The Elk Mountain pilot., 1900-09-25
DENVER LETTER.
A Review of Some Political Events of
the Past Week.

the Past Week.
Denver, Colo, Sept. 22-The past
week has been full of political events;
so full that it is possible to mention
only few of them, nnd those the most
important in the state of Colorado.
The Republican state convention
comes first in Importance. and the CON
trast between 1t and the various con
ventions of the fusion parties in the
preceding week was extraordinary and
instructive. The fusionists spent
about two-thirds of their time in de
terminlng which party should have
certain Offices assigned to 1t; in other
words, in quarelling over the division
of the spoils. The nomination of the
candidates themselves was secondary
matter. and the enunciation of princi-
pies was something nobody cared
about and might have been left out
just as well rs not. The Republican
convention was a real political conven-
tion. The delegates came here for the
purpose of declaring their political
faith, and of naming candidates whom
they considered to be representatives
of that faith Their platform. and the
speech Of acceptance of their candidate
for governor, We're as important as
any part of their proceedings, for the
simple reason that, like all Republican
platforms and speeches of acceptance,
they We're intended to be carried out if
the nominees are electd
Th speech of Senator Wolcott was a
magnificent effort. one part of 1t has
been published in the daily papers. and
that almost entirely the part in which
he replied to the violent personal as
saults made upon him recently by
ID.
matter of fact. this reply occupied only
4 small part of the speech, and the
bulk of II was devoted TO n mastery
exposition of the principles of the Re
publican party and the political situa-
ton as II exists to-day in this state
and in the nation.
Among other important political
events of the week has been the issu-
ance of Mr.. Bryan's letter of accept
ance. This is Il remarkable document
in only one way-it is n postscript 10
his letter of acceptance. That | may
not be accused of garbling the facts,
let me quote from the latter itself:
Having in my notification speech
discussed somewhat at length the para
mount issue, Imperialism, and added
some observations on militarism and
the Boer war, it is sufficient at this
IlI1e 10 review Tue GeIldllluS plduh VI
the PLATFORM"
Having begun the letter in this way,
Mr.. Bryan finishes it as follows:
The subjects, however, treated in
this letter. important as each may seem
in itself, do not press SO imperatively
for solution as the question which the
platform declares to be the paramount
issue in this campaign. Whether we
shall adhere to, or abandon those ideas
of government which have distinguish
ed this nation from other nations and
given to lis history its peculiar charm
and value, is n question the settlement
of which cannot be delayed. No 9TH
er question can approach 1t in import
ance; no other question demands such
immediate consideration"
In other words, Mr.. Bryan says that
the Democratic platform is all right in
what it says concerning trusts, silver,
currency, government by injunction,
n department of labor, the initiative
and referendum, and pensions. and
arid lands. but all these things are
not particularly important at this time;
for a discussion of the real issue of
the campaign the public will please see
his speech of acceptance, to which this
letter is merely the formal addendum.
OF course there will be an effort on
the part of the Rocky Mountain News
and other fusionist papers in this part
of the world to push into some promi-
nence the few words which Mr.. Bryan
has to say for silver. But after Mr..
Bryan's own declaration of the entire
subordination of the silver question,
such effort will be of little avail.
Mr.. Rosevelt's letter of acceptance
has also appeared during the past
week, and in it he discusses the main
issues of the campaign, which he
deems to be prosperity and expansion.
He believes that If this country were
put on a silver basis at the ratio of 16