The Minneapolis journal., 1902-06-27
One of the Reasons Alleged for
Lind's Withdrawal.
A FULL POP TICKET TO BE NAMED
Party Leaders Admit This Means
Van SAINTS Election, but Prin-
cipIes Must BE Maintained.

IL Is aueReQ LnaI the COlel Ol tAeSe
reasons was the positive information
conveyed to him, through S. NJ. owen.
representing the state populist forces,
that he could not hope for the support OF
that party. ,''E
The populists did not like Mr.. Lind's
open confession, made last winter, that
he was a democrat. This Of itself. how
ever, probably would not have caused
them to withdraw their support and de-
eide to make Independent nominations
this year, but when taken in connection
with the fact that, under existing state
laws, they would be wiped out as a pol1t-
ical party by fusion in the present cam
paign, their leaders were satisfied that
they could not afford to indorse L1nds 8
nomination ty the democrats. :
1t is said to Q ourn ~, on the
authority Of one OF the leading populists
in the state, that notice to Kind that ne
could not expect populist support this
year was served on him In this city. by
Mr.. Owen last week Thursday or Friday
The letter to Mr.. Rosing was published
Immediately thereafter Lind wrote the
letter, according to this gentleman, just
as soon as he discovered the true situa-
| tion in the populist party. He had been
counting heavily on populist Endorsement,
and knowing that he would stand no
chance to win without 1t. he quickly look
definite stand as soon as the truth was
told him. >,'.. @~-..- -'- r~-. -
The action of the populists was not
hasty. According to the story as 1t
reaches b e J o u u a !, they had been
discussing the matter for several months.
They had nothing against Lind person
ally, and believed that he had made
good governor. They believed in him
thoroughly in every way, and at heart
many Of them wanted to support him
! again. AS stated, Lind's statemen. that
he was democrat did not take we'll
among the poprlists, but they were pre-
pared to overlook that, other conditions
| being favorable to fusion. There was
conference in Minneapolis In which the
! leading populists of the state took part
| It is not understood that all OF those
participating in 1t were here at the same
| time, but they all talked to Mr. owen
and asked him to be their spokesman
| with the former governor. They were
| Of one mind, after the situation mad
| been presented to them in detail. The
| populist party had it's existence at stake,
| and must, therefore, make an, 1ndepend-
| ent campaign this year. It could not IN
| dorse the nominee of democratic con-
vention. The matter was gone over
| thoroughly. Men who did not. come 10
Minneapolis we're consulted by letter:
Everybody was agreed that Mr.. LIND
| would have to run, If at all, as demo-
! crat, and rely on democratic votes for
his success Mr. Owen was requested 70
bear this message to the former governor
which he did. The famous letter, which
| upset the plans Of the democratic con-
| vention, was then written
What the Pops VIII Do.
'The letter would have been written
earlier" says T h e ] Journa Is inform
ant, chad the :populists come to con. co
clusion earlier. 1t is our judgment that
Mr.. Lind would have quietly accepted the
democratic nomination had he been as
sured that we would indorse it next
week. ~
"What will your convention do?" was
asked. ~....... . 49,. .,, .>.... :. .~.- - -.
1T will nominate either Hompe of Fer
gus Falls, or Ringdahl Of Crookston. one
Of them will accept. Personally pre-.
fer Ringdahl, although I think that
Hompe will be nearly as strong. We will
nominate an independent ticket from TOT
to bottom, and go into the campaign witt
the intention of polling one-half, or Two
thirds as many votes as the democrats. ::
II realize that our proposed action VII
mean the triumphant re- election OF var
SAINT, but that can't be helped. -There If
something more at stake for us now thar
the election of this or that man to Of
fice. We want to preserve the identity
Of our party, for we don't know what k1ne
of situation the country may be IN II
1904. With Hill and Cleveland appar'
emily bent on disrupting the democratic
party, we want to be in position to prom
by the promised upheaval. We hope, II
the event of It's coming, that we will bt
known as the second great party OF the
country in point of numbers, instead o
w. being the third. We believe: that ths
future is big with promise for an or
ganization such as ours, and so those Q
US who are in Minnesota don't propose t.
allow the democrats In the present cam
!
l do under fusion. The populists In othe
states may fuse or not, as they see ut
State laws will govern them. In ~
| Judgment, however, there will be no fu
l sion in state whose laws relating u
that question are framed as the laws Q
| Minnesota are framed The pobulist
as party, the country over. are expect
l ing to have an Important part in the po
] litical campaigns Of the immediate III
| ture." s' = ... -
| Back to Omaha Platform.
| stWhat will you do as to PLATFORM" wa
] the next question. ST.
1--WE will be conservative. going bac
to the basic principles of the Omaha plat
| form Of our people. We shall not de
] nounce trusts, the merger and. .simila
things, as the democrats did on Wednes
day, because we realize that these thing
are coming about as the result of nat
ural law The old days of competitiv
strife are passing away, never to return
and the days of cooperation are at HAND
Trusts, mergers, etc., are merely indiea
tions Of the change. They can't
stopped" s.t
The foregoing statements do not agre
with the opinion Of many democrats, an
republicans, which is that Mr.. Lind q
no time had intended to permit the us
of his name in the democratic conven
i II - ~ q nnI
representing, as it seems to do, the opin
ion of the leaders Of the populist part
on that interesting question. Whateve
the real truth may be, the populists az
pear to be confident that Mr.. Lind woul
have permitted the democratic .conver
ton to nominate him. had he not bee
assured authoritatively that it was tt
| intention Of the populists to "go,it alone
this time.
| BY way Of completing this story,
should be said, on teh same authorit
l that the Hennepin populists are very am
\ ,ious IN jOin with44the democrats In sui