The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-04-29
The One Great Question Now
Thato of the Platform.
THE PARTY rs AGAIN UNITED
Will the Party Content Itself With a
Simple Re-Affirmation Of the Chi
cago Platform or Will it Re.
iterate Section by Section
That Platform?
(By james Creelman in New York
Journal)

(By James Creelman in New York
Journal.)
An impartial investigation of the
present political situation ought to
convince any man that if the Presi-
dental election were to take place
now Mr.. BRYAN would be elected by a
decisive plurality.
Four years ago the plain facts com
PEELED me to predict Mr.. Bryan's de-
feat, and l repeated that prediction
almost every day from the time when
| accompanied Mr.. Bryan from the
scene of his nomination to the hour
when / stood beside him in Lincoln
and saw him cast his vote.
FACTS POINT TO HIS ELECTION.
There is but one serious point Of
difference between the most extreme
of the conservative Democrats of the
East and the great body of the party
which supported Mr. Bryan in 1896.
Many of the Eastern leaders desire to
have the ratio of sixteen to one omit
ted from the money plank of the plat
form. The leaders in the South and
West are practically unanimous in
their opposition to any change.
| have been present at several inn
portant conferences of Democrats rep
resenting these two views of party
policy. and | can speak with some GER
tainty of the actual situation. The
aim and intention of the great mass
of the party who were loyal four years
ago has been to re-adopt the Chicago
platform, and to incorporate it, word
for word, in the platform to be made
in Kansas City on July 4. 4s
WILL OPPOSE ANY CHANGE
| can say authoritatively that Mr..
Bryan will oppose the abandonment of
a single plank in the Chicago plat
form. 1t is demonstrable that an
overwhelming ma ority of the next
Democratic National Convention will
refuse to abandon, alter or modify the
Chicago platform.
The one great question that now re-
mains before the Democratic leaders
is this: VIII the Kansas City cOnven-
ton content itself with a simple re-
affirmation of the platform of 1896 in
three or four lines and devote the rest
of its utteranceS to the issues of 1900,
or will the convention feiterate the
Chicago platform. All other questions
are. for the present, subordinate to
this.
Mr.. Hill says that Mr.. Bryan will
be renominated. Mr.. Hill declares that
he will work hard to elect Mr.. Bryan
No man who has met Mr.. Hill within
the past two weeks can doubt his
earnestness or his determination to
lend his whole strength to the Demo
cratic party in the approaching cam
paign.
He sees victory in sight for the first
time since Mr.. Cleveland wrecked the
party. Mr.. Hill will support Mr.. Bry-
am. Chicago platform or no Chicago
platform. The abandonment of the
well-tried American theory of equal
rights everywhere under the flag for
the British policy of subject colonies
overshadOws all other issues.
NO HOPE Fo SILVER AT PRESENT.
But Mr.. Hill and State Chairman
Campbell and Mr.. Croker and former
Senator Murphy and men who take
their view of the situation are urging
upon the Western and Southern lead
ers the fact that the passage of the
Currency bill by the Republican ma
iority in Congress removes the free
silver question for the present from
the field of practical politics and
craftsmanship: that even if Mr.. Bry-
an were President now he would be
powerless under the law to disturb
the gold standard. and that a Republi-
can ma jority in the United States Sen
ate will make free silver legislation
impossible for the next five years
therefore Il readoption of the Is to |
plank at Kansas City can accomplish
nothing, and will be a mere academic
statement of "a theory about which
the voters of the party disagree.
Some of the conservative Eastern
leaders insist that Mr.. Bryan cannot
be elected without the electoral vote
of New York State, and that modi-
fication of the Chicago platform will
make Democratic victory in New York
Il certainty.
But the ''irreducible minimum" of
a majority of the Kansas City con
vention will be simple reaftirmation
of the platform of 1896. statement
that can be made in forty or fifty
words. That seems to be the utmost
that can be hoped for by the conser-
vatiye leaders
To bring the body of the Chicago
platform into the convention for mutt
lation or amendment would bring on
a bitter and useless fight, in which the
conservative men would be beaten.
\ strong group of leaders believe
that. as the silva question is dead as
practical present issue. it would be
a political crime to have struggle in
the convention itself. Even Mr.. Hill
believes that whatever is done must
be agreed upon before the convention
meets.
1t is safe to say that there will be
no fight on the financial question in