Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-04-28
10 SUPPRESS BRYANT
Democratic Leaders Anxious to Have
Their Candidate Say Less in
the Campaign.
They Say He Injuries His Political
Chances by Talking Too
Much.
Eastern Democrats Want to Adopt
a Conservative Platform at
Kansas City.

Washington, April 2S.-Wellman's spec
cial TO Times-Herald: How to bottle up
BrNan is a problem that is Worrying
some of the democratic leaders in this
c'ty Col. Rryans announcement that
he Will make no speeches for two
months after May 5 has more behind it
than appears upon the surface This
unexpected period of silence is the re-
suit of some good advice given the DEM
ocratic leader by his best friends in this
city.
Ihsy have pointed out to Col Bryan
that the greatest danger now menacing
his cause is that he may talk too much.
He has the nomination for president
We'll in hand, provided he makes no mis-
takes before the meeting of the Kansas
CITY convention. and, While Mr.. BRYAN
has made a srenla rkab record as a man
who apparently grows stronger the more
he talks. his FRIENDS have called his at
tention8 to the legend OF The pitcher that
Went once too often To the Well.
Arthur p. German recently said that
Col. Bryan was in one respect the most
extraordinary man this country had
ever produced, in that he could go on
talking and talking without killing him
self. No man ever did it before, and it
Will probably be a good many years be-
fore any man is able to do ii again. The
democratic leaders friends have advised
him to take no unnecessary chances.
and they are delighted that he has con-
cluded to accept their counsel.
I But this is not ali. After the Kansas
City convention Col Bryan's friends
want him to remain as much as possible
in the background. IT they have their
Way about it he will remain at home
during most of the campaign. making
but few speeches. They say the time
has come when even MIR. Bryan may
talk too much.
Touring the country az a seeker for
the presidency gives the sober-minded
people the impression that there is Just
a little too much eagerness about the
matter. little too much Of a self-adver-.
tisement and unseemly scrambling. The
democratic leaders who hold this view
say Mr.. Rryan can make no more votes
on the stump: that the class of people.
who are likely TO be Won by9his oratory
are already with him, while the gains
HWhlchshe must make in order to win the
presid eney are 10 come from the conser-
syative classes if from any source.
a dashing stumping tour would make
"a good deal OF noise but in the ma tier
Of vo te-getting it might easily do more
narm than good. If Col. Bryan must
talk these leaders insist that he SHAH
confine his tours to the west and that
he promise not to set foot in New York
or any eastern state.
+ These democratic leaders confess
they have little hope of inducing Mr.
Bryan to submit to their wishes. After
/ the Kansas City convention is over the
& Nebraska man wants to storm the
country He is never 50 happy as when
on tour at the tail end of a Pullman
car He is quite proud of his remarks
bic performance in this line in 1886, and
flnds more satisfaction in compliment
airy references to his extraordinary
powers of endurance than in anything
else. Men who are on terms of intima-
scy With the democratic leader say he
always has more concern about the
manner than the matter of his
speeches, and this very fact is what
fills his friends with fear that if hs
talks too much he will make a6slip and
do his cause irreparable harm.
OF course is We'll understood that
the strongest reason for trying to in
duce Col. Bryan 10 remain as much as
possible in the background during the
campaign is a desire to subordinate the
silver question. Prominent democrats
here are amazed that Mr.. Bryan clirgs
c n t.I, 1, e
Men who in 1896 We're as earnestly for
free silver as Mr.. BRYAN himself have
now convinced themselves that with
the silver business dropped they have
ian even chance to beat Mckinley. They
lare discouraged because Mr.. Bryanswiii
not see his. too, and because he insists
upon talking silver and reiterating the
\ Chicago platform t every opportunity
The two months of silence which Mr.
4 Bryan has already promised gives them
faint ray of hope, however, that when
/ the real campaign comes on their can
ldidate may prove more traetable than
4 he has been up to the present.
The effort now being made To subor-
1 dinate Col. Bryan has further signifi-
4 canoe in the fact that the eastern de-
mocracy is organizing for the purpose
| of forcing a conservative platform at
Kansas City. A part of this plan is to
convince Mr.. Bryan and his western
| friends that there is actually a chance
i to carry New York next November. and
that if}fe will cooperate by conserving
to abandon the ultra phases of the Chi
1 cago platform and by keeping himself
we'll in the background he may yet sit
lin the white house.
Mr.. Bryan will be told that IL he SUBJ
mits to this much of reorganization
of the democratic party a large cam
/ paign fund will be Forthcoming from
eastern sources, and that desperate
effort will be made TO carry number
| of western states. Whether or not Mr.
Bryan will listen to this siren song and
abandon his pet fantasies remains to
| be seen. h
A third part OF the plan Mr.. Bryan is
expected to put his foot down upon in d
most emphatic manner, and this is
nothing less than desire to turn the
management of the campaign over to
ex-senator German by making him
chairman Of the democratic national
l.committee. Tho Mr.. German is with
out doubt the most astute and far
sighted man now evincing an interest
in the affairs of the democratic party
Col. Bryan is not able to see it. He has
4 49,.