Show FARMERS 1 LEADERS The Coming Convention of the Alliance in Indianapolis A REVIEW OF THE LEADERS Vital Qnestlono Relating to tho Third Party I Movement Will Be Discussed Will the Ocala Platform Be Sustained WASHINGTON Nov 2 1S91Speoial correspondence of THE SUNDAY HnnALP Every politician in the national capital has peeled the corner of his weather eye which is nearest to Indianapolis He may deny it but dont you believe him Whatever What-ever ho may think of the political future of tho Farmers Alliance he cant help being I interested in its great convention which I will assemble on November 16 This meeting of the Supreme Council will bo of immense importance because much light will be cast upon tho history of the Alliance because new officers will be chosen to represent its present intentions and because the lines of its future policy that policy which shall guide its representatives repre-sentatives in the Peoples party convention conven-tion at Washington next Friday will be laid down A year ago the Supreme Council met at Ocala Fla and constructed the platform which has since become famous Its strength will be tested at the coming moot M ing a president may be chosen in place of Colonel L L Polk of North Carolina a vicepresident in place of Ben Clover of Kansas a secretary in place of J H Turner of Georgia and a treasurer to succeed suc-ceed J F Tinman of Tennessee Colonel Polk will retire Ho has held tho office for two years and is not likely to seek a third term His place is almost sure to be filled by L F Livingston president of the Georgia Geor-gia alliance and member of Congress from that state Mr Livingston is undoubtedly one of the must brilliant and cultivated wen of the order His personal record is excellent There have been scandals in tho alliance as there must always bo in any great organizationtill the millennium shall I t k Stiff r1 l N r 7j Mk 1 1 1 7 l41 II h ly j l R a if t orIh 49 ari t td Yl J S rq 1r frflag a ti I p1 tip t K 4 1 Vii A1 IJ Fr C G r a 011 nt 50 1 come but they have never touched Livingston Living-ston Ho has held himselt aloof from every doubtful project and has strengthened his hold upon the farmers by a steady conservatism i conser-vatism But he is a vigorous i womer fort for-t o interacts of the order in the directions which he deems wholly safe In person and manner he gives one a slight suggestion I sugges-tion of Lincoln VicePresident Clover will very likely be reelected Kansas is a stronghold of the alliance and will demand recognition Regarding Tillman and Turner it is safer not to predict The four officers mentioned with C W Macunc constitute the executive execu-tive committee Tillman Turner and Macune will remain on tno committee in any event but Polk and Clover will not unless reelected The delegates to tho convention have already al-ready been chosen by the state bodies Probably there will be not loss than fifteen hundred at Indianapolis All the states I I will be represented Now Jersey was the last to organize an alliance but within a few week it has done so The most important work and the hardest fight in the convention will be over the adoption of A PLATFORM That which was made at Onala is only a year old but there are many who think it already needs repairs Pslltlcal opinions and affiliations will have much influence bare The delegates will be divided into three classes f S lr T F TANDEXECK COL DEN TERRELL First those who expect something from one or the other of the old political parties They will make their fight for a conservative conserva-tive platform which will permit of recognition recog-nition by Republicans or Democrats as the case may be Second those who have nothing to expect ex-pect from the old parties They will urge a radical platform and probably a strict adherence to that which was made a year ago Third those who have been trying to hold tho alliance back from definite political politi-cal action Many of these will break to one or the other of tho former classes but some will try to have a resolution go through which shall make the alliance nonpolitical non-political At preient the alliance does not call Itself a political party but many of the alliance al-liance members are also members of the Peoples party The Sunday before the convention assembles will witness a great deal of hard work by third party leaders There will bo a sort of caucus at the Bates house H F Tuubeneck chairman of the national committee of the Peoples party and member of the Illinois legislature will 1 be there So will Colonel Ben Terrell the labor leader So will certain gentlemen j who will actin the interests of tbo Democratic Demo-cratic party and others who will look out for the Republican party I The work of this caucus will be apparent when the convention committee on platform plat-form is announced It will be the endeavor en-deavor of the politicians not to have too much saidin the platform They would like to see the sub traasury plank omitted and they are also interested in tho utterance utter-ance retarding silver The chairmanship of that committee will be an important office It may perhaps be filled by Mr Macunc who is known to hold conservative views But whatever may be the action of the platform committee commit-tee the sentiment of the whole body will be tested when a ratification of the planks is in order The great strength of Kansas and Nebraska will be used to maintain the Alliance doctrine as announced at Ocala At that convention a year ago a resolution resolu-tion was adopted requiring the different state alliances to elect delegates to the meeting which will be held in Washington in February next Representation at that I meeting is therefore already a certainty Delegates from all the labor orders will be there It is the avowed intention that that meeting shall issue a call for a convention to nominate national ticket for 02 The third party leaders now have an idea that their presidential candidate for 93 should be from the south The alliance is particularly strong in the south and the third party expects by naming a man from that section to draw heavily from the old political parties The man on whom their ideas centre is Livingston His disposition up to this time has been to keep the alliance alli-ance out of politics and he has not given any encouragement to the third party politicians poli-ticians who haveseen an advantage in his name It is mere than probable that he would decline A PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION However every question relating to a third party renomination will be immensely influenced by the action of the Indianapolis convention Of tho men who will shape the course of his action a good deal might be said if there was space to say it Kansas will be represented repre-sented by Jerry Simpson course and John Davis also a member of Congress Then there will be Ben Clover and L McLellan and J P Limburner So Kansas Kan-sas will have some good bar fighters on the floor Georgia will have Livingston and Governor Northen among its strongmen strong-men From Texas will come W R Sledge and Harry Tracy The sentiment in Texas is strongly against a third party movement In Georgia the rank and file are rampant for a third party fight and it takes the most strenuous efforts on the part of the leaders to keep their followers In check Governor Northen has fought I against everything which committed the alliance to any political party during the past year in Georgia and he will come to he convention prepared to do the sa mot thing there He would like to see the a mo-t iance unrepresented in the February meeting at Washington t b iahl > t L F LIVIXGSTOX Governor Buchanan of Tennessee and J H McDowell president of that states Alliance will be at Indianapolis So will Treasurer Tillmann and he will be a strong factor He has charge of the national lecturing lec-turing bureau and this wields a great in i fluence Mann Page president of tho Virginia Vir-ginia Alliance M D Davis of West Virginia T A Adams of Louisiana and J P Langley of Arkansas will be among the leading spirits From far away to the west will come Marion Cannon president of the California Alliance President War dale of South Dakota and H L Lonks of South Dakota George Northup of Wisconsin Wis-consin is against the third party So is H C Damming of Pennsylvania Frank McGrath is for it President Harvey Arnold Ar-nold of New York will probably voice the views of the Empire state as loudly as an bay body gjNot in a controversial spirit but merely with a view to presenting the news it may be sate to say that some of the most interesting inter-esting debates of tho convention will bestirred be-stirred up by U S Hall of Missouri He will renew his war upon C W Macune It ho who had the was special committees ap pointed to investigate the charges against Macune at Ocala This committee was secret se-cret but Hall has since given its inner workings some publicity There is no doubt that he will make what he considers to bean expose The committee referred to above made two reports the majority favorable to Macune and the minority signed by Hall and McGrath against hi in They charged Macune with dubious tra transactions trans ns actions in relation to the Louisville nsbe Nashville railroad This charge maybe aired again Hall by the way is a very prominent man in tho state He is an anti third party Alliance man and is likely to be tho next Democratic nominee for governor gov-ernor of Missouri Thercrts another matter which will make a sensation in the convention It will be remembered that the Alliance early w sntl into a sort of commercial enterprise and r I established stores of its own in the south and southwest About two years ago the I jute trust raised the price of bagging and binding twine This was anything but agreeable to the farmers The Alliance l I fought the trust and established factories for cotton barging and binding twine This was anything but agreeable to the trust Its jute business was badly hurt Then the trust played a very old but excellent ex-cellent game It went quietly to work and in various ways secured tbe control of the commercial establishments of the Alliance by purchase worked under the name of the National Union company This latter organization has offices in New York which cannot bo distinguished except by close observation from those of the jute trust The operations of the trust were not successful suc-cessful in Missouri because Halls suspicions suspic-ions were aroused and he guarded the Alliance Alli-ance property In Georgia too the sellout sell-out was blocked It is alleged that certain Alliance leaders connived at the deal and tho whole matter will be a subject of investigation inves-tigation at the coming convention DAVID WECHSLER |