Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-11-02
DEMOCRACY IN 1900.
The Party of Discomfort Remains
Practically. the Same ns
in ISo6.

The democratic party is presenting it.
self for popular approval in three states
especially, where the national party or
ganization is really on trial before the
country, with the state machines and
their candidates for evidence. Has the
party changed in any respect since it
nominated Bryan at Chicago in 1896?
How is this question answered by the
democratic state conventions of Massa-
chusetts, Kentucky and Ohio?
Three years ago the leadership of the
democratic party was assumed by Its
most unworthy and ignorant elements.
We have nothing to say touching Mr..
Bryan's honesty. We are quite willing
to admit his purity of purpose, but puri-
ty of purpose coupled with ignorance
and folly is often more dangerous to the
body polite than open vice, even when
such vice is accompanied or partly dis
guised by intelligence. But while 1t
may be that Mr.. Bryan and some OF the
free coinage advocates are honest and
sincere, the country is justified in its
doubts as to the character of Altgeld,
Croker, George Fred Williams, Iillman
and others of that kind, some of whom
are in politics for votes and some for
dollars. 1t is not necessary to go into
minute detail in our examination of the
meaning of democracy in 1896. The
country knows what Bryan and his par
ty stood for, and what would have hap
pened if it had won the victory.
In the first place, the panic from
which the country had been suffering
for four years would have reached an
acute stage, and the recovery and pros
perity which we have since experienced
would have been delayed. 1t could not
have been wholly prevented, for nature
would have worked its provident will,
and would have brought forth the
abundant crops of the last two years,
but it would never have become so
great as it is to-day. Ruin, however,
would have fallen sharply and swiftly
upon those who had withstood the
troubles of 1898, 1894 and 1895, imme-
diately following the announcement of
the election of Bryan and of Bryan1te
house of representatives. If, unde-
tered by the panic and distress follow
ing the election, the Bryanites had kept
to the course marked out in their plat
form, we should have had a free coin
age sixteen to one law enacted in the
summer of 1897, for, of course, an extra
session would have been called for that
! 4rpose. Whether or not we should
have had a war with Spain, who can
tell? Bryan might have been against
it, although he started for it as Il
colonel, and the democrats are fond of
saying that they forced the republican
administration and majority in con-
gress TO the task of making Cuba free.
Popular opinion and rage, however,
would probably in the end have brought
on the conflict. In that event our rev
enues would have been 50 cents on the
dollar and our expenditures the full
dollar. In other words, our purchases
abroad and at home would have taken
at least twice as much revenue as they
actually do require. Our money would
have been Mexicanized, and we would
have had a practical experience OF
South American public finance. Our
bonds would have been below par and
our borrowing capacity crippled. 1t is
idle to speculate as to what means
would have been adopted TO raise the
necessary funds for carrying on the war
and to meet the expenses incidental to
it. But it may be safely asserted that
we should have been without funds for
a long time, owing to the variety of eco
nomic opinions which disturb the minds
of the Bryanites, and to the peryerse-
ness with which many of them con-
tinue to cling to the income tax as a
| fetch, Notwithstanding the decision of
| the supreme court that such tax is un-
| constitutional. Doubtless we should
| have been in great straits with a cheap
dollar and lack of necessary income.
Perhaps we should not yet have seen
| the seizure of the railroad, telegraph
and telephone lines by the general gov
| ernment, or the establishments of public
warehouses for grain on which the gov
ernmeut had lent money. We would,
| however, have seen the beginning of the
| degradation of the supreme court, and
we would have had department of
| justice bent on enforcing the will of
| the executive against the opinions and
consciences of the judges. This is, in
effect, the meaning of democracy as it
was written in the platform of 1896.
Has the democratic party changed
since 1896? In Kentucky both factions
of the party are for free silver at six
teen to one; the John Young Brown
faction is opposed to Goebel because
| the regular candidate obtained his nom
ination by force and fraud. 1t has been
the practice in Massachusetts to elect
delegates TO the national convention in
the several congressional districts and
the four delegates at large in state
convention called for the purpose. But
George Fred Williams, fearing that if
this practice were adhered to this year
the democracy of Massachusetts would
decide against himself and Bryan, per-
formed a coup de politique and had all
the delegates chosen at the recent state
convention. In Ohio man has been