The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1899-09-23
WARNING TO BRYAN.
watterson says He Can Not Win on
Expansion Issue.

Expansion Issue.
LOUISVILLE, KY, Sept. l..-Col.
Henry Watterson in today's Courier
Journal sounds a note Of warning to
William ]. Bryan concerning the
Democratic platform in 1900. Follow
ing are the concluding paragraphs OF
the editorial:
..Anti-expansiOni is anti-Democracy.
The Democratic party of Jefferson
and Jackson was ever the apostle OF
national expansion. Manifest desti-
nv was its rallying cry. That idea is
none the less living and vital today
than it was fifty. sixty, eighty years
ago.
All these nc:: territorial acqulsl-
,ions are with Us to stay. The. came
to us unbidden. They were sent TO us
bv that mysterious power to which we
owe all that we are, all that we have.
Who shall say il nay: He that does
thi--Aud the more surely if he he Il
political damnation.
The activities OF the Atlantic are
being gradually out certainly trans
frrred to the Pacific. We are there
already. Shall We seize upon the
ans of confirming unr power which
rua has gwen Us, o: shall We let The m
80. anu later on, AZ infinite cost, lie
Obliged u tight 10 recover them:
No party ever threw itself across
;h,. pathway of its country greatness
ana glory and lived TO tell the tale,
anu no party ever can or Will or
ought;
Concedlng Mr.. Bryan,s renomina-
ton Col. WattersOn minces no words
| in telling him he can not win on free
silver or on II cry against monopoly,
as the country i too prosperous. His
views OH expansion have been given.
He advises that the Democratic fight
| be made on various alleged mistakes
! ia rnt. conduct OF ;he war Itself. The
editorial proceeds:
| The main trouble with too many
of the present managers of the Dem
ocratic party of the country at large
seems to be a lack of confidence in
themselves. Seeing that they are, as
a rule. most self-assertive, this may
sound paradoxical, but it is true new
ertbeless. Extremism and yOciferca-
ton are by no means evidences Of
self-contidence. On the contrary. they
are often signs of moral cOwardice.
Men of real courage. of positive
opinions and assured position, do not
need te be clamorous. They know
that they can afford to be patient and
discreet. They do not mistake mod
slider it necessary to be prudent in
order that they may appear to be sim
cere. TO them politics is not series
of experiments. but of compromises
and expedients. They can cut their
coat according to their cloth.
For example. Mr.. Bryan tells that
the Chicago platform of 1896 is for
all time. Why should it be so: Why
should it bc for all time more than
the ST. Louis platform of 1876. or the
Chicago pla a.form of 1884 and of 1892:
On these We carried the country. Why
should they be set aside and ignored
in favor of platform on which We
lost the country: What is there so
sacred in the Chicago platform of
1896, which divided and wrecked the
party, that Mr.. Bryan or any other
Democrat. should cling To it so ten
aciously:
There is not the least doubt that
Mr.. Bryan will be the Democratic
nominee for President in 1900. He
will have no contestant in the Demo-
cratic National Convention. All talk
to the contrary is mere newspaper
chatter. Mr.. Bryan will be nomina-
ted by acclamatiOn. Does not he wish
to be elected"
Col. Watterson's own idea of the
true way to fight the Republicans is
to criticize the conduct of the war in
the.Philippines.