THE PEOPLE'S PARTY LAUNCHED 133 



per cent interest, all the blind striving to frustrate 

 the industrial consolidation which the farmer did 

 not understand but feared and hated, found expres- 

 sion in the political campaign of 1890. 



The Alliance suited its political activities to local 

 necessities. In many of the Southern States, no- 

 tably Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, Alliance 

 men took possession of the Democratic conventions 

 and forced both the incorporation of their demands 

 into the platforms and the nomination of candi- 

 dates who agreed to support those demands. The 

 result was the control of the legislatures of five 

 Southern States by members or supporters of the 

 order and the election of three governors, one 

 United States Senator, and forty-four Congress- 

 men who championed the principles of the Alliance. 

 In the West the Alliance worked by itself and, in- 

 stead of dominating an old party, created a new 

 one. It is true that the order did not formally be- 

 come a political party; but its officers took the lead 

 in organizing People's, Independent, or Industrial 

 parties in the different States, the membership of 

 which was nearly identical with that of the Alli- 

 ance. Nor was the farmer alone in his efforts. 

 Throughout the whole country the prices of manu- 

 factured articles had suddenly risen, and popular 



