Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-11-04
Mckinley and Bryan.

washington Post, Independent Republic
CAM
We believe that Mr.. Mckinley will be
elected to-day-not by a Landslide" as
1t is called. or by any tumultuous and ir-
resistible popular uprising. but by safe
and sufficiently emphatic majority.
Mr.. Mckinley has not appealed to the
passions OF the multitude. There is moth
ing in his personality or in the cause he
represents to promote abnormal fervor.
lie has appealed TO the thoughtful, the
conservative, and the sober elements Of
our population. and ne will receive their
SURFACES, decorously and solemnly con-
ferred.
Under other conditions, we doubt
whether Mr.. McKnley's victory would
have been so assured. There are hun
dreds Of thousands of men voting for
him to-day who DO not subscribe to his
economic theories, who regard his tariff
scheme with disfavor and alarm. These
would have voted for another candidate
who represented opposition TO high pro
lection. and at the same time stood for
sound-money, and for law and order The
Democratic party under the banner
Of 1872 could have carried the country
against the menace Of business dis
turbance involved in Mr.. McKinley's
candidacy. As things are. however, we
DO not believe that Mr.. Bryan can win.
The conservative classes are all arrayed
against him, not so much because Of
what he personally Is. as on account Of
the following he has inspired, and the
policies to which he stands committed.
Mr.. Mckinley does not hold out TO us
very brilliant and alluring promise. Under
existing conditions. neither the govern
ment nor the country at large has been
especially prosperous during the past four
years. and under Mckiuleys admins
tration we have no reason to expect any
very marked changes for the better
But intelligent and patriotic men be-
lieve. and rightly, that no change az all
is better safer and more honorable than
the change proposed by the Chicago
platform.
For these reasons we are Of opinion
that the friends Of law and property and
order will choose the lesser OF the two
evils presented to them in this remarka-
BILE campaign. We think IL proper TO say
Of Mr. Bryan personally. however. that
there need bee nothing Of humiliation or
distress to him i'm the contemplation OF
his defeat. He has borne himself with
courage and devotion from the beginning
TO the end Of the campaign. He has eX-
hibited such qualities OF endurance. such
sublimity Of faith I'm himself and i'm his
mission. such "a power over men. such
gifts of eloquence and magnetism. as
may truly be said 10 be without parallel
i'm the history OF American politics. lie
takes us back eight hundred years to the
days of Peter the Hermit who. with his
fiery appeals to passion and 10 shame. 10
indignation and to pity TO valor and TO
chivalry. turned all ChristcndOm to tears
and groans. and set in motion those ire
mendous armies which, under Godfrey
dc Bouillon, Hugh of Flanders. Bohe-
mond. and Tancred marched through
Paynim blood. until they gazed upon the
spires and minarets and domes Of
Jerusalem. the Holy city. lie has swayed
multtudes as no political orator ever did
before. He has moved men and women
to sorrow and rejoicing, TO hope and fear
TO such eXaltation as seemed beyond the
experience Of humanity in these days
That ne was earnest, sincere. beyond the
thought Of selhshness and sordid appe-
tite. we verify believe. Deluded. mis-
taken. blinded he may have beer, but
honest. fearless. ardent as the day His
will be a defeat without dishOnor. for. as
we Judge the man, he has never for one
moment harbored a base hope or enter
tanned an unworthy or ignoble purpose.
We are glad he is defeated. but we
recognized and here pay tribute 10 the
purity. the candor. and the utter self
abnegation Of his course.