Southern Republican., 1900-02-08
NEW ORLEANS, La, THURSDAY, FEB 8, 1900.
DISCOPD OF DEMOCRACY.
by Bryan to His
Party.

The Jackson day celebrations bring
out in a strong light the discord anG
decentralization which prevail in the
party of which JacF10n was one of the
founders. G2G.er Cleveland. the only
man t&o democratic party has elected
president for 40 years. in le- ter writ
ten for publication on jackson day, de
clares he wishes it was to be printed al
a time when saner counsels prevailed
in the party which he (JacksOn) did so
much to strengthen and place upon
tirmer foundations. 1T seems to me-"
the eX-presiden+ adds. tina; the incon-
sistency of unreasoning and false party
leadership is impressively exhibited
when the claim is made that Jacksonian
democracy sanctions the degradation
of the peoples currency and reckless
disregard of the restraints of law and
order" This is the voice OF one of the
lights of the old democracy--of the
democratic party which Jefferson anC
Jackson created and led, and which
governed the United States. except for
one or two short intervals, from 1901
to 1861.
Another prominent democrat, in
banquet at Omaha. was making an ap-
peal al celebration of Jackson day for
reaffirmation of the Chicago platform
of 1896 and for a new crusade in favor
of base money. This was William J.
Bryan. To Bryan the defeat of himself
and his cause in 1896 and the prosperity
which that overthrow brought to the
country means nothing. He is as de-
voted to the 50-cent dollar now as he
was four years ago, and he wants to
put in the platform of 1900 another doc
trine which would be as abhorrent to
Jefferson and Jackson as dishonest
money would be. This is the doctrine
of territorial contraction. Bryan wants
the flag TO be pulled Gown in the Phil
ippines. and he urges this while pre-
tending to be devoted to the memory
of Jefferson, who got the Louisiana
province from France, and he urged it
at a celebration of day dedicated to
| the memory of the man who upset
| Spanish sovereignty in Florida and con-
| strained Spain 10 make the treaty with
| the United States which gave Florida
| to this country. The placing of Bryan
| in juxtarosition with Clevel1nd Will
show the wide divergence which the
| democratic party has made ir the past
few years from the creed of its
| founders.
The suicidal course which Bryan rec
ommends to his party viii net be adopt
ed this year without strong opposi-
tion from an element of the party which
urged it four years ago. EN-Gov. Boies.
also at Jackson day celebration, de
| clared that the democratic defeat of
1896 was due solely to the free silver
crusade, and he said "a repetition of the
course we pursued that year is as abso-
| lutely certain to lead to a worse defeat
| in this national canvass as this canvass
is TO come" Boies was 5O-cent-dollar
man in 1896, but he is not n bourbon.
| He learns something from adversitE-.
| Undoubtedly the BOieS faction is strOn 2
in the democratic party, bu. the Bryan
wreckers are probably still in the ma
| Jority. Nobody now alive ever saw the
democratic party more discOrdant and
demoralized than it is at this moment
The situation to-day is as bad for that
organization as that was which was
presented at the split which took place
at the Charleston convention of 1860.
| The Cleveland men represented the
Douglas element of that year, while the
| Bryanites resemble the Breckenridge
madmen who plunged the party to de-
structiOn. These are gloomy days for
the hundred-year-old democratic party.
st. Louis Globe-Democrat.