The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1903-12-31

case In the past, there Is little ulHer-
ence of opinion among populists as TO
the economic reforms for which the
peoples party should stand. There
would probably be not dissenting
voice against the money plank de-
handing "a money, whether stamped
on gold, silver or paper, to be coined
and issued exclusively by the gov
eminent and made full legal tender
for all debts, both public and private"
There would be very few dissenting
voices against the plank demanding
"a system Of transportation, and the
transmission Of intelligence, owned by
the public and operated by the gov
eminent at cost Of service" Prob
ably the land plank Is not sufficiently
explicit to suit those populists who
are followers Of Henry George, but the
demand for abolition Of alien owner
ship Of land In itself Is rather lar
reaching. Adding to the fundamental
principles Of the Omaha platform the
demand for majority rule"--the po-
litical reform-"as an open door for
all economic reforms" and we have
an outline of platform which would
probably meet with approval from
larger Number OF populists than any
other.
. But, as has also been the case here
lofore, there is yet diversity OF
opinion as to the matter of party pol
icy--and 1t Is upon this head that
The Independent wishes to speak.
Suppose" said prominent Me-
braska populist to The Independent
the other day, suppose we assume
that Cleveland or German, OF some
body else they may name, will be
nominated by the democratic party
next year; and suppose we populisls
will already have made our nomina-
ton and are in the field before the
Kansas City platform democrats have
received their drubbing in convention
do you believe many of them would
come to us and vote our ticKetw
On receiving an affirmative answer,
he continued: well, | don't. TIE
reform democrats will not come to a
ready-made party. They will bolt;
they will organize new party OF their
own; and IL we are to accomplish any
thing, we must hold our fire until this
happens and then join forces with
them. They will join hands with us
but they won't come to us If we are
already in the fed with ticket"
Now the average "mid-roader"
would at once conclude that this pop
ulist Is simply q democrat in disguise
but there is where he would be
greatly mistaken. The populist quoted
has never been an office-seeer, but, on
the contrary, one of the hardest work.
ing, unselfish members the peo-
pies party ever had in the state. Yet
for all that, he Is greatly in error as
The Independent sees populist duty
Opportunism has had its day in the
peoples party. It has been the means
of accomplishing a great deal OF good
in many places. But II has resulted
In breaking up the party organization
which would be of no moment IL we
could rely upon one of the old par
ties to bring about the reforms de-
manded by the peoples party. The
difficulty is, however, that after alb
sorbing the major portion of about a
million popullsts, the democratic par
~ Is today face TO face with the pro-
position whether II shall continue true
TO its platforms Of 1896 and 1900, or
shall TRY something else that gives
promise OF victory" To say that
the outcome OF this struggle within
the democratic party IL problematical.