The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1900-08-30
OUR STANDARD BEARERS.
In Bad COMPANY.

On the principle that man is known
by the company he keeps, it is fair to
presume that a candidate for political
honor is known by his constituency
and the principles he advocates by the
nature Of their support. Looked at in
this light William Jennings Bryan and
William Mckinley present difference
in appearance not at all hattering to
the former. The leaders of Bryan's
van guard are all men whose names,
have long been before the public in
roles not calculated to inspire praise
nor admiration, nor to foster faith in
the high sounding pledges and prom
Uses of the Democratic party.
First among Mr.. Bryan 1ieutenants
is Senator Jones, of Arkansas, Chair
man of the Democratic National Com
mittee. 1t will be remembers that
four years ago the American Cotton
Company was organized to obtain
monopoly of the cylinder, or round
bale, process of ba1ing cotton, with
AS a result Senator Jones is now di-
rector in one of the most far reaching
business monopolies ever organized in
this country, and which has been for
several years successfully engaged in
absorbing or crushing all smaller con-
Germs in the same line.
IN rac.o 1~ifc q r a n
oaign of Mr.. Bryan for antitrust and
the good of the 1aboring man, are
Messrs. Augustus Van Wyck and
Richard Croker, of New York, leading
spirits, 1ikewise,in the great Tammany
ice trust. one of the most oppressive
monopo1ies in existence. Shoulder to
shoulder with these goes Gov. Stevens
of Missouri, the man who set the seal
of the state and signed his name to
legislation passed through the inf1u-
ence and in the interests of trusts and
consolidated capital.
Another picturesque figure on MIR.
BrYan's staff is ex-Gov. John P.
Altgeld, of Illinois. Mr.. Altgeld will
be remembered as the man, who,
clothed with the powers of Governor
of one of the greatest states in the
Union, held out,against the dictates of
the government and the pleading of
the people while mob rule and an
archy destroyed life and property and
4 M A &c he
man to whom, tits generally acknowl-
edged, Col Bryan, if elected next No
vember, will give the first seat on the
Supreme Court bench that is vacated
after the fourth of next March.
The list is too long to be numerated.
But so conspicuous, so vociferous are
they in this crusade of Mr.. Bryan's
against the forces that menace labor
and threaten the Republic; against the
''plutocrat king McKin1ey-tha the
great magnates of the silver trust
must not be overlooked. Our friend
and neighbor, Mr.. Hearst, of the Chi
cagO American, is one of these-Mr.
Hearst, Vice President of the Silver
Trust, and heavy stockholder in two
0 the largest mines in the great COM
bination. These are the men who own
the silver which they would like to sell
to the people for twice its actual value.
These are the men, of whom it was
said in go: "They have reduced min
e1s' wages from $3.50 per day to So,
and in most cases to $3.50 per day,
while declaring dividends by scores of
millions" These are the men who,
while protesting to be the champions
of the 1aboring men of the country, are
asking them to help them with votes
to double their dividends and take the
difference out of the wages of all the
people who work.
1t may be true that Mr.. Bryan is an
honest man carried awayby fanaticism,
but that he is the catspaw and tool of a
ring of operators whose purpose moth
ing can disguise, there can be nc
doubt. The infatuation of oratory
and frenzied devotion to principle,
though a vicious one, that emenates
from Byran, can never blind the pub
lie 10 the cloud of Harpies that follows
him, living on the frrits of his 1abors
and ready to wreak the vengeance OF
divine wisdom upon infinite foolish
ness and cupidity.