People's Pilot, Volume 5, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 June 1896 — Stand by Your Guns. [ARTICLE]

Stand by Your Guns.

We find the following in the Atlanta (Ga.) People’s Party Paper, edited by ex-Congressman Tom Watson. It is the true ring and so fully presents the policy of the Nonconformist that we reproduce it in full: "Were we to consign the remaining planks in our platform to the rear and champion bimetallism as the sole issue, we would virtually repudiate all else and accomplish nothing even in victory. If bimetallism were to win it would not he a Populist victory by reason of the more thoroughly established identity of the old parties. One or the other would he awarded the distinction, while the Populist party per se would lose its identity altogether. It would be impossible to readjust the party machinery or reorganize the forces which are now working for the success of a winning platform. The proposition to wage united warfare in behalf of bimetallism or any other Individual reform sounds very plausible. Success would undoubtedly follow such a movement, but what about other policies? Our complex and varied interests do not hinge on any one individual issue, and the solution of any one problem would not p-rovea general panacea. The Populist party is battling for reforms all along the line. There is not a superfluous plank in its platform. Instead of breaking ranks and joining the disgruntled elements of the t.vo old parties on any particular issue every man of us should stand as firm as the sturdy oak, welcoming all who desert other standards and keeping cur guns pointed at the dbrnmon enemy. We cannot afford to sacrifice our party. We stand on the threshold of a sweeping victory. Every day adds to our strength. From every (Quarter recruits are rallying to our principles. The only reverses that we have ever met were at voting precincts where illegal ballots constituted majorities and the voice of the people woo suppressed. At every voting place where the sanctity of the ballot box hi : ; been regarded our party has registered pronounced gains. The very fact that the financial plank in our platform is deemed of sufficient importance to be championed as a separate and distinct issue, should be encouraging to us in the extreme. If one of our demands appeals so strongly for support that it disrupts both the democratic and republican parties, it is pretty evident that we are making an impression. If we were to abandon our entrenchments, however, and join the deserters we would simply assist them to escape. The idea is, therefore, to capture them while they are hors du combat.