Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-09-27
BRYAN ND NATIONAL ISSUES.


BRYAN AND NATIONAL ISSUES.
The would-be critics of w. j. Bryan
find fault with his ideas; but they do
not answer them. They assert his ut
terances to be fallacies; but fail to
back up the assertion by the proof
They accuse him, in rounded phrases,
of a lack of argument; but there Is
paucity of specification and particular
ity in the Indictment They proclaim
him juggler with words; but neglect to
answer him. The fact is, Mr.. Bryan
is to-day the representative American
citizen, whose voice and influence are
for the good of the masses of his fellow
countrymen, and who stands for
broad American patriotism and equal
liberty of mankind with an earnestness
and vigor which has and still compells
the admiration OF many millions. NO
man since the days of Lincoln, and no
man except Lincoln since Andrew
Jackson, has been a more faithful TIL
bune of the people, and thus 1t happen
ed that last week, in a tour of twelve
counties of Nebraska, he addressed sixty
thousand attentive people upon the is
sues now at the front, and which will
be the leading factors in the approach
ing national campaign-the income tax,
trusts, free silver and Imperialism. The
latter received most consideration from
Mr.. Bryan, because, he said, it repre-
sents an issue new to the people OF
America, but one which must be met,
and with this thought he took his text,
not from Democratic source, but from
that greatest of Republican Presidents,
Abraham Lincoln, saying as he did
70:
Il want to tell you that in the next
eighteen months we will quote more
from Abe Lincoln than the Republicans
have done in all the last fifteen years.
And then he recalled TO his hearers
this prophetic warning from the martyr
President:
The bulwark of our nations safety lies
y,
he spirit which recognizes the heritage
Of men in all lands everywhere. Destroy
1t, and you have planted The seeds of des-
potism at your own doors. Accustomed TO
trample on the rights of others. you have
lost the genius OF your own independence
and become the lit subjects of the first
coming tyrant who rises among you
And with this truth ringing in the
ears of his audience, Mr. Bryan, with
terseness seldom equalled by an orator,
and without a superfluous word or
syllable demolished the Republican
disclaimer of imperialism in this single
sentence:
ITO annex CONTIGUOUS homogeneous ter
ritory to be inhabited by Americans and
become an integral portion OF the Union
OF States is expansion, but to cross an
ocean to conquer an alien people to be
held as subjects and governed by the doc
trine of might is Imperialism
Could there be a clearer definition of
the terms expansion" and imperial
ism?' The difference is made plain at
a glance; and despite the plea of not
guilty the Republican party and its adj
ministration is convicted. The exist
ing war in the Philippines is war for
conquest as certainly as Russian ag-
xression on the Turkish. Indian and
Chinese frontiers, or England's cam
paigns in the Soudan. No Greek or
Roman army ever invaded lands be-
longing to others with a more definite
idea of subjugation by the right of
might than is contained in the admin
lstration idea of destroying the freedom
% which the Filipinos have as great
'unalienable rights as any othe' ma
ton on earth, and it is to this fact and
issue that Mr. Bryan is deyoting the
most of his attention.
Upon the issues of trusts, the income
tax and free silver, Mr. Bryan in his
recent addresses. has been equally
earnest and TO the point. and while Re-
plblicans have scoffed, none have vet
answered him. He was particularly
happy and embarrassing to the Repub-
licans When he said, in one of his Ne
braska speeches, that thirteen million
and one-half voters voted for bimetal-
lism in 1896, while but 10000 voted for
Palmer and Buckner, the only candi-
dates that ever ran on a platform de-
claring for the gold standard" This
was hot shot at the money plank in
the st. Louis Republican platform a
plank which wasI never intended for
any other purpose than deception. and
which was ignored las soon as adopted
Mr.. Bryan is a veIly large thorn in
Republican side