The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1900-08-09
BRYANISM CONSIDERED
In DIFFERENT PHASES
THE SINCERE MR.. BRYAN.


portions of a letter written to the
.,i.or of the New York World last May
william J. Bryan have been made
pp.nlic In that letter Mr.. Bryan sets
tartb his principles. He wants the
svas coinage of silver at the ratio of
.sto I. the destruction Of every private
mononoly: the amendment OF the con-
I -.,tution so as to authorize an income
.ay and the election OF senators by the
saople. the abolition OF the system
Known as government by injunction"
and the establishment OF arbitrati on
hetween labor and capital; and "the
Eilininos to have a chance to celebrate
the Fourth of July"
Then Mr.. Bryan says "those who ia
vor the gold standard favor few of
these reforms, but are against most of
them" So looking at the matter from
the expediency point Of view. II am
not willing to trade large number OF
people who are all right for small
number who are part right" He as
sumes that the abandonment of free
silver will drive away more votes than
It will gain. That Is doubtful. But
even IL Mr.. Bryan believed votes could
be gained by giving UP free silver he
would not do it, for he Is "the man Of
principle" He says, II am not anxious
enough for the nomination to purchase
II by sacrificing what believe to be
right. He says further:
when you look into the matter you
will find that my strength { IL have
any is not all PERSONAL, but Is due to
principles | advocate. The only part
that is personal is the belief among our
peopl that am honest and will fulfill
every pledge / make. IL / give them
any reason to doubt my willingness to
20 down to defeat rather than abandon
my convictions they would turn against
me in moment. But they shall have
no reason to lose faith"
II is courteous to assume that Mr..
Bryan is not playing the role OF dem
agogue in this letter, and that he is
quite sincere when he says in substance
that he would rather be right than be
president" Therefore, IL the Democrat
ic national convention dominates him
on the kind of platform he desires, it
will do so knowing what kind of a
president the Democratic party and the
country will have in the event of Bry-
ans election. Assuming that Mr.. Bryan
Is a sincere man, he would, II president,
endeavor to fulfill every pledge" he
had made, no matter how disastrous
might be the consequences to the coun-
try or to his party. He would be less
amenable to reason than Jackson even
He would persist In a course which
ruined both If he thought what he con-
sidered his duty" demanded Il.
William Allen White. in his study of
Bryan's character, printed in the cur
rent number of McClure's Magazine,
says the man Is "passionately sincere
but that If elected president 'he would
have such difficult things to learn and
such an incapacity for learning them
mat he would cut many fantastic ca
per, and in the end make a mess of 1t
as bad as thorough going rascal
would"
demagogue elected to Office on a.
platform pledging him to carry out bad
policies may refrain from carry NJ
them out. The arguments of party lead
ers, or his own conviction that 1t will
be unwise to live up to party prom
lses. may make him hold his hand. But
II the fanatically sincere mantle
KIND of man Bryan is said to be-who
hoids dangerous views, like those of
Bryan as to free silver and Debsism. Is
elected to an important ONCE. then
trouble is bound to ensue. The election
OF Mr.. Bryan, il sincere, is more to be
dreaded in some respects than that of
Mr. NJ Bryan IL Chicago
Tribune.