The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-07-06
WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN.

Before making this nomination, how
ever, the convention adopted platform
declaring in specific and emphatic terms
for free silver IS to /, though Imperialism
and Trusts are set forth as the para
mount issues.
In framing and adopting such declara-
tion of principles the convention has acted
with the highest wisdom. To have done
otherwise would have been fatal; to have
done less would have been confession
of weakness. 1t is such a platform as
Mr. Bryan desired, and one upon wnlcn
he will win great victory. Bryan
candidate upon any other PLATFORM "ould
be like the play of Hamlet with Hamlet
left out. These are the issues upon whlch
he was nominated four years ago. ana
which he has since preached all over the
land. AS time passed they have only
grown more menacing and he has become
more deeply grounded in the faith,
wholly convinced of the wisdom and pa
His nomination was therefore deserved.
In fact, it was as inevitable as was the
adoption of the platform on which he is
to make the race.
In 1896 the new born Democratic party
named as its candidate for President
Thomas Jefferson, the founder of the
party. The money worshippers of that
day charged that he was red-handed re-
volutionist and had imbibed the spirit of
the terrors of the French Revolution. BY
the spread of these calumnies about the
foremost man in the annals of time, Jeffer
son was defeated In 1900 the Democratic
party, undaunted by defeat, entered the
campaign with Jefferson as it's candidate
for President Time had exposed and de-
stroyed the ISLANDERS that had assaile1
him in 1896, and he was triumphantly
elected.
History will repeat itself.
In 1896 the Democratic. party, by a
mighty struggle freed itself from the con-
troll Of men who had bound it to 1.-The body
of DEATH" and named for President the
man who worthily wears the mantle of
the sage of Monticello. The money
changers who had polluted the temple of
liberty compassed his defeat by denounc
ing him as demagogue and stirrerup
of strife. Yesterday the victory winning
Democratic party re-nominated Mr..
Bryan by reclamation. Time has silenced
and disproved the traduction of this great
man, and thousands who did not under
stand him then will now support him
with enthusiasm He is strongly en-
trenched in the confidence and regard of
the American people, who will put him
in the White House in March, 1901.
We have not been mistaken in our
man.
Four years ago, a warning and divided
Democracy looked for leader who knew
the old paths-a leader who could bring
back the party to the ancient landmarks
which the fathers have set. Two days be-
fore the Chicago Convention was called to
order, the North Carolina delegation
agreed to cast the vote of this Common
wealth for William ] Bryan, then of Ne
braska, now of the United States of
America. Before his own State had deter
mined to present his name, forty EIGHT
hofO h &c fcbl
ing the Chicago platform, the North
Carolina delegation was unitedly support
ing the candidate who received more votes
in 1896 than were ever before cast for a
Democratic candidate for President. If
his State had not presented him, if his
,eloquence had not moved the convention
as men were never moved before; if it
had stood alone among the States, North
Carolina would have voted for Mr.. Bryan
on every ballot during that convention.
There has not been a day or an hour
since the election in 1896 that the people
of North Carolina have not had supreme
faith that the year 1900 would right the
wrong OF four years ago. The farmers,
the mechanics, the business and profess
sional men of the State believe in Mr..
Bryan as they have believed in no other
national character since, in spite of his
declaration of hostility to a third term,
North Carolina insisted upon voting it's
fourth consecutive time for Mr.. Jefferson
for President of the United States.
Although he has been under the cal
cium light of public scrutiny for four long
years, his worst enemy has found no
weak place in his armor and even his
best friends have marvelled at the wis
dom that has marked all his actions and
utterances. The evangel of what Mr..
Lincoln called 1.-The common people, he
has been endowed with a double portion
of the spirit that enabled Jefferson to
organize the Democratic party as an ever
living protest against Special Privilege
and Imperialism, and gave Jackson
strength to wage a successful war against
the money trust of his day.
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