The End of Populism in Clark County
After internal negotiations, the local Populist Party has officially dissolved to merge with the Democratic Party.
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.
Vancouver, March 17—The populist county central committee and the democratic committee met here today separately, and after a short discussion the two committees met in joint session. It was unanimously agreed by the populist committee to abandon the party and unite with the democrats under the democratic name. The committee was dissolved, and no populist county convention will be held. At the joint session it was decided to elect delegates only to the democratic state convention, and to ignore the call for the state populist convention. The surrender was complete, and the populist party in this county is now extinct. Lieut. Gov. Daniels engineered the deal.
“The surrender was complete, and the populist party in this county is now extinct.”
The Populist movement, which mobilized farmers and laborers against the monopolies of the Gilded Age, often found itself absorbed by the Democratic Party in the early 20th century. Today’s debates over the influence of third-party platforms on major political parties still echo this century-old struggle for coalition and identity.
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