People's Pilot, Volume 2, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 December 1892 — INTERESTING LETTERS. [ARTICLE]

INTERESTING LETTERS.

Hon. H. E. Tnubeneck (live* Ills Views M to the Duty of Populist Legislator*. The following letter from Tacoma, Wash., to Hon. H. E. Taubeneck, and his reply, will be read with interest by the people generally, and especially in states where the people's party holds the balance of power in the legislature: Tacoma, Wash., November 25, 1892. H. E. .Taubeneck. St. Louis Mo. Dear Sip-Will you please read the inclosed and give mo your views as to the effect the election of Palmer as United States senator from Illinois had on the F. M B. A in the state of Illinois: also as to the effect It had upon the two members who voted for Palmer who were members of the F. M. B. A. My object is to prevent, if possible, any of our members in the states from voting for either a republican or democrat for United States senator. Respectfully, yours, D. B. HANHAB. Marshall, 111, Dea 4, 1892. D. B. Hannah, Tacoma, Wash.: My Dear Sir—Yours dated November 25 came to hand to-day. Yes, the clipping you inclosed referring to the election of John M. Palmer as United States senator from Illinois is true. Moore and Cockerell were my two colleagues. The democrats had 101 members in the general assembly on joint ballot, the republicans an even 100 and the F. M. B. A throe. It required 103 votes to elect The democrats needed two of our votes and the republicans all three. From the beginning we three F. M B. A's entered into a solemn pledge not to vote for either republican or democratic candidate. For nine long weeks they stood firm. Victory for us was in sight We forced the republicans to come to our candidate, that gr-.zd old patriot, A. J. Streeter. The moment Moore and Cockerell discovered that the republicans intended to vote for Streeter, they deserted him and voted for Palmer. The Indignation of the people was so intense that they were both expelled from the F. M. B. A. organization. It is said that Cockerell was hung in effigy, then taken down and burnt on a log heap. There Is no doubt but what their action did more to disintegrate the F. M. B A organization than any single cause. In California, Wyoming, Montana, Michigan, and a few other states where a United States senator is to be elected this year, the people's party holds |he balance of power in state legislature, just as we three did in Illinois two years ago. The same oppbrtunitv presents itself to our party in those states as it did to us in Illinois. The great question now is, what will the people's party legislators do when it comes to balloting tor senator? Will they be big enough for the position they occupy? Will they remain true to the people who elected them, or will they disgrace their states and send men to the United States senate with a tinge of bribery attached to their certificate of election, as the state of Illinois did two years ago? The position our friends occupy in the different state legislatures is not an enviable one Anyone who hasn’t gone through'* contest of that kind does not know what he will have to bear. The future of our movement rests with them* they can either make or destroy our party. But it seems to me that anyone with the fate of Moore and Cockerell before him never will turn his back on the people who elected him. As far as I am concerned, I will say, give a crown pf honor to him who stands flrm, and an eternal curse to him who betrays us. H E Taubenxck.