The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1901-06-22


advocate at it's council board. But
i, is veil to remember that neither
has been infallible, though each
has in his day had . very large
share in shaping party policies.
Two successive and progressively
defeats have con-
vinced the rank and file of the
Democratic party that Mr.. Bryan's
aggressive championship of new
and strange doctrines as the accred-
tied moushpiece of the party cannot
be continued without bringing ire
parable disaster to the Democracy;
while Mr.. Watterson's retirement
to the rear" by the events of the
past few years has perhaps robbed
his statements of much of the au-
,hority they formerly possessed.
Both Of these men are earnest and
sincere in their beliefs, and power.
full in marshalling arguments to
their support. but with all due
respect to them, the public has
come to regard them both as some
what in the nature Of men who have
had,their day upon the stage and
who ought to be content to see
other hands at the tiller IN the fu-
,ure. MIR. Watterson appears to
realize this and to have accepted
what he deems to be the Inevitable,
craving only what is his undoubted
right. to be a soldier in the ranks,
with voice and sword always at the
service of his party. What he says
about the necessity Tor abandoning
the fads and unholy alliances that
have brought such disaster upon
the Democratic party, thoroughly
in accord with the best tn ought of
the Democratic party, and it is to
be regretted that Mr.. Bryan does
not take a similar view of the situa-
ton.
Two successive defeats of him
self and his theories appear neither
to have enabled him to learn or to
forget anything, and he prates as
volubly to- day because their views
do not coincide with his, as ne did
in the hey-dey of his power when he
was the undisputed autocrat of the
Democrat organization. During
the past two national campaigns Mr..
BRYAN furnished, in his own person,
the most astonishing spectacle of
absolute one-man power that has
ever been presented IN the history
Of American politics, nor does he
appear TO be one with less arbitrary
and dictatorial to-day than when
the convention of 1896, in a burst
of wild enthusiasm, laid all the
power and authority of the Demo
cratic party at his feet. The time
has arrived when the Democratic
part, must resume this authority
which Mr.. Bryan has so long held
subject to his own will and discre-
ton. Viewing the matter now with
saner judgment than when they
were Influenced by his personal
magnetism aud brilliant sophistry,
the people have come to realize
that there must be no despotism in
the ranks Of the Democratic party;
that no mar, shall sit apart, yelled
in the pride of his own conceit, and
hand down the law to Democrats.
If Mr.. Bryan, like another
Ephraim, persists in being joined
to his repudiated and tawdry idols
he viii! at length discover that
Ephraim's folly brings inevitably
Ephraim's fate.
Tie Democratic party is not the
appanage Of Mr.. Bryan, and while
his advice will always be received
with respect, he should remember
that the obligations are upon him
rather than upon the men vino fol-
lowed his banners twice to humiliat-
ing defeat. 1t may be blunt way
of expressing it, but the business OF
Democrats to-day is to subserve
the interests Of their party and lei
Mr.. Bryan look out for himself.
The city of Leadville, COL, has a