, 



THE AGRARIAN CRUSADE 



aowever, as to the best means of accomplishing 

 this union. General Weaver started a movement 

 to add the forces of the American Bimetallic 

 League and the silver Democrats to the ranks of 

 the People's Party. But the silver Democrats, be- 

 lieving that they comprised a majority of the 

 party, proceeded to organize themselves for the 

 purpose of controlling that party at its coming na- 

 tional conventions; and most of the Populist lead- 

 ers felt that, should this movement be victorious, 

 the greatest prospect of success for their program 

 lay in a fusion of the two parties. Some there were, 

 indeed, who opposed fusion under any conditions, 

 foreseeing that it would mean the eventual extinc- 

 tion of the People's Party. Prominent among 

 these were Ignatius Donnelly of Minnesota, " Gen- 

 eral" J. S. Coxey of Ohio, and Senator Peffer of 

 Kansas. In the South the "middle-of-the-road" 

 element, as the opponents of fusion were called, was 

 especially strong, for there the Populists had been 

 cooperating with the Republicans since 1892, and 

 not even agreement on the silver issue could break 

 down the barrier of antagonism between them and 

 the old-line Democrats. 



It remained, then, for the political events of 1896 

 to decide which way the current of Populism would 



