Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1900-06-01
THE PEOPLES PARTY.
Stands Side By Side With Democracy for
Reform.

Reform.
An eye witness of th" Peoples Party
National Convention writes:
The National Convention of the
Peoples Party, which was held at
Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on the 9th
OF May, was a gathering OF men
actuated by a sincere and earnest pur-
pose. No Democrat could have been
:here and observed the action of the
convention without being impressed
by the fact that men were gathered
, there who had for their single purpose
the desire to advance the cause of
Democracy, and particularly the inter
ests of Mr.. w. J. Bryan. In the five
years that have spent at Sioux Falls
| heard no word from any representa-
tive of either faction there which did
not indicate the most sincere desire to
help Bryan's cause. 1t is true that
there was difference of opinion as to
the best method to be adopted. There
are those who felt, as / am frank to
say felt, that the wiser course would
be to make no nomination for Vice
President, but to let that matter go
over to the Conference committee
There were others just as sincere and
just as honest in their purpose as we,
who felt strongly that the best thing
to do was to put full ticket in the
field. They ultimately triumphed,
but among those who antagonized this
action there is no bitterness of feeling,
because we are not so sure that we
were right, that now having been
beaten We would oppose the action
taken. Every man who was active in
1896, every man who since the defeat
of that year has kept actively at work
in Mr.. Bryan's behalf, knows Charles
A. Towne to be one OF our best, truest
and ablest friends. We can have no
apprehension that out OF his nomina-
ton shall proceed any sort of danger
to the Democratic party-or, rather,
the three allied parties, each OF which
deserves equal consideration. If the
Democratic party shall nominate Mr..
h.. r,s1l v,,olyn ofr onxl
admirable candidate. If the Demo
cratic party shall have reasons which
may develop between now and July
4th to decline to nominate him, no
one who knows him will apprehend
that he will make any trouble for the
allied parties. And so the nomina-
tion OF Towne may be looked upon as a
thoroughly friendly nomination.
The platform adopted by the Peoples
Party goes perhaps little bit beyond
the views with the Democracy is will
ing to stand for, and yet as read it.
it seems to me that it will be Of very
material effect in outlining the plat.
form which the Democratic Conven-
ton shall adopt. 1t is Populist
platform undoubtedly, but it is not an
extremely radical one.
But the vital thing about this con-
vention, the one for which it is well
for all Of us to keep in mind when we
read OF it, or speak Of it, is that the
convention showed the most notable
and self-sacrificing desire to help
Democracy in every way. The men
who led it are the men who stand
courageously for the principles that
the Democratic party stands for.
Such statesmen as General James B.
Weaver, Senators Pettigrew, Butler,
Heitfield and Allen. Jerry Simpson,
"Cyclone" Davis, DIR. Howard s.
Taylor, Tom Patterson and their
sort, are men who are essentially
Democrats, and they controlled that
gathering. 1t is true that they were
not all united in their views of the
course to be adopted, but it is equally
true that all are united in the one
single purpose, to advance the inter-
ests of Mr.. Bryan and OF the policy for
which he stands.
The Democracy has reason to be
pleased with the action of the Sioux
Falls convention, and it has every
reason to feel that out of that action
shall come even a more intimate tie
than that which bound the fusion
forces in 1896. There will be stories
printed of dissension and irreconcila-
BILE antagonism, but they will be
stories emanating from the enemy
and printed in papers which we know
to he antapOnistic To our cause