The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-11-18

The PcpuIist Leader Gives His Vteus
ON he Recent E1ection-Hc says
= There Is No Hope in the Democratic
Party-Bryan Not Apt to Regain
Control

1ttctc - No IhokG
Party-Bryan Not Apt to Regain
Control
New York. November 13.-Thomas 4
Watson today gave out he following
statement:
1T should be borne In mind that the
time that the Springfield convention
rendered me the presidential nominal
ton. the People's party had no real
existence as a factor in national poll
tia for eight years.N In the president
tia election of 1900 II gave its nomi-
nee only 5000 votes. TO that extent
the fusion OF 1886 swallowed Up a move
ment, which in 1894 counted nearly
1000. eco of votes and about 1900 active
newspapers. and. therefore, we haa 10
build from the ground up In 1904. Ne
had almost nothing to start with ID
the way OF party organization, cam
paign funds and newspaper support;
we had only three months in which TO
work. These things being first consid-
cred, some fair idea OF what was ac-
ccmplished can be had only when the
official returns are known. Up 10 this
time no official statement has been
made of the vote, and I a only guess
what it was from information convey
ed to me by friends in various parts
of the country. These sources. OF
course, are not very reliable. Baslng an
estimate upon them. however. my opin-
ion is that l received something like a
half million votes. scattered through
so many states, North and South. East
and West, to indicate that the senti-
ment which gives its normal support TO
the Peoples party is national and not
sectional.
Il nave found everywhere mat the
current was strong n deep in favor
of J~effersonian Democracy. l believe
today that, if all those who believe in
that theory of government could be
united in harmony, we could sweep the
country. Mr.. Roosevelt's overwhelm-
ing majority was not so much due TO
the fact that our people believe in class
legislation and the reign of special priv
ileges. 1t was not by any means an
endorsement of corporation tyranny,
the greed of the trusts OF the methods
OF combined capital. Mr.. Roosevelts
majority over Mr.. Parker was due
mainly to two things. One was the
immense personal popularity of Mr..
Roosevelt himself, and the other was
the immense unpopularity OF Mr.. Cleve-
lands second administration. Unfor-
tunately for Mr.. Parker. he became so
completely identified with the
ers who ~plundered the government dur
ing Mr.. C1eveland's second administra-
ton that he had to a all the odiun
which they had incurred. The peopla
have never had a chance TO show just
what they thought of thai second ad-
m~inistration. Mr.. organs two cam
paigns did not give them the opportun-
ity;. it was only when the old Cleveland
combination secured the defeat OF Bry-
an and Hearst and dictated the nomina-
nation Of Mr. Parker that the masses
got the opportunity to vent upon a
national candidate the intense hatred
which they had been nursing for years
against such men as Olney and Bel
mont and Carlisle and Cleveland him.
self. They knew that I could not be
elected, and they were so lager to make
the best of the opportunity to safe
guard the country against a repetition
of that saturnalia Of class legislation
which marked C~leveIand's second al
m~inistration, that they rushed to
Roosevelt and gave him a majority
hic does not under ordinary circum-
stances belong to the Republican party.
In other words, the personality of Mr..
Roosevelt and the u~npopularity OF Par
ker'S environment carried into the Re-
publican column vast multitudes OF
men who, under ordinary circum-
stances, would not be found there.
MY own plans for the future en-
brace a complete organization of tho
people along the lines of Jeffersonian
Democracy, the establishment OF re-
form papers and a systematic propa-
ganda of Jeffersonian principles IN
order that in 1908 there shall be a party
of genuine opposition to the Republi-
can party and its present policies. If
political history teaches anything 1t is
that old parties never accomplish any
reform unless the yare irreSltiDly oriV-
en- to 1t by pressure from without. l
hope at least to be Of some use to my
country in aiding those who will apply
that pressure. 1t is immaterial to
me who does the work which the re-
formers want done 50 that the work
itself is done.
Il have no faith whatever that re-
forms will be accomplished by the
Democratic party. It is discredtted
il the eyes Of h people by a series
Of crushing defeats; but il has been %
vscillating in its course, 1t has changed
it's principles so often, has run from
one extreme to another 81 recently. a
such a magnificent opportunity in 1892
to work out the reforms to which II
stood pledged and made such a wretch
ed use of tina opportunity, that it an
-. n.~;-- 4ha narGdanna which 1eai de