People's Pilot, Volume 5, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 May 1896 — Peoples Party News Bureau. [ARTICLE]

Peoples Party News Bureau.

HEADQUARTERS AT ST. LOUIS. Plutocracy is Alarmed at the Growth of the Reform Forces. THB IKDKPBNOEKTT VOTER IN THE SKDDLE FOR HIS RIGHTS.

Peoples Party News Bureau., ) Headquarters National Ex. Committee V St. Louis. Mo.. May2s. 1 The people’s party state committee of Idaho met May 26, to call a state convention to elect delegates to the national convention and transact other business. The party in Idaho has never been in as good a condition as today. Mr. Anderson, a member of the national committee, writes: “Senator Dußois and many other prominent republicans of Idaho have declared in public that they would bolt if a straddle or sound money plank was adopted by their convention. I do not think there is any doubt about ths electorial vote ot the silver producing states going to the people’s party. Members of all parties consider the financial question paramount to all others. As to the result of a national election in Idaho, I speak from information from republicans themselves. If McKimey is nominated my predictions will be absolutely correct.” The state committee of the people’s party of Washington met at Tacoma recently and apportioned the state ; nto seven districts, to elect delegates to the national convention. The places for holding the district conventions are Eilenburg, Colville, Spokane, Sprague. Dayton and Colfax in eastern Washington and in western Washington, Tacoma. A resolution was adopted directing the district conventions to elect delegates 'to the national convention to meet at 10 o’clock a. m., June 23, at the places designated above. The state nominating convention will be held at Seattle, the date of the convention to be fixed by Mr. Bulger, chairman of the state executive committee. Washington will send a strong delegation to tl}e national convention at St. Louis, July 22. The outlook for our party in Washington was never more encouraging than at the present time. The republicans in their state convention have declared for McKinley and the gold standard, which will add thousands of silver republican votes to our columns at the November election. Senator Lee Mantle, of Montana, predicts the nomination of McKinley by the republicans and a bolt of the free silver delegates to the St. Louis convention. He says the Montana republicans will not support a gold standard platform and that the other silver states will walk out of the convention. The National Reform Press Association will convene in St. Louis July 20. Populist editors who do not belong to the association should apply for membership at once and take advantage of arrangements being made by the officers of the association for transportation for members to the St. Louis convention. Ap plications should be made to Gen. Paul VanDervoort, Omaha, Neb . president, A. Rozeile, Com-

mercial Building, St. Louis. Mo., sec-treas., or J. A. Parker, Louisville, Ky., cor-secretary. The republicans of Missouri in a recent state convention declared unequivocally for the gold standard and as a result of such action, thousands of voters are deserting their party and joining the people’s party. The Carthage Daily Press, one of the leading republican papers of the state has bolted the platform. The populists of the ninth congressional district of Texas have nominated Geo. W. Glasscock of Georgetown as their candidate for congress. The lowa and Illinois populists have chartered a steam boat on the Mississippi river, for the St. Louis convention. It will leave Dubuque, lowa, on July 16, and stop at all the principal cities enroute. Gen. Coxey and ex-Gov. John P. St. John of Kansas, have agreed to accompany the excursion and deliver speeches. The fare will be from $lO to sls for a ten or twelve days’ trip, including board. Those desiring to go on the excursion should address the editor of Our Populist, Rock Island, Illinois. The Kansas Reform Press Association will meet at Clay Center the first week in June.

So overwhelmingly is the sentiment for free silver in the democratic ranks in Virginia for free coinage that a special dispatch to the Globe-Democrat says that hundreds of the business men in the state who are for the gold standard will refuse to take part in the primaries of the regular organization, but will send a contesting delegation to the Chicago convention which, it is hoped, will be recognized by the gold standard national comm ittee as the proper delegation. This scheme will, it is said, be worked also in other states where the sentiment for free silver is too strong to be legitimately combated. Secretary Carlisle has had the effrontery to deny, in a letter to S. O. Porter, of Beeville, Tex-., that he ever delivered a free coinage speech in congress in 1878 or at any other time, despite the congressional record to the contrary. Congressman T. C. Catchings, gold-bug, has been unanimously renominated by the democrats of the third Mississippi district Speaker Crisp, who poses as a democratic free-silverite, wrote to the district that he hoped that Catchings, despite his gold standard ideas, would be thus honored. The robbery of the state of Louisiana has been made complete by the democrats by the ihauguration of Murphy J. Eos ter as governor for a second term. The Globe-Democrat arises to fairness long enough to say that this theft should arouse national indignation. Governor W. J. Stone, of Missouri, is stumping Kentucky for

free silver under the auspices of the bimetallic league. The mask of McKinley has been completely dropped since his nomination has become a certainty. Circulars declaring him opposed to free coinage of silver are now being sent out directly from his home at Canton, Ohio. A movement has been inaugur ated in Chicago by some of the labor organizations, the labor congress, and socialists, headed by Tommy Morgan, Thos. I. Kidd, Victor Williams, H. G. Adair, Jno. F. Lloyd and Gen. Cantwell, of “Coxey Army” fame to nominate Eugene V. Debs as an independent labor candidate for president of the United States. Several clubs have been organized for this purpose. A meeting was held at McCoy’s hotel to make preliminary arrangements to have his ■ name presented to the populist convention at St. Louis July 22nd. A committee was also appointed to correspond with and send documents to all the socialist and labor organizations throughout the United States. They will demand a strong socialistic plank in the platform. The California people’s party state convention, held at Sacramento, May 12. elected 30 delegates to the national convention, nominoted candidates for congress in several districts, also electors for president and vicepresident and Thos. V. Catorfor the United States senate. They re affirmed the Omaha platform of 1892 and added the initiative and referendum, woman’s sufferage, good roads, tarifi and antiemigration planks to their platform and instructed the delegates to the national convention to “oppose any proceedings by which the people’s party convention shall sit with or join any other convention or admit any but the delegates elected by the people’s party national convention.” The platform in all contains seventeen different propositions or planks. E. M. Wardall was again re-elected chairman of the state committee. Mr. Wardali is a man of whom our party can be proud, not only in California but throughout the entire United States. The populists of the first congressional district of Texas held a convention recently at Houston and elected six delegates to the national convention. They also adopted resolutions strongly favoring the Omaha platform with the addition of the initiative and referendum. The populists of the thirteenth congressional district of Texas will hold a convention at Mineral Wells on June 13 to select delegates to the national convention. The manager of the News Bureau will co-operate with parties who desire to make arrangements for special car or train service to the national convention over any line of road leading into St. Louis, or secure hotel accommodations during the convention. Delegates to the national convention will have the pleasure of looking upon a life size portrait of Peter Cooper, philanthropist and reformer and the first presidential candidate of the greenback party. The picture is being painted by‘ William Wallace Scott, of New York. A story was sent out from Indianapolis, Ind., last week in which it was stated that an un-

demanding had been had where by the populists of every state in the union would support the candidate of the Chicago convention if nominated on a 16 to 1 platform. There is absolutely no truth in such a statement and populists should not be deceived thereby. It was evidently started. like a good many other stories, for the purpose of creating dissension within our ranks. The populist convention of the second congressional district of Tennessee, held at Knoxville on May 19, adopted resolutions endorsing the Omaha platform and calling for free and unlimited coinage of both gold and silver at a ratio of 16 to 1. President Cleveland’s actions were spoken of as deserving impeachment. W. M. Oliver, of Knoxville, was nominated for congress and John M. Meeks for presidential elector. J. H. McDowell, A. L. Mims and J. M. Meeks were endorsed as delegates- at-large to the na-

tional convention.

A. R.