The Irish standard., 1897-12-04

VI cdIeS WedlCL, 10 DIS uluCll d UuSlueSS
man as the man who goes upon The
board of trade and bets upon the price
Of grain" And on this line too, you
have made newspaper enemies.
This being the Democracy of the pres
ent day, what of its press? Up to the
very hour of the adoption of the Chi
cago platform; even to the supreme mo-
ment toward the close of the fifth bal
lot when the convention became seeth-
Ing, roaring maelstrom of excited men,
and William J. Bryan was made your
nominee for the presidency, the Demo-
cratic party had newspaper in every
city and hamlet, and the most brilliant
journals Of the cities were arrayed un-
der the banner of that party.
Then came the most remarkable news
paper revolution in the history Of this
country. The Democratic press through
out the east and at many western
points suddenly discovered that it's party
had gone astray. The misguided party
had run off after false gods. 1t was not
bowling down before the golden calf, and
its craven images were not carved for
1t by the cunning artisans of Wall street,
In New York the Herald, Post and
World on the instant Joined the Nc
klnley ranks The Sun, brilliant, but
never very steady-going in politics, was
With the bolters Of the great newspa-
q OF,
the Journal.
In New England the Boston Herald.
Globe and Post, the famous old Spring.
field Republican, the Providence Jour
nal and lesser lights without number
all denied you their support and went
over to the enemy.
In Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago
and Detroit you lost the journals whose
support your party had up to that time
/ received. Even in the south you noted
the secession Of some of your ablest
newspapers. Colonel Watterson's Cour-
ier-Journal at Louisville, the Picayune
at New Orleans, the Charleston News
and Courier, the Richmond Times, for
example.
In the country your losses were not
as heavy, but of that later on.
A Democratic president condemned
you; Democratic cabinet officers stunned
against you. At your own court, at
your own capital, you had no friend.
You went into the fight lacking in
newspaper artillery, but your infantry
and cavalry proved so effective that YOU
made Messrs. Hanna and Mckinley nm
derstand very early they were going
to have run for their money. You
!! compelled certain of these interests
Which stood opposed to the principles
of your platform to pour millions upon
millions of dollars into the Republican
campaign fund. In this way YOU
brought about for the time being a GER
tain degree of prosperity in some quar-
ters, even before the campaign was half
over.
You set free excursion trains scurry-
ing to Canton so thick ana fast that the
quiet old Ohio town imagined itself the
center of the universe for a few weeks.
You caused the destruction of Mr.. Nc
kinley's lawn. You sent men to break
down his front fence. They wore the
paint off his porch. Colonel Watterson's
star-eyed goddess tainted dead away a.
your audacity, and that famous slaugh-
ter house of his with an open grave
In the back yard) ran rivers of gore
night and day. If you kicked up such a.
disturbance with not much of a press
to speak of, what in the world would
you have done to this devoted country
OF ours If you had been as well equipped
as the opposition? When the dust had
cleared away some 100000 ballots had
been cast and your candidate had With
in 100000 Of as many votes as Mr. Nc
kinley. A change Of 10000 votes prop
erly distributed would have given Mr..
Bryan majority of the electoral COL
lege.
But, after all, your party had press
and measure of public notice of which
you cannot altogether complain. First,
you had able papers hitherto unknown
to fame, but influential, nevertheless.
and then you enjoyed and pro1ited by
the Incorporate, mad abuse of the op-
position newspapers. You had powerful
newspaper champions In Cincinnati.
Cleveland, Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake
City, Atlanta and other points, whose
utterances the newspapers of the op-
position were compelled to quote and
comment upon. You had an aggressive
country press scattered all over the Un-
ion.
And right here wish to remind YOU
that we are prone to underestimate the
power and influence of the country press.
Twenty little weeklies of an average
circulation Of 1000 each, means 10000
subscribers, and 100000 readers. The
country press is read thoroughly and
it's every utterance weighed by men who
have time to give thought to public
questions.
The city paper may thunder away on
its editorial page, and six busy city
readers out Of seven skip that page and
get even their news from the headlines.
Tbo ,i1 :,