Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1900-12-12
a GALL TO DEMOCRACY
Colonel Hilary A Herbert Talks
C the Southern Democrass
The Montgomery Advertiser prints
the following from iu Washington
correspondent:

/
correspondent:
Your correspondent called on Colonel
Herbert and asked him IL he had any OBJ
lection 10 giving his views, through The
Advertiser, of the lessons Of the recent
election. he replied:
None 81 all shall be very glad TO
Go So Indeed, l would like very much
10 have q face-to-fsce talk with nv old
| constituents now about the situation,
and as l can't do that, the next best
| thing Is 10 tSlk TO as many OF them as
can oe reached through your columns.
Il am, as you know, permanently out
Of politics My political career 10 closed
ana i have no ambition IN that line TO
CRAFTY; so that what l say is from the
standpoint OF s Democrat who can have
no wish except for the future welfare of
his party. Inc Democracy has made
| grievoUs mistakes since the spring Of
1896, and il is really pitsble TO see the
plight in which we stand to-day. The
south is the minority section OF the In
ion; II can Go nothing BY itself; IL needs
| and must have friends in the North, If II
is TO have any weight whatever in the
| Government. Northern Democrats have
been our friends always, especially dur
ing ana since the days OF reconstruction
| Up 10 1886 We counted Connecticut, New
YORK, New Jersey and Indiana as Dem
| ocratic and occasionally we carried 9th
er states; but in 1896 the Democratic
candidate and platform together drove
al these States into the Republican par
", and in return Democracy gets moth
ing but few unimportSnt free silver
States. We lost in that year also the
border States of Maryland, Kentucky,
! aud West Virgins.
That election OF 1896 seems TO have
taught Us nothing. Mr.. Bryan main
tanned his control over our people. be
held fast to the alliance be had formed
/ with the Populists and 10 all the pro
! noUncements Of the Chicago platform,
that had carried him and the party 10
defeat. Last spring l talked 10 8 lead
! ing Southern Democratic Congressman,
who was avOwedly for free silver and
| Bryan. In answer 10 my question. he
admitted conndenlially that free silver
was dead and that Bryan had no hope
OF election, and said be was only advo-
eating Bryan because the people behind
him demanded IL. He also told me that
in his opinion the majority of southern
| Congressman stood exactly where he
did, anxious 10 give up Bryan and free
| silver, II only the people would consent
A few days afterwards l had & CONVEX
sstiOn, also confidential, with 3 leading
| Democratic Congressman from the
! North, and he repeated precisely the
same idea syowed by the Southerner.
This was the situation before Mr.
Bryan was renominated At Kansas
City the majority Of the Convention was
evidently against giving silver 9 promi-
nent place in the platform, but Mr.. Bry-
an demanded il. liz was done, and the
result is that now, sitter the election,
with the exception OF Maryland and
West Virginia (still in the Republican
fold the Southern States are standing
out for free silver when not q single
civilized State in the world, counting
out the second-rate countries Of Central
and South America, is maintaining il,
and not State in this Union for il ex-
the four pitiful little silver-producing
States OF the Northwest, which have al
together just five representatives in the
| lower House OF Congress. The North
is practically solid against US, and both
| Houses OF Congress are against Us by
large msjorities, when prior TO 1896 the
House was most Of the time Democratic.
There must be cause for all this,
and il is found in the man and the
measures our people have advocated.
IL Is al due 10 Mr.. Bryan, free silver
and PopDlism. Mr.. BRYAN is q man OF
singular purity OF character, great elo-
quence, and wonderful magnetism, but
ne lacks one quality Of q leader, and
that is judgment II he has suffered a
worse defeat in 1900 than he did In 1896,
II Was simply because he has been con-
victed Of error out Of his own mouth.
In 1896 he was so sure he understood the
question Of currency that he ventured to
make prophecies OF the cSlamities that
would happen II free silver WAS not
adopted. He made these prophecies in
his speeches and afterwArd published
them in the book called The First Bat
tie" If his arguments were sound, his
prophecies, OF course, would come true.
He said, for instance, that IL the gold
standard was continued wheat would go
| down, but wheat went up; he said that
corn and oats would 60 down, but corn
and oats went up; he said that provisi-
ons of all kinds would 60 down, but
provisions went up. Now, Dir. Bryan 9
state, Nebraska, of course, felt very
kindly towards him. He had every Ad-
vantage-State pride was helping him,
and be had combineI the Populists, the
free silver Republicans and the Demo
Gratis, into one party which was called
the fusionists- Certainly he ought to
have won If there was any truth in his
contentious. Bat the hardheaded farm
ers Of Nebraska who had given him
| their electoral votes in 1896, compAr ring
i ---- PAOP-~NACe NAC
facts, came TO the conclusion that while
their fellow-ciuzen was q bailliant talk
er. he did not Know what he was talking
about; that he was an unsafe leader, and
so they voted against him in the recent
| election.
Our Southern people are in precise
| ly the same situation as the Nebraska
farmers. We make cotton, and cotton
has gone up, instead Of down, as Mr..
Bryan said IL would. We manufacture
cotton and iron, and our country is now
in a prosperous condition, relatively,
Mr.. Bryan's prophecies 10 the contrary
! Notwithstanding.
THE farmers and business men of the
North, after having Mr.. Bryan and his
propecies before them for four years.
| took his measure and concluded they
were afraid TO trust him with power, and
| that Is what the election means.
| "Mr. Bryan was right on the question
of trusts, though in some of his speeches
he may have gone so far as to brighten
all property holders. No party can afford