Political Infighting Rocks the People's Party
Seattle activists revolt against 'fusion' strategy and the perceived buying of political influence through newspaper subsidies.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
All is not serene in the ranks of the People's party in this city. The purchase of the 'influence' of the Telegraph has raised a storm. The impression that it is the precursor of an attempt at fusion with the Democracy has angered many who are sincere in their allegiance to the party and do not like to be made trading stock of by the men who are making money out of the party. One of these said yesterday: 'I do not purpose giving anything to the newspaper fund the Telegraph makes an appeal for this morning. I consider the money we have already paid the paper as worse than thrown away, and I shall oppose the payment of the other sums promised. The People's party has no overflowing treasury, and I think $1,200 is too much to spend on newspapers, particularly on a hybrid sheet.'
“The People's party has no overflowing treasury, and I think $1,200 is too much to spend on newspapers, particularly on a hybrid sheet.”
The People's Party (Populists) struggled with the perennial tension between ideological purity and electoral pragmatism. This fight over party funding and newspaper 'influence' reflects the same anxieties about donor-driven media and coalition-building that plague modern political organizing in Seattle.
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