The Washington times., 1901-08-25
The Passing of PopuIism.

ports of the Populist convention jus,
held in Iowa. The delegates in attend
ance are said to have numbered abou,
twenty, and this in one of the formerly
strong and enthusiastic centres of Pop
ulism. There can be no doubt that the
Peoples Party has about run its course
and that it is no longer political factor
to be reckoned with seriously. save in
those localities where it may chance to
hold the balance of power between the
two great parties.
The rise and fall of political organiZa-
| tons is not a new thing in American
history. The Federal party, although
| containing many of the greatest intel
lects of the country, went out of exist
ence as result of its opposition to the
second war with England The Wing
party was disrupted and destroyed by
the slavery question. The Free Soil
| and Abolition parties were absorbed
| into the Republican organization. The
| causes which have virtually put an end
| to Populism are just as obvious, al
| though not quite so simple. The party
was not formed for the propagation of
some one clearly marked and easily dis
| tingriished principle. Its creed was es-
sentially conglomerate, consisting of
many economic fads and fancies, almost
| every one Of which was a direct attack
| upon existing economic and social con-
ditions. Some of the contentious of the
Populists were theoretically correct;
but with the exception of the free silver
proposition not one of them had ever
been put into practical operation, and
the Populistic doctrine as a whole was
nothing less than revolutionary As
rule the Populist was mere theorist
who lost sight of the great truth that
abstract theories of government must,
in large measure. yield to established
conditions.
Such creed was alarming to the con-
sentative thought of the country, and
many who fully appreciated the need
of reform were repealed by the radical
character of the proposed Populistic
remedies. The doctrines of the party
appealed chiefly to most visionary and
erratic classes, and naturally it became
the political home of every unbalanced
and cranky reformer In the country.
There were, it is true, some able men
in the party. but it is also true that it's
doctrines in their entirety were never
accepted by the best and highest intelli-
gence of the country.
The most conservative feature of the
Populist creed, and the only one which
had stood the test of practical ex-
perience, was the demand for free sill
yer coinage. and this was the one for
which the average Populist cared the
least. He really wanted no coinage at
all. His desire was for great volume
of paper money, and he merely accept
ed the silver coinage proposition be-
cause he thought il better to increase
the money volume in that way than not
to increase it at all. There are many
very able men who believe that the
world will ultimately gravitate to a
scientific paper money system, regu-
lated as to quantity by certain fixed
adopted, II can only be done by almost
insensible degrees-the paper gradually
creeping in and crowding out the coin.
The worlds business thought is not
highly educated in economics but It is
intelligent enough to fear sudden
changes of a sweeping character, the !
full effect of which no man can know |
with certainty. The basic error of Pop |
ulism lay in its failure properly TO esti- !
mate the force of this feeling. and 1t !
appealed mainly to those OF visionary |
character and those who had nothing to |
lose.
But Populism is not to be judged too |
harshly. In a measure 1t was born of |
conditions. Abuses of a grave charac-
ter had crept into the policy of the Re-
publican party, and like the Granger
Populism was in the nature
of revolt against those abuses. 1t |
attained its greatest strength in the
Valley, where the people felt
heavily over the land. and among the
agricultural classes the burden was al
most too great to be borne. 1t was the
most natural thing in the world for
them to seek relief. and to go to ex-
tremes in doing so. The most Of these
people were intelligent, but not care
fully educated. They reached out blind
ly. for relief and grasped at everything
that seemed to promise 1t. They read
just enough of political economy to get
a glimmering of abstract truth, but
their education was not sufficient to en-
able them to apply the truth intelligent
" to concrete and long established con-
1itions. No party thus constituted can
ever become dominating force in such
A country as this.
In this connection 1t is proper to re-
mark that in not more than one or two
instances have the Populist leaders
elected to high station been anything
above mediocrity In point of ability.
The most of them have been below that
grade. and some of them have been OBJ
iects of ridicule even with their own
party associates. Nor Is ii altogether
tut of place to observe that many of the
1oisiest, the fussiest. the crankiest, and
east consequential OF the lot are now
snugly back into the bosom of the Re-
publican party.
But our main purpose is merely to
lote the passing of Pcpulism. and brief
y point to the cause. 1t is simply i'm
possible for any party to succeed in this