Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-09-14
BRYAN. the Mischief Maker.

| We cannot see how anyone who ha
followed Mr.. Bryan's speeches can ia
to acknowledge that throughout a
those utterances there runs an appea
to the feeling of discomfort in tn
breast of every man who is trouble
with the thought that Some other ma
is getting a more generous share of thi
| worlds goods than he. Sometimes i
is made openly and again, as in hi
| address Labor day at Chicago, it j
there just the same but covertIy i'm
piled, all the more dangerous becaus,
of its insidious form.
Mr.. Bryan is known to be a very
radical young man, a very inexperi
| enced young man, with ideas of suci
things rank rather than ripe, so pos.
Sibly he intends to be honest when h
| is grossly dishonest Nevertheless We
can't avoid the suspicion that he had q
motive which he realized was not Just
nor proper, when he talked at such
length about the opportunities afforded
| the workingman by the Australian bal
lot. He certainly misstated facts about
its adoption and he assumes that en-
ployers are leagued together to coerce
employees into voting as they wish. He
| then rants like a demagogue about the
Worl<ingman's right to vote as he
pleases.
We surmise the men who heard him
appreciated the full extent of their
right before Mr.. Bryan talked to them
about it and perhaps SEINE of them
called To mind that Mr. Bryan's hope
OF election rests solely upon those com
munities where labor has least dignity.
least advantages and least power,
We're thrown nor as they would have
been thrown but for intimidation, but
as suits the mind of the election Judges
and the exisencies of the occasion Mr..
Bryan knows, every Intelligent work
ingman knows this to be the condition
of affairs in at least several of those
Southern states which the Popocratic
candidate relies upon as solid for
democracy whatever be the principles
disappearing under that name; also
that they will be counted for him re
sardless OF everything else. This is
not sectionalism but plain everyday
truth known of all men The Arkansas
election which is held up by those man
aging Mr.. Bryan's campaign as show
ing prospects of his success in the
South is a dishonest one on the face
o. it. Probably the state would havo
some Democratic under such methods
of managing elections as obtain in
he state Of illinois, but that does not
do away with the fact that such
methods do not obtain in Arkansas.
1t is also a fact with which working
men are well acquainted that i'll parts
of the South the laboring men are nor
organized. wages are the poorest paid
in any part of the country Those ar
the very communities that arereckoned
10y all in advance as sure to go for
Bryan. Yet here he is talking to men
III Illinois and throughout the North
who exercise the rights of freemen
under as few adverse Influences as can.
be expected with our existing civiiza-
ton, in a way to create bad blood be-
tween them and their employers. II
he does not know any better than to-
do this he is surely unfit for the posi-
ton to which he aspires. Ii he does
know better he deserves the contempt
Of all good citizens.
Laboring men, as do all others, have
to exercise vigilance if they would
secure what belongs to them They
have been successful in their contests
when they have gone about it man-to-
man fashion and not when they have
had hatred in their hearts Every
true friend of the workingman will
strive to avoid exciting any feeling of
hostility toward his employer for Just
like other men he Injuries his own cause
when he acts upon unreasoning pre-
judice. That is something against
which every man, whatever may be his
vocation, must guard against if he
would succeed. Yet that is the very
thing which Mr.. Bryan's remarks are
a dangerous man, and if he appreciates
fully what he is doing he is very
wicked one.
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE
FACING ONE OF THE GRAVE,ST
CRISES IN THE HISTORY OF THE