192 THE AGRARIAN CRUSADE 



be, in part at least, that the People's Party was 

 " bivertebrate as well as bimetallic." It was com- 

 posed of men who not long since had other political 

 affiliations, who had left one party for the sake of 

 the cause, and who consequently did not find it 

 difficult to leave another for the same reason. In 



States is difficult to determine; in some cases, however, the situation is 

 revealed in the results of state elections. The best example of this is 

 North Carolina, where the Democrat-Populist electors had a major- 

 ity of 19,000, while at the same election fusion between Republicans 

 and Populists for all state officers except governor and lieutenant 

 governor was victorious. The Populist candidate for governor re- 

 ceived about 31,000 votes and the Republican was elected. It is 

 evident that the third party held the balance of power in North Caro- 

 lina. The Populist votes were probably essential for the fusion vic- 

 tories in Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, and Washington; but, as there 

 was fusion on state tickets also, it is impossible to estimate the part 

 played by the respective parties. The total Populist vote in the ten 

 States in which there were independent Democratic and Populist 

 electoral tickets was 122,000 (of which 80,000 were cast in Texas and 

 24,000 in Alabama) and as none of the ten were close States the failure 

 to agree on electoral tickets had no effect on the result. The "middle- 

 of-the-road" Populist votes, in States where there were also fusion 

 tickets amounted to only 8000 of which 6000 were cast in Pennsyl- 

 vania and 1000 each in Illinois and Kansas. 



The Populist vote as a whole was much larger than 223,000 the 

 total usually given in the tables for this figure does not include the 

 vote in the twenty-two fusion States in which the ballots were not 

 separately counted. This is apparent from the fact that the twenty- 

 seven electoral votes from ten States which were cast for Watson came, 

 with one exception, from States in which no separate Populist vote 

 was recorded. It is evident, nevertheless, from the figures in States 

 where comparisons are possible, that the party had lost ground. 



