THE GREENBACK INTERLUDE 93 



one of the ablest and, from the standpoint of the 

 Republicans, the most dangerous of the Greenback 

 leaders. In Congress Weaver won the respect of 

 his colleagues. Always ready to promote what he 

 believed to be the interests of the common people 

 and especially of the farmers, he espoused the cause 

 of the Oklahoma "boomers," who were opposed by 

 a powerful lobby representing the interests of the 

 "cattle barons." He declared that, in a choice 

 between bullocks and babies, he would stand for 

 babies, and he staged a successful filibuster at the 

 close of a session in order to force the consideration 

 of a bill for the opening of part of Oklahoma to 

 settlement. 



The preliminaries of the campaign of 1880 were 

 vexed by dissension within the ranks of the Green- 

 backers. In March the radical faction led by 

 Pomeroy held a convention in St. Louis which 

 claimed to speak for ten thousand Greenback clubs 

 and two million voters. After Stephen D. Dil- 

 laye of New York had refused the presidential 

 nomination at the hands of this convention, it ad- 

 journed to meet in Chicago on the 9th of June 

 the place and time already selected for the regular 

 convention of the National party. One .reason for 

 the attitude of this faction appears to have been 



