The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-01-17

opinion on a thing of policy.
They concede that it is the his
and wish that the commercial
values of silver and gold were
such as to permit its maintenance
They even admit that it is possible Mr.
Bryan may be right in his belief that
the reconciliation of silver would Gre
ate such demand for the metal as to
restore its price, but they don't be-
lieve it.
It is a matter over which bimetallists
can differ and remain good Democrats
What reason is there in sense, what
reason in sane politics. why Mr.. Bryan
should stand on Is to /, and, speaking
as the head of the Democratic party,
say: He that is not for me in this
is against me2"
Is there not enough ground outside OF
question of ratio to draw Democrats
together, upon for common war against
the rule of the plutocrats, the fieecers
of the people?
Many. very many, supported Mr..
Bryan before, and will support him
again, should he be renOminated, not
because of, but in spite of 16 to l. They
voted in behalf of the Democratic spirit
of the whole movement which his can
didacy represented. 1 see that he is
credited with announcing that he is
not single-taXer. Now, l consider the
single tax as of infinitely greater i'm
portance than the silver question, yet
/ am aware that it is not yet an issue
in national politics, and am willing to
let Mr.. Bryan hold what opinion he
pleases on the subject of the justice
and industrial consequences of private
ownership of land. Hundreds of thou
sands of Single-taXerS, in whose view
the question of whether the medium of
l.. L. Ill.
or gold only, is a comparatively trifling
one, voted for Mr.. Bryan and would
again. Hundreds of thousands of other
men, not single-taxer but disagreeing
with the Is to 1-ers, did the same
thing, because the general trend of the
new Democracy appealed to their sym
pathy and judgment.
Why should not Mr.. Bryan manifest
a like spirit of liberation, of liber-
atty?
Common sense demands that q O.
litical party, instead of narrov'ir ITS
gates of entrance, should widen lem
by every possible inch. There should
never be any surrender of principle
but always a readiness to subordinate
non-essentials. Agreement on the main
thing is all that should be required.
And the main thing in the new
Democracy that took up the sword at
chicago is not 10 TO l.
That is the fly on the wheel.
By magnifying it as Mr.. Bryan does,
he is doing the new Democracy meal
culable mischief.
Mr.. Hanna, and Mr.. Platt and Mr..
Rockefeller and Wall street and all of
the gentlemen who have become saw
Tors of society and custodians of the
national honor, are pleased to fright
their followers by picturing Mr.. Bryan
as a destroying radical. Those among
them who understand the reality are
not afraid of Mr.. Bryan, but of the
spirit of the masses behind him, which
spirit he is so cOnspicuously failing to
interpret and represent. If he shall
plant himself immovably on his 16 to 1,
and in the hope that by raising a clam
or about that he will keep larger, more
vital questions in the background, the
could wish for no better luck
than his continued leadership of his
party.
Nobody can doubt that it is his top
desire to be renominated, and that the
fight shall be made again on the 16 to
1 issue.
1t may be that he could win-not be-
cause belief in his speciality has grown,
for it has not-but because of the in
tolera bleness of four years more of
Hannaism and McKinleyism and Pier
DOIl Will lIG ut
publican party as ii is, and must con-
tinue to be, will tell nightly for any
Democratic candidate. but on his own
revealed merits Mr.. Bryan is not now
so strong a man as he was in 1896
Then he was young hero. fresh to
the knowledge and imagination of the
people, who. after the manner of the
people, clothed him with unselfishness.
high mindedness, genius and all the
=,
their ideals, and only great man can
long wear that robe without fraying
it.
The nomination came to Mr.. Bryan
in 1896 as a free gift, presented with
cheers and music and an acclaim that
thrilled the country.
The nomination in 1900 is being
sought by Mr.. Bryan-sought industri-
ously in the ways made familiar by
the men of all parties who are ambi-
tious to be president.
Mr.. Bryan is revealing himself as a
politician.
An ordinary public man may safely
do that. 1t did not hurt Mckinley
with his party to have Hanna going
up and down the land intriguing for,
buying and otherwise capturing dele
cations to the st. Louis convention
But Mr.. Bryan's proper role is not
is cast for the part of a great man of
the people, chosen by them to give
voice to their discomfort with the con-
ditions that are sapping popular gov
in the republic and impOver-
ishing the masses. What Tiberius
Gracious was to the dispossessed,
landless freemen of Rome, Bryan is,
or was, to millions of the American
poor. And to others less emotional
r.
man for a great honor. In proportion
as he disclcses to the public eye the
qualities of an artful politician, cal
the consequences of his acts
and controlled by the Drudences of
policy. just in that proportion will he
decline in popularity. More: Just in
that proportion win he prove his I'M
fitness for the noble task to which he
was called-the leadership of the
Democratic sentiment, the masculine. !
patriotism of the plain |
people of the United States. The Bryan |
that ought to be should be instantly |
to that sentiment wherever I
and however It shows itself, leaving |
results, as they concern his personal !
interests. to take care of themselves. |
Always he ought to be able to recog-
lize the sound of his own bell, else he
S not competent to ring one that |
Democratic men will follow.
The shrewdness learned in Nebraska
politics is the snare in which the feet '
IF Mr.. Bryan have been caught. OBJ /
serve his crafty avoidance TO commit /
himself while the New York campaign /
vas on. Tammany ignored is to 1 and /
passed by the Chicago platform with |
,ut mention. The wisdom or unwisdom 1
If thSl silence is not in point. What /
s in point is the obvious fact that Mr.. /
Bryan could not but strongly disap- |
prove the silence. The Jeffersonian /