Evening star., 1923-08-05
FARMER-LABOR PARTY
LIKE POPULISTS OF 9OS
Based as Was Other Movement Upon
Agriculture's Dissatisfaction With
Distressing Conditions.

populst ticket received twenty-five cleo
toral votes and popular vote of |, ,055,-
424. In those days the population Of the
United States ran around $4,000. 600
| and the women were not voting in
most of the states-so the populist
vote was a sizeable factor.
In the succeeding years the demo
| Gratis were more and more bitten with
the ideas of the populists. until in
| 1896 they well-nigh swallowed up the
populist party. naming as their candi-
date for President william Jennings
Bryan, who also was the selection
of the populists in convention. There
used to be an expression in the north
west as follows: Scratch a populist
and you find democrat" But in
1896 the populists insisted upon nam
| ing Thomas f. Watson of Georgia as
their vice presidential candidate
along with Mr.. Bryan for the presi
dency The democrats. on the other
hand. named w. j. Sewall of Maine
as their candidate for the vice presi-
dency. The election in November re
suited in the cast of 176 electoral
votes for Bryan. 149 for SewalI. the
democratic candidate for Vice Presi-
dent, and II for Tom Watson.
United Forces Beaten.
The populists had thrown in their
fortunes with the democrats in this
year to a very large extent and the
democrats had sought to make capt.
tai out of the populist movement.
The more conservative elements in
the country, however. had defeated
them both the gold democrats and
republicans lining up against Bryan.
Will the democrats seek to swallow
the farmerlaborites. or will the re-
publicans do so? Or will the farmer
la borites be successful in swallowing
up one of the two old parties? or
course. the new party would like very
70 ~ i.l y
result. Time alone will show the out
come of the present resumption of
the agricultural political movement.
The same efforts are being made to-
day to hook up together the dis
gruntled farmers and the laboring
men. AS matter of fact. however,
la bor is being we'll paid at present.
and there is a demand for labor. even
to the extent of seeking to let down
the immigration bars. The interests
of the farmers. who produce what
Ia bor desires to purchase as Cheaply
as possible. and the interests of labor,
whose products the farmers desire to
purchase as cheaply as may be, have
never in the past run along together
very we'll The very economic ques-
tions involved make il extremely
doubtful that these two interests will
ever be one and the same.
Had Force in Congress.
had its representatives in the Senate
and House-in fact, to a greater ex-
tent probably than she farmer-labor
party will be represented in the next
Congress. In the Senate was Peffer
of Kansas and Kyle of South Dakota
who was dubbed an independent. but
really elected by the populists after
an historic battle in the state legis-
lature. when the present Senator from
South Dakota. Mr.. Sterling. was the
republican candidate for the Senate.
In the House was Tom Watson, who
died as democratic member of the
Senate: "Sockless" Jerry Simpson of
Kansas: William Baker and John
Davis. also of Kansas. and Lafe Pence
of Colorado. all stalwart members of
the peoples party. Their speeches of
thirty years ago read today like the
fulminations from Johnson. Shipstead,
| Brookhart and others.
| Tom Watson did accomplish one
important measure for the farmers
! He was the father of the bill estab
fishing the rural free delivery OF mail
matter. But the decline of the popu-
! list party was traceable TO the in
creased prosperity of the agri-
: culturalists and after 1900 the popu-
lists amounted to little. In the DAYS
! of populiSm the charges were mad
: that the two old parties were con
trolled by business interestS-charge
4
The development of industry and
! trade under the old regime in Geor-
/ gia. for example, far outstripped the
development of agriculture. The
! great majority of the farmers were
| in the tolls of a credit system which
ate up their profits and really kept
them in perpetual bondage. il has
! been said. The merchants who ran
the farmers were the bosses. AS now.
J the farmers were not financially able
to hold their crops for better mar
kets, but when harvested must hurry
| their produce to the first aYaila ble
market
When the panic of 1898 came about
there was discomfort and unemploy-
ment. In that period 642 banks fail
: ed. and mercantile failures reached =
! total of 1914. 900. 900: 29.340 miles Of
! railroad went into the hands of re
! ceivers: interest charges went soar
| ing and there was little credit.
/; The farmers. as usual. were the worst
sufferers from these conditions. Wheat
! went below Is cents bushel and cot
| ton below cents pound-prices
| that make those of today look like
extreme wealth for the farmers.