The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-07-15
Washington Notes.

badly beaten as Greeley and Brown were
in 1872, and that the democratic ticket
will simply be overwhelmed by a wave
of American commonsense.
The nomination of Arthur Sewall of
Maine for vice-president did not
strengthen the democratic = populist
ticket. Even in Washington, where
nearly everybody has a sort of general
knowledge of the men who are at all
prominent in politics, everybody was
asking, when the news of Sewall's
nomination was received, Who is
Sewall7" and in all Washington no
picture of him could be found by the
IDENTIFY intended as a sop to the dis
gruntled democrats of the Middle and
Eastern States, who had nothing to do
with putting Populist Bryan at the
head Of the ticket, but it will not work.
EVEN after the democrats have
adopted an o%ut-and-out populist plat
form and nominated a populist for pres
ident, they are far from certain of Sc
curing the Endorsement of either the
populists, the silver party, or the bolt
ing silver republicans. That is a mat
ter of bargains and deals yet to be
made. The leaders of each of these
factions will make demands-extensive
ones, too-which must be met before
they will agree to support Bryan and
Sewall; and even if they agree to do
so it will still be a matter of doubt as
to how many votes of the rank and file
they can deliver. Senator Teller could
probably have gotten the votes of
nearly all of these factions had he
been nominated by the democratic
party, but it is certain that Bryan
cannot.
THIS is the way a Kentucky demo-
crat-Major d. w. Sanders of Louis
ville-now in Washington sees the ac-
ton of the Chicago convention: "The
democracy" he said, " has drifted clear
away from its ancient moorings and
has gone into the camp of the socialists,
anarchists and populists. 1t is horrible
to contemplate = this nomination of
Bryan. But there is this consolation:
Bryan hasn't any more chance of reach
ing the White House than he has of
getting to the North Pole. He is as
near election now as he will ever be.
He will be beaten in Maryland, West
Virginia, Missouri and Kentucky with
certainty, and will be in great luck if
he carries Tennessee, North Carolina
and Louisiana. No such crazy plat
form as he stands upon will ever re-
ceive the endorsement of the American
people," There are thousands of dem
ocrats who think just as this one does,
and who will this year cast their vote
for Mckinley and Hobart.
MEMBERS of the administration are
not talking. They are waiting for Mr..
Cleveland to give them the cue. 1t
has been known for some time that
Mr.. Cleveland favored the nomination
of a gold democratic ticket, while many
other prominent democrats who will,
nnder no circumstances, support Bryan
and Sewall on their populist platform,
favor voting directly for Mckinley and
Hobart as the surest way of rebuking
the work of the Chicago convention.
The latter have the support of such
prominent papers as the New York
Sun, Herald and Times. Republicans
are not worrying about what the sound
money-democrats may or may not do,
for the very simple reason that they are
confident that Mckinley and Hobart
can and will be elected by republican
votes. OF course they will be glad to
have democrats vote the ticket, because
they believe that the larger the ma
jority against the Chicago ticket and
platform the better it will be for the
future of the country. 1t is a question
of law, order, public credit and general
prosperity against anarchy, reputation
and ruin.
REPUBLICANS do not feel that they
have any kick coming to them because
the Chicago convention adopted an
anarchist-populist platform and then
selected ex-Congressman Bryan of Ne
braska, a populist, to head their ticket.
On the contrary, they are delighted
with both ticket and platform, both of
which have already done efficient work
for Mckinley and Hobart. When you
say that Bryan is a natural-born ora
tor, you say about all that can be said
in his favor. During the two terms he
served in the house he demonstrated
that there was little underneath his
ability to talk brilliantly, smoothly and
dramatically, and before he retired from
congress he was at outs with all the
democratic leaders because of his hav-
ing shown them that he was much
more of a populist than a democrat.
He was so much of a populist that only
two years ago he wanted the populist
nomination for governor of Nebraska,
but was beaten out of lit by Holcomb.
His career since that time has been
anything else but great. He made a
failure as editor of an Omaha paper,
and was repudiated by the voters of
that state when he stumped the state
as the populist-democratic candidate to
succeed Mr.. Henderson in the United
States senate. The man who defeated
Bryan in that campaign, and who can
be depended upon to see that McKin-
ley and Hobart carry Nebraska this
year, is Senator Thurston, who 30 ably
presided over the St. Louis convention.