THE POPULIST BOMBSHELL OF 1892 151 



which he received from the elements which might 

 have been expected to aline themselves with the 

 Populists. On the Pacific coast, despite the musi- 

 cal campaign of Clark, Mrs. Lease, and Weaver, 

 California proved deaf to the People's cause; but in 

 Oregon the party stood second in the lists and in 

 Washington it ran a strong third. 



More than a million votes, nearly nine per cent 

 of the total, were cast for the Populist candidates 

 in this election a record for a third party the 

 year after its birth, and one exceeded only by that 

 of the Republican party when it appeared for the 

 first time in the national arena in 1856. Twenty- 

 two electoral votes added point to the showing, for 

 hitherto, since 1860, third-party votes had been so 

 scattered that they had affected the choice of Presi- 

 dent only as a makeweight between other parties* 

 in closely contested States. 



A week after the elections General Weaver an- 

 nounced that the Populists had succeeded far be- 

 yond their expectations. " The Republican party," 

 he asserted, "is as dead as the Whig party was after 

 the Scott campaign of 1852, and from this time for- 

 ward will diminish in every State of the Union and 

 cannot make another campaign. . . . The Pop- 

 ulist will now commence a vigorous campaign and 



