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Vol. XV.' " LINCOLN NIJB., DECEMBER 3, 1903. . ' No. 28.
S The Future of Populism S iLfrCl-
v. '
Some days ago The Independent sent
out a number of letters to well known
populists in various parts of the
United States, saying:
"A sufficient time has now
elapsed to allow a recovery from
the effects of the election. What,
in your judgment, is the outlook for
the future? What may be reason
ably expected from the next na
tional conventions? Now that the
people's party organization has
ceased to exist in most of the states
and its members for the most part
have been affiliated with the demo
cratic party, what may we reason
ably expect of populists next year?
Will they revive the old organiza
tion? Will they rally again, put a
presidential ticket in the field, and
support it with the vigor of 1892?
If you believe they will do this,
what, if anything, can be done now
to assist in the movement"
Although The Independent had not
expected to print any of the replies
until next week, a number of those
addressed were prompt and said so
much that Independent readers will be
anxious to hear, that we make the be
ginning this week.
It is conceded that when conditions
are not ripe for the accomplishment
of a given reform, no amount of agi-
toMnn mill Viavd dnv ffffft TOlt t Is
equally true that very few will have
any inspiration to agitata, under such
conditions. ' The question today is,
What will the people's party do next
year? No one man can . foretell-but
the expressions of many will serve as
an index to the general trend of
thought along that line. It is to as
certain this trend of thought that The
Independent has asked for expressions
of opinion in answer to it3 questions.
IOWA.
Editor Independent: It appears to
me lUal UiBbUljr- JO puuoiouHcwi; v-
peating itself in the demonstrations
that have taken place in the past and
recently present movements of the
people's party organization in states
and nation comparing the same with
other great reform ' movements which
history, both sacred and profane, has
clearly recorded. I have stated again
and again, and now repeat, that there
is no power on or in this planet which
can stop the onward march of this
movement for a remariiable, and,
finally, radical reform in our national
monetary system, as well as in our
present unjust and inequitable system
of taxation and our trust-breeding tar
iff Chinese wall.
The war of the rebellion could have
been prevented by the investment of
a few hundred millions of dollars,
Used in me pSiruae, ui uuct mun
market vatue, oi icss than- 4,000.000
slave?, and then have had them
manumitted, with progeny, forever
and forever.
The haughty slave owner on the
one part, and the greedy speculator on
the other, would not listen to such a
proposition of settlement, whereby
thousands upon thousands of lives
very valuable lives could have been
saved to fields of great usefulness,
and thousands of millions of property
and money, could have been saved to
the people.
Dut the God-ordnlned doom of Mack
chattel wlavcry had come, and the
infinite edict was terribly executed.
. Traverse the page-s of all history
.touching great reform movements,
and the way wjm mndo plalu that a
waj faring man need not have erred,
by which a readjusts nt in the line
now and needful developments and
tiUbiUntuU proj'rens could hive been
au'oiuplish.'d without the njiuon.lt
ant, or Una! mult, of a dt stru tlou of
human life In nwful number.! and
property ami money In ai.w.ln mnn
of value.
A refusal by tho. In authority
railed murder, rapine, and dt ruc
tion to nark Hi" way of the upward
inov!tKUt; jet th tuonwrit wan
pushed on, and on. tint II th reform
hni !':uuM a foothold wMeh led to a
pronii.t ( dlrtt Hon of th larjer
InteretU if th'M who Mocked the
way of Mia ttf ri,t movement.
No other reform tnovemt t;t Ii n h ever
i-ven t In motion, thrtt would, cr
could, by its inherent characteristics
and natural forces, produce such mag
nificent results in the interests of,
and for the general welfare of the
great majority of all the peoples" in
this world, as could and would be pro
duced by the operations of a wise and
patriotic and humanitarian financial
system, coupled "with a groad gauge
system of equitable taxation.
The middle clas3 are slowly begin
ning to perceive that '.'the golden calf"
and its prototype gold coin has
cursed the world of humanity from
the wanderings of the children of Is
rael in the wilderness until the pres
ent date, and also will continue to so
curse the world of humanity until a
lofty intelligence shall provide a wiser
and better financial system. .
We cannot afford to turn back now.
We 'must move on with the current
which, God Almighty has set in mo
tion. The mad greed of the money
lords is helping our movement more
than we are helping ourselves. , .
The crushing powers of a financial
catastrophe Is not far distant, which
will hy the intelligence of the people
be laid "at the front door of the Brit
ish money power of the world when it
comes, as come it will. Then the
people will awake to a full realizing
sense of the just powers of the people
by the lawful methods of the ballot.
With it will also come a clear knowl
edge of the right remedies to be ap
plied, with the clear courage to apply
them instantly.
Keep the movement alive, and call
a national nominating convention at
an early date; and pledge each dele
gate and each . candidate to the sub
stantial terms of the Omaha platform;
then move on, and on, and on. : The
final victory is certain, as God is God.
L. II. WELLER.
Nashua, la.
; INDIANA, ; ;
Editor . Independent: Yours of the
23d inst. received. My -Judgment: of
the future must largely be based upon
what I know of conditions, past and
present, in Indiana. The effects pro
duced upon our people by what has
occurred outside the state, and by the
position taken by some of our na
tional leaders, make the outlook for
next year discouraging. '
It is about as certain as anything
of this kind in the future can be that
Roosevelt will be nominated. Noth
ing can be expected from the republi
can party except a' continuation of its
abject submission to Wall street.
There is, however, arrowing discon
tent among the rank and file of the
party. What will be done by the dem
ocratic convention is not so easy to
predict. I do not believe that the
iinancial interests are satisfied with
Roosevelt, although he appears to
have been entirely subservient to
their wishes. He is too. erratic, too
headstrong, has too many flashes of
sentiment to make them feel secure.
At present he la restrained by his am
bition to bo nominated and elected,
but the men who represent these in
terests are too shrewd not to know
that, if elected, the restraints will be
removed. For thta reason among oth
ers, I believe an effort greater than
usual will bo made to control the next
democrats convention. No effort will
bo spared, or money either, to hake It
repudiate the lasst two platforms, and
to nominate a man entirely satisfac
tory to the money Interests. If this
should occur, I shall not bo surprised
if the Wall btreet aud the bank influ
encprt d-srrt Roosevelt, and we have
tin attempt to bring about a result
similar to the campaign of 18;2.
In Indium there not a Vistlro of
ileuMu rat i orj-anli ulon. There U an
trKaul2atUt of a jew so-called lorn!
j iV'nevratlo lender! tprobahly not over
jKty rr tdsty altogether, and every one
of whom tepre..t special Interest!),
hi iurpoH. nf wM h I to atftt In
the control of the nett national con
vention In the way I hive Indicated.
There nr a number of aotuewhat
j'romliienfd'n hi rat In the state ton
trolled by thU o-gantMtlon, but never
tru. ted by It, On the other hand, the
m:ife( hsivp been deceived and dlap
pointed mi often that It U doubtful if
they can be induced to make another
effort to control their party.
Under such circumstances, it can
hardly be doubted that Wall street
and the bank Influences will control
the delegation from this state to the
next national convention with more
certainty than they did to the last. If
I judge other states by this, I cannot
ay)id the conclusion that this influ
ence will control the next national
convention and dictate the nominee.
There is no organization of the peo
ple's party in this state. It is worse
than foolish to assert that there is.
There are many who are populists in
principle, but mere is no organization
to which they care to attach them
selves. The address issued by the con
ference of September 28 expresses the
views of a large number in this state,
but they have no organization, and, so
far as I can see, are not likely to have.
All that I can see that can be done by
most of us is to plant ourselves
squarely upon principle and wait for
developments and opportunity.
FLAVIUS J. VAN VORHIS.
Indianapolis, Ind.
OHIO.
Editor Independent: All true re
formers knew that defeat was in store
for them wherever they had a hand in
the campaign just ended; not that
their propaganda was wrong, but be
cause the plutocratic element within
the party openly and silently knifed
the candidates. In some cases the
men nominated were not in accord
with the platforms..
The populists can never accomplish
much nationally by forcing the domi
nant party to go into partnership with
them. An occasional dash In a state
or county can be and has been suc
cessful, but in the long run will result
and has resulted in the stronger or
ganization dominating. Thus true re
form is side-tracked, practically, al
though the platforms may contain
planks urging reform measures.
: A galaxy of canouuates for presi
dent will appear.next.year. The dem
ocratic nominee will be a man' that
supported Bryan in one or both cam
paigns, although opposed to Bryan on
the money question. It is possible that
the reorganizers may take the bull by
the horns and crowd out the Bryan
ites and name a clean-cut Cleveland
man or Mr. . Cleveland himself out
right. The latter I honestly believe
will occur. -
We cannot look to the socialist par
ty. It is undemocratic; it is tyranni
cal. . Individual liberty would be
crushed under socialism. The only
shelter we have is populism, under the
name of the people's party, and to this
clean standard retormers can rally.
The Denver conference of July 29,
1903, leadathe way.
It matters not who the nominee of
the people's party may be: the true
reformers next year will vote for him.
The Bryanltes may revolt; but Bryan
will not lead a revolt.
On program next year will be:
Throw down the reorganizers, at the
election, and then Bryanism will call
on Bryan. This is an Idle dream; the
showing of the reorganizers will be
so satisfactory that Cleveland, Gor
man & Co. will bo retained as man
agers. In the meantime the people's
party will have rehalllitated itself.
On with the St. IjouI conference,
February 22. 1904.
DU. It. II. UEEMHUN.
Cincinnati, O.
ILLINOIS.
Editor independent: All depend on
the character of the meeting to bo held
at St. Louis, February 22. "What, if
an) thing, can be don now to aht
in the movement?" This calls for a
candid Htntetnent of fart m I
them. I would tay, agitation and or
r.anhatlon. Hut, how ran thla be
dou without fund to inert fipene.
h Um q'ietlon. Of totirite, f wo had
the fundi, the anwer In plain; but
without fund, In the lanr.uaro of th
(street, "Wit are up fti.4tut it."
All eejn to be waiting th aetlon of
ihit IVbruarj meeting. Thfl next thing
to .e don to aUt the movement,
in my judgment, Is for our pre to
boom tho tft, l.oul medio; rf If
we fall there, we might as well retreat
to the shades of oblivion. We can do
but little between now and then. I
say this because, believing that a per
sonal sacrifice was indeed necessary,
I wrote to the state chairmen offer
ing my services for simply my ex
penses, and no one has accepted the
offer. Strange to say, every other re
form movement has organizers in the
held; but our people won't even stand
the speakers' expense. How, then,
can we agitate and organize? How
to get our people to support - their
faith by contributions to campaign
funds, Is the question of questions. -
The St. Louis meeting has a great
responsibility and a great problem to
solve. Personally, I know the pop
ulist principles are farther advanced
in the nation today than ever before.
Populism is in the air; and to crystal
lize and place before the people a
declaration comprehending the rem
edy for the great evils that afflict the
nation, is our first concern. The next
problem to solve Is to reorganize our
whole organization. And last, but not
least, provide for a campaign fund.
This we must do; for our speakers,
our newspapers and literature must
get to the , people.
Should the St. Louis conference
prove a success, and lay our plans
along harmonious lines, and our na
tional convention indorse and provide
for the successful accomplishment of
the three above suggestions, then,
Bro. Charles Q. De Prance, the camp
fires of 1S92 will light up th,e heavens,
and all the powers of darkness cannot
resist our onward march to victory!
Here, . then, lies our whole problem
as a political factor in American poli
tics. Permit me in conclusion to say that
the populhtf holds the stragetlc point,
and that we must either advance or
surrender-it. To surrender is crim
inal cowardice. I am very hopeful of
our St, Louis meeting, and am look
ing for an old-tashioned populist re
vival. Comrades, let us pull together,
and come up smiling, determined to
push the battle on to victory. .
J. S. FELTER.
Springfield, 111.
WISCONSIN.
Editor Independent: If the demo
cratic .party comes out for public own
ership, as I believe it will, then we
can do nothing but support it and
lose out as usual. If the democrats
do not do that, then we will either
have to organize a new party for sin
gle tax, greenbacks, direct legislation
and government ownership, or go over
to the socialists.
As for myself, I believe the time
has come for a single, tax party, for
in a very few years the people will be
forced into just two parties one
standing for Individualism and the
other for Socialism. The world must
soon recognize this fact. Single tax
stands for Individualism. Socialism
for Itself.
The republican party will go right
on In the same old way, with the bad
element of the democrats to help them
In every emergency to keep the party
In power.
Whether the people's party will
come again depends much upon what
the democrats do, but at present we
are dead.
The only thing that can be done, Is
to send out speakers through each
stato to lecture, take subscribers for
reform papers, and prepare for Im
mediate action, for the organization of
a new party. If we had a paper In
each state like Tho Independent and
one orUnore In each county we would
stand om ahow of reorganizing the
people' party.
We are now at the mercy of the
democrats and sx lalUt. An a party
we are dead, provided that democrat
come out for public ownership. Our
position I a contingent one, and bad.
A new party would make a more
rapid growth than the people's party
dl l. I should like to sea the populints
ro with the soUllts on a platform
not so raw as the socUlltts have now,
but patty Idolstry, party slavery and
prejudice will prevent It.
A MUNI' 3 A. W0K8!.r.r,
Itutte, Neb.
