The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1900-09-14

Mr.. Bryan is insincere and is merely us
ing these liberty phrases" to catch
votes where political rights are more ad-
vanced than in the Democratic States,
or else he does not represent the Demo
cratic party at all. The party's practice
for a generation speaks infinitely louder
than Mr.. Bryan's words. What the
party has always done and is now doing,
it may be relied upon to do if elected to
power. Until the States where Mr. Bry-
ans party reigns supreme show some in
tention of practicing these golden pre-
cepts," their declaration in national
platforms and candidates speeches, may
properly be taken as only so much mate
rial for political deception.
1t is not a question of whether the en-
reimbursement of the negro was n wise
or unwise policy, but it is a question of
common political honesty. If the party
believes, as its practice shows, that the
negroes are an inferior race aud cannot
with safety to our institutions be admit
ted to political rights, to proclaim the
doctrine that the Creator never denied
to any race of people the capacity Of
self-government," is obvious hypocrisy.
Some Of the Democrats in the South
who are more frank and honest than Mr..
Bryan, are already repudiating any pre-
tense of seriously living up to his ethe-
real political declarations. The Macon,
Ga, Telegraph for instance, frankly de-
clares its unwillingness to take Mr.. Bry
an seriously in this consent of the gov
erned" talk and says:
at is all sweet and nice enough to indulge
ON Fourth of July occasions in the general /.
ties about the consent OF the governed
about 'inalienable rights about the equality
OF all men at birth, and so forth, just as our
fOrefathers did who owned slaves and who
robbed the Indians of their land, but II Is
another matter when you try to apply Ii TO
the Negro, the Indian. the kanaka and the
Filipino. We of the South are cOntendng
for our own, and we are going to have IL.
The Negro has nothing that we want that
was not taken from us by force and given
to him. He has no land. he has no birth
right, no heritage-nothlng hut right TO
help govern which was given wrongfully to
him. When we take the ballot from him we
leave him In far better condition than he
found himself when he came among us as
a result OF Yankee thrift and speculation.
The Macon Telegraph, with real South
ern frankness, tells the simple truth
about the Democratic position on this
subject. Its statement is supported by
both the theory and practice of the party
wherever it is in power. Moreover the
Democratic party has never been dishon-
est enough to pretend to believe in the po-
litical enfranchsement of the inferior
races, and Mr.. Bryan's sudden admira-
ton of Lincoln and advocacy of CARR
sonian principles is n personal flight in
political oratory, which has no relation
to the past practice or future intention of
the present Democratic party. If Mr..
Bryan should be elected the offices would
be filed and the Government conducted
by people who, like the Macon Telegraph,
jeer at these equality phrases" as empty
gencralties. They evidently regard these
utterauces as so much verbal bait for
new votes i'm the ''enemy's country" But
here Mr.. Bryan's cunning is not as wise
as the Telegraphs frankness. Honesty
is always respected and such cheap cum
ming as Mr.. Bryan's Indianapolis speech
reveals will fail TO deceive. The Ameri-
can citizens are not ignorant Filipinos,
they are too well informed on the policy
and practice Of the Democracy on this
subject TO be caught by Mr.. Bryan
rhetorical if not hypocritical phrases. The
name Of Lincoln" and political liberty
are too sacred TO be fippantly used in
such a cause. The American people have
some sense of the fitness of things.