People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 November 1894 — Less Resolves. [ARTICLE]

Less Resolves.

A well-known contributor to the Nonconformist formulates this week what he regards as a winning platform for the future. It will be observed that it strips off much that has heretofore encumbered Populist platforms and aims to concentrate on a few cardinal issues. The tendency of all new parties is toward a superabundance of issues and beliefs. Tneie is an over-pro-duction of language and an effort to ci»vei 100 much territory under the same blanket. The reason of mis is plain. The advocates of special ••isms” and fads are always piessing i<u recognition and each ...i,e • eus if uol recognized o ct p ay. Anxious for reel u« . as much sireugh as puss ion. platform builders are lempied t*. (Mil in a planK lo suit even, floater. The result is generali;. a hodgepodge. In a multitude if counsellors there is distraction The patient dies while toe doctors are wrangling. It is difficult, if not impossible, to get the people to consider more nan one groat question at a

lime. The immaterial or less important matters are always lost sight of or ouiy noticed to be criticized. The enemy, always alert to find a weak place m the opponent’s equipment, dwells exclusively on these for the purpose of distracting attention from the main issue. The Populists will be stronger with less resolve and less language. That army is most formidable which carries only the knapsack and gun. Any general will tell you that a long wagon and surplus luggage are an impediment if not an invitation to disaster. A half column platform, tersely stating three or four leading questions, makes a much better cflll to arms than several columns of indefinite declaration encumbered by tedious details and distracting enumeration of impractical tenets. The knights of old were often smothered by the very armor assumed to protect their lives. The skillful athlete strips to the skin and always goes trough painful training to get rid of surplus flesh. Populist platforms need a weeding out process and should hereafter be put through the condenser before being submitted to the people. Let us take a lesson from the experts who compress a whole week’s food in a block two inches square. In constructing a platform it is not necessary to enter into arguments or deliver florid orations. A clear statement of fundamental principles, confined entirely to the questions on which a verdict is sought, is better than an oration drawn by the most eloquent manipulator of words. The old common law system of pleading furnishes an illustration in point. The lawyers were compelled, by successive allegations and rejoinder, to sift the various conflicting contentions, to winnow the chaff and discard non-essentials until they arrived at one central issue

which was submitted to th« court or jury for decision. If the whole mass was forced upon the tribunal, little hope could be entertained of a speedy, Fccurate or satisfactory conclusion. When two columns of ill-digest-ed matter, covering ac immense variety of diverse issues, are hurled at the people what prospect is there for a satisfactory settlement or an intelligent verdict?