ft A
Vol. XVI.
LINCOLN, NEB., DECEMBER -1,71904.
No. 28
National Democracy Wrecked
f.
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Editor Independent: During the
eight years which preceded my nomi
nation for the presidency on July 4,
1904, I had been out of politics. By
methods which no honest- man will
defend, I had been relegated to the
outer darkness. Compromise I would
not make; defeat I was forced to recog
nize. Like a sensible man. I knew
when I was whipped; but Neither sur
rendered nor apostatized. Bryan had
organized the fusion movement of 1896
and with the help of Senator Jones
had lured our populist leaders into
the ambuscade. I protested but was
overpowered. In good faith I endeav
ored to make the Bryan-Watson ticket
a success. In bad faith Senator Jones
held Sewall on the ticket and made
republican victory a certainty. Bryan
was nearer to the white house in 1896
than he will ever be again; and he did
not enter it because he was ashamed
to recognize the populists who wanted
to elect him and whose full strength
was necessary to his triumph. For
eight years democracy - paraded our
platform and conrtolled the populist
national commitee. For eight ,years
there was no room tcwork in for a
mid-road populist like myself. Seeing
no chance to do anything under such
circumstances I quit the fWd, and I be
lieved, forever. It never entered my
head that the democratic leaders would
be so incredibly stupid as to do what
they did at St. Louis in this year 1904.
I never dreamed that they" would shed
their principles like a garment, frame a
quasi-republican platform, put at the
head of the committee a notorious
gambling housekeeper like Tom Tag
gart, sell the nomination tq a Roths
child agent and corporation like Aug
ust Belmont and put up as nominee fpr
president a featureless candidate who
was utterly unknown except as a creat
ure of the most crooked, wire worker
in American politics, David B. Hill.
Neither in 1896 nor in 1904 had I
sought the populist nomination. - No
man can say that I ever moved a finger
or spoke a syl'able to get either nomi
nation. Each of them came to me ab
solutely unsought. As soon as it was
known that the democratic bosses had
surrendered to Wall street at St. Louis,
as soon as I learned that Bryan, Till
man, Bailey, Daniels, Williams, etc.,
had not only knuckled to Parker as
nominee but had flattened themselves
out beneath that "gold standard tele
gram" I fully realized what a mon
strous crime had besn committed
against the people and what a splen
did opportunity the politicians had
left open for the men of principles I
did not believe that the American vot
ers would stand for the "crime of
1904," it was only a question of how to
protest.
For eight years I had been out of
touch with the people. . Secluded, polit
ically, an outcast, given over to book
reading, book-writing, law-practice and
private business, I knew nothing of
the feelings of the masses. Naturally
I waited for signs of encouragement,
for indications that a revolt against
existing conditions would be supported.
For nearly a month after the St. Louis
"sell-out" the country seemed dazed.
Then indeed, the low sounds of "the dis
tant thunder could be heard by anyone
who was not deaf. The storm, clouds
could be seen by anyone who was not
blind The democratic '"crime of 1904"
stirred the country as it has not been
shaken since the civil war, and the
unprecedented triumph of Theodore
Roosevelt is due quite as much to. the
revolt against the cowardice, corrup
tion and imbecility shown by the dem
ocratic leaders at St. Louis as to any
other cause whatsoever. The man who
does not now realize that the recent
election, and, the exposures that have
been made since vindicate, my judg
ment and my conduct must-be lost to
common sense. No;: real democrat is
proud of the fact that he supported the
ticket of Tom Taggart,- Pat-McCarren,
Dave Hill, August Belmont and Aiton
B. Parker. Only those democrats whose
principles are republican are satisfied.
These democrats whose principles are
democratic are ashamed, and apolo
getic. They . known that they were
tricked at St. Louis. They know that
to the extent of their support of Par
ker they condoned the fraud, endorsed
the trick and aided the attempt to bam
boozle the American people. They
know it now; they confess it now.
My sin is that I saw it then, de
nounced it then, and did all I could to
smash the scheme. Had real democrats
been willing to listen to me, Parker
would have been driven out of the field
during the first month of the campaign,
the true democracy would have organ
ized, would have drawn to itself all the
reform elements and we could have
come much nearer to success than the
leader of democracy who set out with
seven million democrats and let Roose
velt capture two million of them.
.During the entire campaign I said
nothing against Parker or the St. Louis
convention that were asharsh as tho
things Bryan said of both. Without
recalling any. of his accusations Mr.
Bryan campaigned for the "unfit" nom
inee and for the "crooked and unde
fensible nomination." Mr. Bryan will
have four years in which to explain
that inconsistency and will no doubt
find the job sufficiently difficult. ..... ,
: During the campaign I said noth
ing more complimentary of Mr, Roose
velt as a man than the Hon. John Tem
ple Graves said since the electidn in
the. Atlanta News. The fact that 1
said it during the battle and that the
brilliant editor said it afterwards, will
not militate against either of us, I am
sure. Throughout the canvas I was
the one, nominee who constantly lev
eled every gun I could bring into play
against the principles, the measures,
the policies, the ruinous tendencies of
the republican party. It was I, net
I Parker, who persistently advocated the
income tax as the method by which
the untaxed corporate wealth of the
land could be mae'td'pay its fair pro
portion of the fedemTtaxes. It was I,
not Parker, who antagonized, as Jef
ferson and Jackson did, the exclusive
(privileges which the national banks
have in the creation or national cur
rency. It was I, not ParkT, who ad
vocated the election of all officers by
the people in order, that we might get
rid of that cloud of corporation agents,
the United States senate, and of the
federal judges who have nullified. the
right to habeas corpus and the trial
by jury. .It was I, not Parker who
clamored for a repeal of the tariff
taxes on the necessaries of life and for
public ownership of public utilities.
In other words, Parker made no fight .
for democratic principles; he stood,
for nothing beyond the plain simple ;
proposition that he would rather have ,
the office than to let Roosevelt keep;
it. Throughout the campaign the re-;
publican party was consistent with
itself and its creed.v Socialism was con
sistent with itself and its creed. The
people's party was consistent with It
self affd its creed. Democracy was at
war with itself and had no creed. :
Hence, national demorcay came out of
the campaign utterly wreckedwithout :
policy, principle, purpose or leader- ;
ship, discredited before all the world
for all time to come. 'Never in this
generation can it again inspire confi
dence. Never can it again deceive the
east, the north or the west. I pray
God that tLe time is not far off when'
it can not even deceive the south. Why
prate about reform inside the demo-'
cratic party? You might as well talk
about reforming hell ,rom the Inside.
How can you get rid of Tom Taggart,
the gambling establishment man? How;
can you eject Belmont, the Rothschil.1
man? How can you banish Pat Mc
Carren, the Standard Oil man? Or
Gorman of Maryland, the sugar trust
man? ; The whole machinery of tho '
party for the next four years will be
in the control of-the plutocratic ele
ment which overthrew Bryan at St.
Louis. For four years the party has'
no platform excepting the uasl-repub-'
lican abomination "which was adopted
at St. Louls. ,Andafor: the next four
years the official commander-in-chief
of the democratic party is not Bryan, '
nor Hearst, nor Bailey. The commander-in-chief
is Tom Taggart, the
gambling hell man of Indiana. '
THOMAS E. WATSON.
Thomson, Ga.
Let Us Be Men ".
Editor Independent: Until I finally
return homeland resume my regular
work on The Independent, I presume I
may be considered one of its subscrib
ers rather than one of its editors. If
so," I desire , to cast my vote for con
tinuing the people's party organization,
and unqualifiedly against any further
fusion or co-operation with the demo
cratic or any other party; r
I opposed the fusion on state ticket
- this year because I felt that the net ef
fect would be to break down the peo
ple's party and diminish Mr. Watson's
- vote on the one hand and to strengthen
the democratic party and increase Mr.
Parker's vote on the other. Mr. New
branch of the World-Herald will doubt
less remember that I told him this in
The independent office convention day
:August 10. Mr. Berge will doubtless
remember a conversation had with me
over the phone in.which.I assured him
that fusion would break, down the rop
ulist strength . and build up , Parker
democracy. He believed otherwise.,
I am not in an I-told-you-so mood
tonight and the full returns are not at
hand but I here venture this guess;
That Nebraska made a better showing
for Parker than any other state in the
union, and except Kansas, a poorer
showing for Watsoiu, This "ftnild not
have been accomplished except by fu
sion on state and legislative candidates.
,. This could not have ' been done had
many of the leading populists of Ne
braska been, as energetic in behalf of
our national ticket as they were in
trying to elect a legislature to send Mr.
Bryan to the United States senate.
. I have no quarrel with these gentle
men. They have their ideas as to what
Is best that is their American right
and they outclass us poor tongue-tied
devils when it comes convention time.
They have their ideas enforced at con
ventionbut there is another story to
tell election day.
Ever since 1902 it has been plain as
day what sort of candidate would be
nominated and what sort of platform
would be enunciated by the democratic
partyin 1904. When -Iowa democracy
absorbed our party over there all but
about 700 and then in 1902 repudiated
the Kansas City platform, defeating W.
H. Robb, one of our national commit
teemen, who led the fight for reaffir
mation ; and ; when Mr. Bryan urged
support of the .ticket as a choice of
evils then some populists began to see
a "choice of evils" looming up for
1904. A few of these tried to prepare
for emergencies, hoping to escape both
the devil and the deep blue sea and
the Denver conference resulted; the
Springfild convention was held; Wat
son and Tibbies were nominated, and
the populist campaign of 1904 was car
ried on, hampered on every side by
those who claim to be populists.
It is impossiBle now to say how many
votes were cast for Watson and Tib
bies electors but we shall know some
time how many were counted for them.
Possibly not more than. 200,000 will be
the recorded vote for Watson and Tib
bies. But if only that many, we have
accomplished what was never done be
fore revived a de?d party after its
i.dentity was almost wholly lost. If
only 200,000, that represents an army
of radicals who can never again be
caught by the chaff of "ephemeral op
portunism." They will never again
trust the democratic party. If a real
crisis should come, they would doubt
less i help to organize a new radical
party on broader-Hues but until such
a time comes they will stand solidly
for the people's party. .
I am now preparing a final report
of all receipts and expenditures by our
committee during the campaign. In ad
dition to this, I shall give a report of
all receipts ard expenditures enrolling
the Old Guard of Populism, from De
cember 5, 1903, to date. This will be
classified by states nd counties and
show exactly who gave the money,
and where the workers live. After this
is completed we can tell how to proceed
with the crk of enrolling men who
will not only stand up and be counted
for populism but will fight for it. '
Certainly there will be no more at
tempts in Nebraska to compel Parker
democrats and Watson populists to
join in the fusion embrace. That can
not be dignified by calling it political
harlotry it is nothing less than polit
ical rape, and resented as such by both
democrats and populists. I have a right
to say this, because I traveled 500 miles
andjack to vote for Watson and Tib
bies and George Berge. I did intend
to cut out all Parker supporters, but
when I reached the booth I put in a
straight vote for the entire ticket be
cause this was a year when party reg
ularity was at a premium and my
party had nominated some Parker sup
porters.. '
S'uppose we have only 20,000 popu
lists now in Nebraska what of it?
Next year, with a straight ticket, we
can begin to recover our lost ground.
By 1906 we can carry a congressman or
two possibly and scare the republican
machine much worse than it was scared
this year. If we go at t with awill
we can carry the state in 1906. Shall
we try? It can't be done by fusion
that's' evident, because we can't get
any better man than George Berge and
he couldn't escape the curse of politi
cal miscegenation: "- - - -
Let us be men just for once, and
quit this boy's play. Let us begin now
the fight for a straight populist ticket
all along the line and keep it up until
we've cleared out the "redeemers" and
routed them horse, foot and dragoons.
CHARLES Q. DE FRANCE.'
Joliet, 111.
Is This So? H
The Lincoln Independent, populist,
Is boosting a 'movement against any
more fusion with the democrats. Its
words sound very nice just now. The
election is over. There Is nothing do
ing. The Independent will get lots of
assent and many brave promises from
populists.
But wait a few months. Wait till
we have some more offices to fill In
Nebraska. Then fusion will be hum
ming again. Then in d ozens of coun
ties the local managers, the local of
fice holders and office seekers of both
fusing parties will come to life. Then
we shall again have the same old con
vention calls for "same place an.1 -time,"
the same old conference com
mittees, the same old result in fusion
tickets. .
You can't teach old dogs new tricks.
Lincoln Star.
Ghouls of Industry
There are also ghouls in industry,
men of intellectual power and energy,
who employ their rate abilities in de
vising schemes to wax fat upon the '
sweat of other men's faces, to live"
without earning a living, to get rich
without working. These men may not
break the law. They may be eminently
respectable. - Their plan may be mere-
ly to take advantage of the law's im-"
perfections. They may dedicate mil-:
lions to -enterprises of great pith, and
moment, like universities, libraries
and art galleries. Yet an impartial,
judgment, at jthe close of their lives,
will hold that they profited by unjust,
laws and said, no word to point out
the injustice ' by which their fellow
men were robbed. It is not fair to
denounce, nor even to blame, such
men. ' They are not necessarily guilty
of conscious, personal wrong doing.
But the man who, seeing the wrong,,
defends it to .win the applause of its
beneficiaries is a pious fraud. - .
Away with this blind and ignorant
worship of stark ability! Look to tha
moral character of the act, to its ef
fect upon mankind. If it is good, com-,
mend it, though a Rowan perform it.
If it Is bad condemn it, though a" Funs-,
ton commit it. Look to the moral
character "of your laws, to their effect
upon mankind. If they are bad, strive
for their amendment or repeal, though
all the hosts of Philistinism chatter
and hurl epithets and things at you.
What's The Use. ;