THE POPULIST MOVEMENT 693 



were not so universally accepted as had been supposed, and that 

 the whole party was drifting away from them. Such was the 

 belief entertained by the general public ; while behind the scenes 

 a battle was being carried on between the silver and socialist 

 elements in the party itself, a one-plank platform versus the 

 Omaha platform. The radicals wished to sustain the latter, while 

 the conservatives desired the party to drop all issues except that 

 of silver and fight only for financial reform. These two elements 

 were at sword's points over the apparent insignificance of silver in 

 the Omaha platform. The radicals were conservative silver men, 

 while the conservatives were radical silverites. The silver men 

 had entered the party more for the purpose of booming silver 

 than to mitigate the wrongs of the oppressed. The Congress 

 of the United States had passed the Sherman Act and later 

 had repealed it, so that the silver men could hardly expect any 

 support from the old parties. They saw a way out through the 

 new party ; but they had not taken into account the real causes 

 of that party's existence, and consequently failed to secure any 

 great advantage for silver. Meantime both Republicans and 

 Democrats have turned like needles to a loadstone in the direc- 

 tion of silver, and the silver men have hurried from the different 

 parties, including the People's, to the neutral grounds where the 

 advocates of this coinage seem universally to be gathering. 



This contest has been waged from the very beginning of the 

 party. It began in debates and ended in a party rupture ; for 

 the long-expected crisis has now occurred and the true Populistic 

 element has broken away from the silverites, and stands firmly 

 on the Omaha platform. 



The leaders of the party favored the silver side of the fight, 

 but the rank and file of Populism was not to be beguiled by 

 any such sentiment. The silver men attempted to undermine 

 the platform, but without success. Every time the question was 

 brought up a contest ensued, in which the silver men were driven 

 to the wall. In the conference of the Populist leaders at St. Louis 

 in December, 1894, a desperate attempt was made to change 

 the Omaha platform, but the great majority of delegates at the 

 conference voted to re-affirm it. Since that time the one-plank 



