Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-07-13
One Could Be Made on the Kansas
City Convention.
REPRESENTATIVE EDDY'S COMMENTS
Bryan Dominated and Wants to Be
Alone Considered.
THE PARAMOUNT ISSUE


of the most original men In Congress. He
is a loyal republican. full of hard sense
and vigor. and is quaint philosopher.
Some of these days he said. talking
with a Star reporter about politics today,
"a clever writer will write a bowling farce
and the basis of it will be the Kansas City
convention. There was a great crowd of
democrats assembled, denouncing bossism
| in politics. crying out against Boss Han
ma. q confess Hanna is somewhat of a
boss; bossism has it's place in politicsD But
there they were. bowling about Boss
Hanna. and there never was a convention
so thoroughly bossed and dominated by one
man as the convention there assembled.
Bryan can give Hanna points about boss
ing a convention. Hanna is not in it with
| Elm. They We're shouting about the Consti-
t.:tion and the Declaration of Independence
Declaring that governments derive their
just powers from the consent of the gov
erned; that no people should be governed
without their consent. Who read this plat
form declaration while flags We're spontane-
ousiy let down on pulies and the assem-
blaSe waved little flags that happened to be
distributed among them OPPORTUNITY?
TfIIman and Van wyck
"Tillman of South Carolina! Tillrnan. who
on the floor Of the Senate declared that the
whites of the south must rule the negroes
and. if they could not rule them, they must
kill them; that he won say without apol-
ogy that he believed in the shotgun policy
when necessary. He read the platform dec
lar2tion that q people should not be gov
erned without their conse Mt. Now am not
going into the southern question. | am not
waving the bloody shirt l know the south
| ern people and like them and Symrathize
with them in many of their troubles; but
think of Til man reading with grandilo-
quent flourish de claration about the con-
sent of the governed,
Take the declaration against trusts l am
opposed to trusts. l think they are an evil
agree tina; something should be done to
control them. But who wrote the plank
adopted at Kansas City denouncng trusts?
Van Wyck. with his pocket bullying with
stock of the ice trust. Van Wyck wrote
1t and it was published in New York as his
before the convention met. Why, it is a
| farce without the aid of dramatic author
ship.
Bryan Dominated the Convention.
bryan absolutely dominated that con-
veEtion. Hanna failed in some things at
Philadelphia Bryan failed in none at Kan
sas City. Bryan's methods We're different
| but his power greater l know Bryan
well. He is man of magnificent nerve
| and courage. He is a strong man. a great
man. an earnest man. an honest man. a
worshiper whose idol is Bryan. His self
esteem is magnificent, and his ability and
himself as Napoleon and Caesar believed in
| themselves. and they would sacrifice an
| army to add a single laurel to the wreath
upon their brows. he would sacrifice a party
| or a nation to fix a Bryan idea. His force
| of character and his nerve are grand. What
did he do to that convention? He told
| them, with nerve that hardly another
man living would display: You do thus and
| 50 or | shall write letter declining your
| nomination, and shall accept the nominal
| ton of the silver republicans and popu-
| lists and will destroy you This statement
| of mine Is not surmise; it represents VIII: [
| happened. as I know from friends of mine
| who were there. They dared not resist him.
| He conquered and controlled them with his
| nerve. With him Bryan is everything. and
| he compelled the nomination of Stevenson
| just as he forced 16 to l INTO the platform.
| This is plain to anyone who knows Bryan
| though he be but a simpleton in politics.
But Two other Strong Men.
| There were but two strong figures be-
SIDES Bryan. These were Hill, who stands
| boldly in the forefront of olG-line demo-
| Gratis. and Towne, who is one of the great
est orators of the present day. One or the
| other of these was the logical candidate.
Had Towne possessed the nerve that Bryan
does he could have forced the democrats
| ID accept him as CANDIDATE. With a mill
| ion and half of votes behind him he could
| have threatened them with destruction as
| Bryan did: but he has not Bryan's square
| cliln HAD HILL Deen nominated for Vice
| President. a victory. If by any strange
| shutting of the cards the democrats could
| win. would have been a Bryan and Hill
victory. Had Towne been nominated VIC
| tory, If victory there should be- would have
been Bryan and Towne victory. Either
man would have been felt upon the ticket
| would have been recognized in the cam
paign. This did not suit Bryan. He named
| Stevenson. because Stevenson does not rep
resent anything and cannot add a vote to
the strength of the ticket outside of Bloom
| ington. Ill. He is a polished old gentle
| man. who is respected, perhaps loved. by
his neighbors. but is a nonenity in politics.
| A victory of the Bryan and Stevenson
ticket. if the cards be shutfled to bring
1t about will be Bryan victory-Bryan
| will be the only figure in it. In his self
| wants 1t to be so and is willing to take the
responsibility of making the fight solely his
own. This is not shallow egotism, but is
an expression of the character of this ex-
traordinary man, whose great power will
not be disputed by any intelligent man who
| knows him..
| Another Absurdfty.
| Another thing, to return to the absurdi-
| ties of the Kansas City convention, was
there ever any more absurd proposition
| than for national convention to declare
what shall be the paramount issue in a
campaign? The people will determine that
question for themselves. Neither platform
declaration nor party effort during the
campaign can compel the acceptance of an
issue as foremost of ali the rest. In '95
we republicans on the stump tried our ut
most to make the tariff the leading issue.
1t was impossible. The people decreed
| that the money question was what most
| interested them, and they would give no
ear to the tariff discussion; when it was
| forced upon them they became restless or
| languid. Then in '9S, because silver had
| been the issue two years before, we thought
| it would be the leading issue again. /
| labored harder in study to prepare myself
| for the discussion of finance in that cam
Daign than l ever worked at anything be-
| fore, and, after thoroughly preparing my
self, l got up a speech which satisfied me
as being as good as 1 capable of.
| When l got out home in the campaign
with that speech 1 tried it an immense
| audience, composed of my friends, who
were in sympathy with me- When 1 got
through talking the audience was much
smaller than when 1 began. and none of
them were interested. The issue was dead.
1t was dead throughout the '9S campaign.
1t is dead now and cannot be brought to
| life. This is a simple illustration of the