Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1900-08-30

did not support Mr.. Bryan in 1896,
and do not intend to now. | shall OPP
pose his election this year with all the
yigor and ability | possess. l do not feel
that L could stand to my convictions by
remaining merely passive and contenting
myself with simply voting against him.
Bryan the Issue.
No issue set forth in any platform, no
matter how cunningy devised and ar
ranged, in this campaign can be made
paramount to the issue Of Mr.. Bryan
himself, his erroneous views Of public
questions. his numerous vagaries and his
demonstrated desire to find popularity
and votes in Il never-absent appeal to
class prejudices and supposed race ha-
treds.
I am still Democrat, il believing in
Democratic principles correctly interpret
ed and properly enforced as an agency
for good constitutes true Democracy; but
/ am not one il the utterances Of the plat
form adopted at Chicago four years since
and just reaffirmed and re-emphasized at
Kansas City are the rightful expressions
Of what modern Democracy stands for.
Isms of PopuIism.
The many isms of Populism were alb
horrent four years since to my sense of
what is safe and sound in the operations
Of government and the general we'll
being Of the people, because / viewed
them as being fundamentally wrong, and,
being so, neither lapse Of time nor err
rors Of the party in power reconcile me
10 their adoption or make it possible that
I should support a candidate who not
only approves Of them, but is their best
embodiment and most vigorous champion.
have not read all Of Mr.. Bryan's
utterances during the past four years,
but have taken note Of enough Of them
to know that his views have not changed
on any important question since 1896,
and his determination to stir up class
strife is not less manifest. Throughout
all his addresses, public and private, is
shown uniformly an apparent pleasure in
preaching the desirability Of discord be-
tween employe and employer, class and
class. No appeal ever comes from him
which Ia not tinged with advice to those
who must work to distrust those who
must employ.
Harmful to Labor.
All this is not only un-American, but il
Is unjust, unfair and harmful, most Of all
to the laborer, for whose well-being be-
yond all others it is necessary that COM
plete harmony, between capital and labor
and not continual antagonism should ex-
ist. The interests of labor are never in
such great jeopardy as when intrusted
to a man who has the gift Of oratory
coupled with unbounded political ambi-
ton and no business judgment or train
Ing
No man IS fitted for the presidency who
day in and day out proclaims, in the
midst Of demonstrated better condition
OF affairs, the reverse to be true in order
to foment a discomfort. which will gain
to himself and party a political advan-
tage.
Ignorant or Blind.
Mr.. Bryan. without the craftsmanship
to analyze the conditions as they exist,
and find a remedy therefor, gives utter
ance to nothing that would improve them,
but only to that which would make them
worse and cause greater injury to the
great mass Of the people, whose fate he
constantly bewails. l do not believe in
the public value Of any man who is, I'M
der any and all circumstances, a fault
finder and mere protester against al! ex-
listing order Of things.
Mr. Bryans friends insist that he is
nothing if not Intellectually honest and
fearless. Granted that their contention
is true. the inquiring public must then
be forced to conclude that he is either
woefully ignorant or willfully blind. At
no time since his coming into political
power has he made an economic predic-
ton which has not failed of fulfillment,
or laid down as truth an economic doc
triae which has not in the course Of quick
events been demonstrated to be an econ
omic fallacy.
Dtctation of Platform.
1.-The does not study grave public ques-
dous in the light OF past history and
present facts and human experiences, but
only views them in the glare Of his own
preconceiyed notions and fame of his own
fiery political oratory, he is unsuited eth
or to advise the public as teacher or
guide them as a leader.
II he was unfit because of his errone-
GUS views and economic heresies, to be
elected to the presidency in 1885, he is
equally an unfit man now, for he boasts,
with triumphant self-satisfaction, that
he stands to-day on all these questions
exactly where he stood then, and to make
more manifest and clearly defined his po-
sition he compels his party to blazon such
fact in a platform so constructed as to
accord with his views and wishes.
Alliance with Croker.
can conceive of nothing more pitia-
BILE than the sight OF accredited dele
gates OF once great political party in
a national convention supinely surrender
ing their own views on vitality impor-
tant economic question at the behest of
a once defeated presidential candidate,
who only had brought that party into dis
grace aud disrepute, unless it be the sight
OF that presidential candidate and TO be
nominee, appealing through his con6den-
naI agent, Richard Croker, Tammany die
tator, to be his chief aid, trusted friend
and lieutenant in the emergency which
confronted him.
Heretofore Democratic presidential
candidates have gained public respect and
strength by having the open enmity of
Tammany. Mr.. Bryan, who more than
any of them has boosted Of his stand for
principle and his integrity Of character,
has done what Mr.. Seymour, Mr.. Til
den aud Mr.. Cleveland would not do.
He has formed an open alliance. offensive
and defensive, with Tammany, and that
too, at 4 time when that organization II