THE POPULIST MOVEMENT 695 



the principles of government extension, public ownership and 

 management, have fallen upon ground well prepared for them. 

 The consequence has been .a rapid growth of these principles 

 and a general belief in them. 



As a result the people of the West are divided into three 

 classes, separated only by their distance from the first, which 

 forms the nucleus of the People's Party. In reality this first 

 class is composed of socialists ; the majority would probably ad- 

 mit that they were such. In the second class are to be found 

 many farmers, laborers, business and professional men, who are 

 not Populists, but who favor government ownership of railroads 

 and telegraphs and an extension of government activity. This 

 class fear the word " socialist " and in their hearts regard the 

 socialist as a species of bomb-thrower who is at war with society. 

 Hence they cannot see the similarity between their own belief 

 and that of the socialist. The third class consists of men who 

 repudiate socialism even more plainly than the second, but who 

 are nevertheless declared paternalists. 



Such, in the main, is the situation in the West. As a matter 

 of course there are many exceptions, but the large majority of 

 the people belong to one or the other of the classes mentioned. 

 Under such conditions the Populists have naturally received 

 much sympathy, and the very fact that they have had sympa- 

 thizers has encouraged them to express their views much more 

 forcibly than they would otherwise have done. This fact has 

 also given them sufficient force to hold out against the strategies 

 of the silver men, and* by the exhibition of their power to add 

 strength to strength. 



Strong as has been the spirit of paternalism in shaping the 

 beliefs and opinions of the West, there has been at work another 

 force, perhaps even more potent and active, that of railroad 

 oppression. The Pacific railroads from the first watered their 

 stocks. The earnings at ordinary rates were insufficient to war- 

 rant dividends on the increased capitalization. In order to pay 

 these, an enormous income was necessary, and the only way to 

 obtain this was to impose heavier charges on freight, and for 

 many years this practice was maintained. Although the rates 



