The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-06-19
The Outlook for the Democratic Party

The discussion az to the outcome Of the
National Democratic Convention next year,
which is now going on among the poll
ticians Of the party who are opposed to the
Candidacy Of Mr.. BRYAN amounts to moth
Ing, except rs revealing the confusion OF
mind and absence Of political principle in
that faction They are anxious to get rid
of the silver plank of the Chicago platform,
but they have no thought, no intention Of
substituting for It any contrary declara-
ton as to the currency. They call them
selves gold Democrats" but not one OF
them who gets into the convention will
dare so much MS TO utter the word gold.
Their whole game Is simply to avoid men
ton of Is to specifically in the platform.
That is, they want to repeat the trick they
played in the Maryland and New York
campaigns, and accordingly, Mr.. GoRMAN
is put forward as at least their nominal
candidate
Now, Mr.. BRYAN deserves respect for his
adherence to something like principle, as
compared with the contempt to which alone
these enemies of his are entitled He is
also far less dangerous as political fac
tor, for his position is avowed and I'M
mistakable, SO that every citizen would
know in voting for him exactly the
policy he represented concerning a vital
national question. His Democratic oppo-
nents however. dare not proclaim any con-
Trajectory policy. but simply propose to
fight shy of the whole subject and thus
leave it in the state of doubt which proved
so disastrous to the country before the cleo
ton of Mr.. MCKINLEY on n platform favor
ing the preservation of the gold standard
They would put the people and all business
to the cost and the turmoil OF a great MT
tional canvass in which the Democratic
party evaded the currency issue and left in
complete uncertainty its policy as to gold
and silver.
Even in a State campaign such pusi-
lanimity exposes party guilty Of it to de-
rision and contempt. but the attempt to
repeat it in national politics would b" to
invite popular Indignation and conse-
quently overwhelming defeat. 1t would
he so cowardly an abandonment of the
principle which has been sustained enthusi-
astically by the great mass OF the party
conventions since it was announced at Chi
cago in 1896 that the Democratic cam
paign would be llfolcss beyond precedent
So far as that party was concerned, il would
be out Of the fight a pac!; Of towards run
ming away from the field of contest to escape
the fire Of their enemies. Tho hope Of such
strategists now Is that military discontinue
In the Philippines and the breakdown of
our policy and destiny OF national expan-
sion will give the Democratic party Il cam
paign cry which they can make so loud
that it will drown every other: but their
disloyal desire like that OF the Copper
heads in the Civil War, will not be graft
fed. They aud their anti-impcrlalist "
allies of the MuRwump stripe are increas-
ing the bloodshed incident to the complete
establishment Of American authority in our
new possessions. but they cannot prevent
the practical settlement of tho problem long
before the occurrence Of the next national
election. No party will dare to go to the
patriotic American people next year with
an "anti-imperialistic platform with a
policy that demands that they should beat
retreat before their enemies and with nm
eKamplcd cowardice abandon tho prizes
they won from Spain in victorious war.