Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1900-06-14
MIR. BRYAN'S PLATFORM.

Eumber OF the Nortn american 0INeNleWl
is from the pen of William j. Bryan
1t is oleariy.an attempt to writo in
advance the platform OF the Kansas |
City Convention. As Mr.. Bryan is the |
predestined candidate Of his party, his |
views must nndoubtedly prevail, II he
adheres to them. There is room for
some modification here and there. but
IN the main this sketch may be taken
as d pretty accurate fofeshadowing of
the ISSUES Of tho campaign on the
Democratic side
The idea which constitutes the warp
Of Mr.. Bryan's fabric is that, wealth is
becoming a dangerous factor In our
national life ami that inonopoIiss must
be controlled and cur tailed. He begins
with m allusion to the correspondenee
beEween Lord Howe and BENJAMIN
FfanRlin on the attempt OF Parliament
to munopolize the trade of the Ameri-
can colonies. He then gives us his 10
depreciation of the war between Presi- |
dent jackson and the Bank OF the
United States, contending that the
Bank was gigantic monopoly which
mustered an almost irresistible array
OF financiers, business men, newspapers,
and politioians in its support Accord
ing to Mr. Bryan, the overthr Nv of this
monopoly by jackson was a victory
for human rights against inhuman
greed. 7" This is proved by quotation
from Jackson's veto Of the bill renew
ing the charter Of the Bank--a cum
ningly worded document. written by
Amos Kendall for campaign purposes
and which has already served in several
campaigns besides the one for which 1t
was originally intended.
We remark in passing that the war
against the Bank in Jackson s time was
| a war waged by INSCRIPTIONS men In
order to maze the Bank and its manage
ment part OF the sroils of politics,
| and that it was defensive on the part
Of the Bank until it was unwillingly
dragged into, the arena by politicians
contendinR against each other. II 10
| perhaps too much to expect, however,
| that the majority of the American
/ people will ever take any different view
| OF it from the traditional ore which the
Democratic party has always main
tanned and which Mr.. Bryan freshly
presents. In any campaign against the
"money power" 1t will always count rs
one illustration among others. although,
taken by itself, it has ceased to be of
any consequence in the political field.
/ An attempt is made by Mr.. Bryan to
utilize few sayings Of Abraham LIN
coin 10 the war against '.Elutocracy, !"
but these ale rather far fetched. The
great issue in Llnculn's time was some
4 thing quite different from the aggres-
sions Of capital upon labor which Mr..
Bryan sees in the present conditions OF
society and government.
| When Mr.. Bryan, in his Review
article, reaches the silver controversy,
he is mora at home than he is in his
treatment of the administrations OF
jackson and of Lincoln. Here he
presents nothing nav, but he adhers 10
his former position that binletallism
ought to tie established by us at the
ratio of 16 to ! without reference to the
action or non action Of other countries.
This part OF the article hasa very
hollow sound. A word Of encouragement
to the Popnlists is thrown in by re
marking that those who favor the golt
standard, az a rule, favor national bank
notes against greenbacks, while those
, who oppose the gold standard, as !
rule, believe that the issue Of papel
, money 10 a function of government ant
should not be delegated to nationa
banks. A currency issued and con
I trolled by banks" he continues, ant
l
Paper Money Trust" a remark which
p should not he taken seriously by an,
person Of common intelligence.
A couple of pages which follow OF
the subject Of Trusts in general suppl,
US with no new conceptions and no ney
/, plans for dealing with them. The
!, show, however, that If political capita
4 is to be made out Of the Trust issue Il
the coming campaign, Mr.. Bryan Cal
D make more of it than his competitor
n 1.-The Democratic party" he says, 81
! better able to undertake this work no,
than il was affew years ago, because a
a the Trust lnagnates have left the pal ty
4 the Republican party is less able tina
ever before to mako a successful wa
against the Trusts, because it number
is among its membership all the Trus
!. magnates il ever had and in addition
II them all that the Democratic paI I
i. formerly had. This is an argumentul
n ad hoininem which is likely to hay
considerable force in campaign I
trunpery and blatherskite -althoug
somewhat weakened in this part OF til
county by the prominence of Dem'
A. Gratis in the New York Ice Trust.
r. The only part of Mr.. Bryan's artio
which appeals to serious persons,
Of men who try 10 decide by the exercil
Or Of the reasoning faculty how they sha
i vote, is that which relates to Il
Philippine Islands aud the question
OF Imperialism. Here he is more explic
II than he has been in previous delise
K, ances. He attacks the Spooner bill
eyasive-as failure to decide upt
I'd action in dealing with the islands.
4, the time of writing his article he to,
re it for granted that the Spooner b
would pass, and would constitute Il
T, Republican platform for the campaig
n Since the bill has not passed, Il
n. Philadelphia Convention is at liher
on to adopt any kind Of straddle and {
re Kansas City Convention can do Il
n; same. Mr.. Bryan says that ''the Dem
Gratis have urged plain and STINT
to remedy, viz, that we treat the Fl
mt pinos as we have promised TO treat t
Cubans.' y Thep he adds: E
"Hostilities can be- terminated
M any moment by declaration of IL
Dr. natlon's purpose; first, to establish
stable government; second, to give
of FiliIinos their Independence; third,
Ids give them protection from outside
Do. reference while they work out tn
10. destiny. Such declaration would
co. in harmony with American principl
rk, American traditions, and Americ
in; interests. Such protection would
valuable to the Filipinos and int
pensive to us. Just as protection to
ISL South American republics has been
ISL vital Importance to them, while it
is imposed no burden upon US.
ISL This is the best thing in Mr.. Brys
u 10 arti,la IL xynnl1 have heen mora