The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-07-28
WHAT HAS BECOME OF THE POP.
ULIST PARTY.

A correspondent writes and asks:
s'What has become of the Populist par
ty in North Carolina? / never see any
now except men who call themselves
Populists but are holding Federal Of
fees and trying to get people to vote
for gold bugs"
Nearly all the Populists have come
back to the Democratic party. Butler
is no longer a Populist, though he
may still call himself ''Populist' in or
der thereby, to quote his own words,
''to better serve the Republican party"
On the stump for the Democratic
ticket today or advocating the amend
ment at their homes are Maj. w. A.
Guthrie, Populist candidate for Gov
ernor in 1896; l.. c. Caldwell, Esq,
Populist Chairman of the Railroad
Commissions; Hon. Jno. w. Atwater,
member of Congress from the Fourth
district; NJ. III. III. Caldwell, Esq, Pop
ulist candidate for Congress in 1898
Boggs, Populist candidate for Con-
gress in the, Ninth district; DIR. ii. F..
Freeman, Populist candidate for Con-
gress in the Second district in 1896,
and w. +. Fountain, Populist candi-
date for Congress in 1898; Hon. Chas.
H. Martin, Populist member of Con-
gress from the Sixth district from
1895 to 1899; Mr.. A. c. Green, Weaver
elector in 1892; Hon. w. f. Strowd,
Populist member of Congress from the
Fourth district from 1895 to 1899, and
an hundred others of the leaders of
influence in their section. In Wake
county alone there are one thousand
men who were Populists in 1894 who
are now Democrats. The same is true
all over the State.
Where is the Populist party? or
the $4,000 votes polled in 1892, thirty
five thousand have come back to the
Democratic party, ten thousand are
Mckinley Republicans in everything
except name and will support Mckin-
lev. leaving but two thousand Pop
ulists in the whole State who are being
sold out by Butler to the Hanna ma
chine. They do not get anything
Butler monopolizes the money and the
offices and distributes McKinleys
patronage He holds on to these men
by telling them that he is true to the
Populist party and is only using the
Republicans to carry out Popul1st
principles" He has ordered them to
vote for gold bug, corporation-rid-
den Republican for GOVERNOR Adams,
Republican of the Mckinley stripe.
is the Fusion candidate for GovernOr).
Once that order would have meant
thousands of votes, now it means
only 10000 votes, 10000 of whom
would vote the Republican ticket any
way. They stay in the Populist party
for no other reason than to help But
Ter control It's conventions for the
Republican machine. In Chatham
county, the stronghold of the Popu-
lists. the Populist county candidates,
when asked if they would vote for
Bryan, lodged the question and de-
clined to answer. They will vote for
Bryan or Mckinley, which ever way
advances their political fortunes. In
the recent Populist State convention,
quite a number of the leaders were
Federal office-holders.
In the present campaign, Duncan,
Revenue Collector, Holton, District
Attorney, Pritchard, Jim Young,
(col.). Revenue officer, and Butler are
the Big Five conducting the Fusion
campaign. The Mckinley offce-hold-
ers have three out of the five. Every
cent of the campaign fund, which is
large, has, come from McKinley's Of
fice-holders and the Republican Ma
tional committee. Butler is in daily
and nightly conference with all these
four gold bugs, or part of them, and
together they have managed the cam
paign. The Populists see Buffers as
sociations and know that he has sold
them out, and they have joined the
only party in North Carolina that
stands for the principles of the Chi
cago platform. 8
s The Populist party, once strong and