have gone down successively
In defeat The Populst National Convention,
held last May at Sioux Falls, was the mere
shadow In numbers and enthusiasm of that
held at st. Louis In 1896. It's proceedings were
controlled and dictated on the one hand by
Colonel Bryan's Democratic lieutenants, on the
other by Silver Republicans looking for assist
ance In purely selfish political ventures, like
Dubois, of Idaho; TOwne, Of Minnesota, and
Pettigrew The place of honor on its National
ticket it gave to Colonel Bryan, who described
himself at the notification ceremonies at Topeka
last Thursday as candidate drawn from the
ranks Of another party" The Vice Presidential
nomination 1t bestowed on a political eclectic
who, failing TO get a supplementary indorso
ment AT Kansas City. returned the proffered
distinction with the embarrassing but candid
query. Whom could such phantom candidacy
deceiveT Certainly after such disclosure Of
political decadence the representatives OF the
Peoples party could do nothing more becoming
than to drop the masquerading PopuIist nomi-
nee rejected at Kansas City and substitute the
straight out Democratic rival preferred in his
stead
Broken In numbers and organization through