Omaha daily bee., 1896-09-25
DEFENSE BY EVASION,

In one of his speeches in Brooklyn.
n. Y, Mr.. Bryan referred to those
planks in the Chicago platform which
relate to federal Interference for pre-
venting Instructions of the laws in the
states and to the attack on the supreme
court-declarations which have been
condemned by republicans and demo
Gratis alike as being essentially revolu-
tionary. In attempting to defend the
former of these planks Mr.. Bryan said
it was mild in tone when viewed by the
side of the plank Oh the i~nviolability
Of state rights in the Lincoln platform
of 1860 and with d~emagogic audacity
declared that "if our platform is wrong
l want these republicans to repudiate
Abraham Lincoln" Now this was sim
ply one Of those tricky evasions for
which Mr.. Bryan has Il peculiar talent.
The fourth plank of the republican
| platform of 1860 declared: "That the
maintenance inviolate of the rights of
the states, and especially the right of
each state to order and control its own
domestic institutions according to its
own Judgment exclusively, is essential
to that balance of powers on which the
perfection and endurance of our polit-
ical fabric depends; and we denounce
the lawleSS invasion, by armed force,
of the soil of any state or territory. no
matter under what preteXt, as among
the gravest of crimes" What were the
conditions that justified this declara-
ton? The supporters of slavery were
seeking to force that institution upon
the territory of Kansas, which was in
vaded by armed bands of pro-Slavery
men from Missouri who went there
for the purpose of committing lawlcS*
acts and did commit them. The ma
tional Observation-Disclosures Buchanan
was president-countenanced this laW-
less invasion of free territory, which
also had the support of the territorial
government. Against this the republi-
can party earnestly protested, justly
~denouncing it as among the gravest of
crimes. There is no possible relation
or similarity between the conditions
which justified the enunciatiOn of the
platform of 1860 to which Mr.. Bryan
referred and the circumstance which
suggested the declaration of the Chicago
platform. In the one case there was
lawless invasion of IA territory by
armed bodies of men for the purpose of
establishing slavery there by force and
violence. In the other case Il military
force, acting under authority of law,
was employed to suppress violence and
prevent the obstruction of interstate
commerce and the carrying of the mails,
and this was not done until it became
apparent that the local and state au-
would not take proper action
against the mob, 1t is difficult to
treat with patience or to characterize rs
it deserves the attempt of Mr.. Bryan
of the Chicago platform against
the right of the president to enforce
federal laws in the states, but it ought
to suggest to every right-minded citizen
how hazardous 1t would be to place in
the hands of Mr.. Bryan the great power
and responsibilities of the chief eXecu-
tive of the republic,
1lnTuly less eNiSlNe anu lnlpOleUl Is
Mr.. Bryan's defense of the attack on
he supreme court. No rational man can
have any doubt as to what that means.
Hill, when the platform was
before the Chicago convention, said of
this provision that 'if it means any
thing, it mean that it is the duty of
congress to reconstruct the supreme
court of the country. 1t means the add
ng of additional members to il, or the
out of office and reconstructing
he whole court" and the New York
senator declared that he would not fol
any such revolutionary step as that.
This is the view that every great lawyer
II the country, regardless of political
lffiliation, has taken of it and it is the
,niy rational view. 1t proposes, as was
aid by eX-President Harrison, "to de-
'troy the balance which our fathers i'll
in our system of government,
md whenever n tumultuous congress
lisagrees with the supreme court and
subservient president is in the white
louse, that the Judgment OF the court