The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-04-16
THE PARTY OF sHRIEKs AND
WARNINGS.


The keynote of the speeches delivered at
the banquet of the Jefferson League in
this city Saturday night was despair of
the Republic and of free government unless
the Democratic party is placed in power
very soon. Each one Of the speakers
seemed to regard himself as a sentinel on
the watchtower OF liberty whose duty 1t
was to save the people from themselves.
a prophet commissioned to cry aloud and
spare not in predicting the direst evils I'M
less the party Of the Constitution and of
the Declaration of Independence, meaning
of course the old original Jacob Townsend
Jennings Bryan blown In the bottle, is
speedily placed in charge of the ship of
state. One of the speakers who responded
to the toast of THE Flag" with a very
lugubrious address, gave his hearers to
understand that he had always tried to
cultivate faith in the people and a hopeful
disposition regarding the Republic. but
feared he would not be able to save either
the people or the country much longer.
He had watched the progress of the ship
of state with calm assurance and had
tried to encourage the timid. but now,
to quote his words:
But now, when 1 behold the ship In seas
whose coasts are strewn with the wrecks
of nations-when / hear the voice of the
captain, drunk with the Falernian wine of
imperial ambition, calling to unship the
rudder and cast Ii off, that the ship Is sail
ing under divine guidance-when 1 see das-
tard hands cutting away the anchors that
have served us well in time of ~peril-when,
ahead, / see the spray of waves breakin
over sunken rocks-I feel impelled to shrek
the word of warning I'm the ears of those
who seem to sleep. Wake! wake! ere it be
too late.
There was no diagram with this, but a
little study of the nautical figures of
speech will show that the captain alluded
to is that bold. bad man, William Nc
Kinley, who, drunk with the Falernian
wine of imperial ambition" is ordering
the rudder to be unshipped and cast off
with the evident intention of running the
ship of state on q hidden reef or wreck
ing her on a lee shore. Those to whom
the speaker felt impelled to shrek words
of warning are the American voters who
failed to see in 1896 that the salvation Of
the country lay in the election of William
J. Bryan. and who, there is reason to be-
lieve. are still in doubt whether he would
be a better commander than Captain Nc
Kinley. The sleeping people who do not
realize their LANCER nor see that Mr.. Bryan
is the only person who can save them
are those to whom the speaker would
The Democratic party has saved the
Constitution and the country, on paper,
so often and shrieked to the sleeping peo-
pie so much that the habit has become
the rebellion it demonstrated. on paper,
that the President had no constitutional
power to coerce a State or prevent the dis
solution of the Union, and it shrieked to
the people that any attempt on his part to
do so would work the downfall of consti-
tutional government. Then it was Mr..
Lincoln, drunk with Falernian wine,"
who was preparing to unship the rudder
and wreck the ship of state. The pro-
cess of saving the Constitution, on paper.
and of shrieking warnings between times
continued during the war. No attempt
was made by the Democracy to maintain
the Constitution or defend the flag in any
other way except by paper declarations
and shrieking. In its platform of 1864 it
declared that 1.-THE Constitution has been
disregarded in every part, and public lib
erty and private right alike trodden down.
In spite of its shrieking the people re-
elected Abraham Lincoln, and he did not
unship the rudder nor wreck the ship of
state. From that time to the present the
Democratic party has lone nothing but
shrek and warn when it was out of power
and commit stupid and disastrous blum
ders when 1t was in power. AS 1t
seems to get a lot Of satisfaction out of
the process the best thing the people can
do is to keep 1t out of power and let 1t
shrek and warn. Shrieks and warnings
are less injurious than administrative
blunders and disastrous legislation. Mean
while, we may remark. 'Our flag is there
and it is going to stay there. II has not
been lowered nor desecrated, and will not
be as long as American valor and patriot
ism last, shrieks and warnings TO the con-
trary Notwithstanding.