182 THE AGRARIAN CRUSADE 



the Republican group which had assembled in the 

 same building a few weeks before, was the Populist 

 convention which met in St. Louis late in July. 

 Many of the 1300 delegates were white-haired and 

 had grown old in the service of reform in the various 

 independent movements of preceding years; some 

 of them had walked long distances to save railroad 

 fare, while others were so poor that, having ex- 

 hausted their small store of money before the long- 

 drawn-out convention adjourned, they suffered 

 from want of regular sleeping places and adequate 

 food. All were impressed with the significance of 

 the decision they must make. 



Gone were the hopes of the past months; the 

 Populist party would not sweep into its ranks all 

 anti-monopolists and all silverites for one of the 

 old parties had stolen its loudest thunder ! It was 

 an error of political strategy to place the conven- 

 tion after those of the two great parties in the 

 expectation that both would stand on a gold plat- 

 form. Now it was for these delegates to decide 

 whether they would put their organization behind 

 the Democratic nominee with a substantial pros- 

 pect of victory, or preserve intact the identity of the 

 Populist party, split the silver vote, and deliver 

 over the election to a gold Republican. 



