Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1900-09-13
ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND w. ]
BRYAN.

rshafn Lincoln. His saying and gen
ordinations on the functions OF gov
erhment stir the heart today as greatly
as when they were uttered. And Mr..
bryan, accomplished public speaker
ana Judge OF rhetoric as he Is. has
seen Ut to begin the present campaign
by juggling with the magic OF Lincoln's
name n seeking tc prove that black
Is white with carefully culied extracts
RON Llncoln,s concentrations.
ana while he Is about II Mr.. Bryan
mlght also find time to compare the
language In his attacks on President
MCKINNEY with the declarations made
by men OF his own political faith
against President Lincoln. In attempt
ing TO conjure with Lincoln's name Mr..
Bryan has hammered into a little mine
OF campaign material that he might
better have left alone.
IN 1864, a few weeks before the as
semDllng of the Democratic national
convention, the Democratic members
ol congress ISSUED an address to the
pubic bringing the vilest charges of
onlclal corruption against the martyred
president for whose u~tterances Mr.
Bryan processes to have such a high
regard. This statement announced
that there were only two classes of
people supporting the government
tnose who were making money out of
the war and the radical abolitionists-
ana called ca the country to throw
out OF office the administration under
FAVOR OF which these two classes of
men nestle in power and crafty their
unholy greed and detestable passions"
IN connection with this charge of
sahctlonlng the war for money-making
purposes made by Democrats against
Aoraham Lincoln and his party in 1864
IL is interesting to turn to w. ]. Bry-
ahs speech delivered not two weeks
ago at Indianapolis. He said at that
time: ""'
imperialism would be profitable n
Tue army or contractors; II would be
printable 10 the ship owners, who
would carry live soldiers to the Phil
ipplnes and bring dead soldier back:
II would be profitable to those who
would seize upon the franchises, and II
would be profitable to the officials
whose salaries would be fixed and paid
over there. But to the farmer. to the
lahorlng man and to the vast majority
OF those engaged in other occupations,
II would bring expenditures without re-
turn and risk without reward"
The Democratic national convention
or 1864 was called to order by its chair
man, August Belmont, the American
representative of a European banking
house-a fitting presiding officer for a
party so bitterly opposed to financial
greed and "the dictation of q foreign
money policy"
Here is what this noble patriot and
enemy of the gold bugs" told the dele
gates in his opening speech:
-Four years of misrule by a section-
al fanatical and corrupt party have
brought our country to the verge of
ruin. The result of such a calamity
as the reelection of Mr.. Lincoln must
as the utter d~isintegration of our whole
political and social system amidst
bloodshed and anarchy"
, And, talking from his seat in the
house of representatives on the 14th
of January, 1863, Clement L. Vallan-
digham, whose name and record Mr..
Bryan may have dimly heard of
through the silence of the years, said:
History will record that, after near
ly six thousand years Of folly and
w~ickedness in every form and admin
istration of government, t~heoeratic, de-
mocratic, monarchic, oligarchic, des-
potic and mixed, 1t vas reserved to
American craftsmanship in the nine
teenth century of the Christian era to
try the grand experiment, on a scale
the most costly and gigantic in its pro-
portions, of creating love by force and
developing fraterusl affection by war;
and history with record. too, on the
same page the utter disastrous and
most bloody failure of the experiment. :"
He called the President King Lin
coin" and advised the people to come
II D together at the ballot box and hurl
the tyrant from his throne.
1t was King Lincoln" then. 1t is
Gear Mckinley" now
Speaking at Lincoln, Neb., on
Thursday last, Mr.. Bryan said:
Not long ago a Republican was
Gliding one of our people with the fact
that the Filipinos We're looking to a
Democratic election for the securing or
their rights and the Republican said;
Are you not ashamed that the Fflipi-
nos are expecting aid from the Demo-
crats?' And this man replied to the Re-
publican: DO you know any people In
all the world who are fighting for hD-
erty who are looking to the Republic
can party for help at this timer"
And here is Abraham Lincoln's opia-
ion of the men who stay at home and
give aid and comfort TO armed forces
that shoot down American soldiers:
HE who dissuades one mar from
volunteering or induces n soldier TO
desert weakens the cause as much as
he who kills an American soldier In
battle. Must | shoot a supplemented
soldier boy who deserts while must
not touch a hair of a willy agitator who
induces him to desert? This is none the
less Injurious when effected by getting
a father. or mother, or friend into a
nublic meeting and there working upon
his feelings till he is persuaded TO
write the soldier boy that he IS fighting
in a bad cause, for a wicked admins.
tration OF a contemplate government.
7 think that, in such a case. to silence
tbe agitator and save the boy Is not