The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1900-10-11
COL. BRYAN'S LETTER
SPEAKS TO THE POINT ON
EVERY ISSUE.
The Maintenance of the Present Gold
Standard heavy Burden for the
People to Dear-A Clear Statement of
Facts.

William j. Bryan, in his letter ac-
cepting the nomination for president
by the Kansas City convention, once
more proves his profound mastery of
public issues, and his wonderful skill
IN Illuminating, with few words,
debated question. His utterances are
as direct as rifle bullets, and in every
paragraph, we can find an aphorism.
In his speech of acceptance at In
dianapolis he confined himself almost
wholly to the subject of imperialism,
Whereupon arose the cry from Repub-
Ncan leaders and organs that he was
doaglng all the other platform issues,
ana particularly the silver one. They
knew better. for if there is one thing
more than another the American PEG
PIE admire Bryan for, it is directness
and the courage to speak the thing
he will" No other man with his re-
sponsibilities, in our public life today,
is politically SO brave and honest as
ne. Mentally and morally he is so
framed that he cannot hesitate or
dodge or fawn. and it lis the general
acknowledgment of these characteris-
tics that make his character public and
private, unassailable, and gives him
In popular estimation the attributes of
hero. How different, although in
high station, does his competitor in
the national race look to the public
eye. Versatile only in change, and
content only in ignoring plain duty"
Mckinley. politically, is cipher and
regarded by the masses as simply
proxy for Mark Hanna creature
ever ready, at the dictates of the
trusts ito crook the pregnant hinges
OF the knee that thrift may follow
fawning."
Bryan's letter is public paper
worthy to be bracketed with his In
d1anapolis speech. 1t overlooks no
topic that thoughtful voters are talk
Ing about, and the Republican high
binders who complained that he was
lodging the silver, income tax, and
other vital issues, are now themselves
lodging the solar plexus blows his ac-
ceptance letter deals out. Unable to
answer his logic and trenchant argu-
ments and battered by his proofs of
their duplicity and rascality they are
now saying he covered too much
ground, and that he ought to have con-
fined himself to what they hypocritical-
ly PROFOUND as the paramount issue
that of silver. But even on that point,
ne has said much more than they relish
| Or can refute. He exposes the double
dealing of the Republican party in
| financial matters, and shows that while
they have conspired to establish gold
standard, they were too cowardly to
declare their purpose until they felt
that they had the people at their
mercy, and could safely pursue a
policy of robbery at home In connec-
tion with the glamour of expansion
and military glory abroad. Mr. Bryan
7hoWs that the currency system now
upheld by the Republican party in
7olves a permanent and increasing
debt, and adds cit is hardly conceiv-
| able that the American people will de-
liberately turn from the debt paying
policy, to the dangerous doctrine of
perpetual bonds"
| OF trusts he pithily says that "a pri-
vate monopoly has always been an out
| law. No defense can be made of an
industrial system in which one, or a
few men, can control for their own
profit the output or price of any arti-
Gle of merchandise"
He is equally explicit and pointed in
his treatment of government by in
junction, in denunciation of employees
blacklists; in demand for arbitration
as prevention of strikes, and the
establishment Of a government depart
ment of labor. with cabinet officer
at its head; in insisting that pension
laws should be construed according to
the generous spirit which prompted
| their passage; in favoring the imme.
date construction, ownership and con-
troll Of the Nicaragua canal by the
United States, and asserting the right
| to close it against any hostile power.
for to ratify the Hay-Pauncefote treaty
would be to lessen its commercial
value and convert it into positive
menace in time of war. The entire
letter is as meaty as a nut, and worthy
of his reputation as fearless and
acute political thinker. Here are
few sentences from it:
THE weak and qualified condemna-
zion of trusts to be found in the Re-
publican platform is designed to dis
tract attention while industrial des-
Dotism is completing it's work"
1T is significant fact that the Re-
publican party should accept the Eu-
ropean idea of protectorate, at the
time it adopts a European colonial
policy"
"The principle of direct legislation
rests upon the sound theory that the
| people can be trusted and that the
more responsive the government is to
the will Of the people. the more free
it will be from misuse and abuse"
1.-THE abolition of government by in
junction is as necessary for the pro-
lection Of the reputation of the court
as 1t is for the security of the Citizen
I'm the hour of danger the govern
ment can draft the citizen; it ought to
be able to draft the pccketbook as we'll.
Unless money is more precious than
blood, we cannot afford to give greater
protection to the incomes of the rich
than to the lives of the poor
ut is easier to lose reputation than
to establish one, and this nation would
find it long and laborious task to re-
gain its proud position among the ma
tfOns if under the stress of temnta