The Chanute times., 1901-01-18
BRYAN AND GROVER.
THE RIVAL LEADERS OF THE
DEMOCRACY
And Their Fight for Supremacy-Jeffer-
son and Jack ON Would Deny Both of
Them-The Real Democratic Party
Long Since Dead.


Long Since Dead.
One scarcely could imagine a NOR,
ludicrous or less inspiring spectacl,
than that presented by Grover Cleve
land and William j. Bryan in theil
discussion of the constituent elements
OF true" Democracy. Here are th(
only two men whom in mora thai
twenty years the Democratic rarty has
had an opportunity TO vote into the
office of president. The Democrat who
was in his prime when the first of these
two politicians came on the scene is
now a weak and fading old man, and
Democracy without Clevelandism OF
Bryanism in it is hardly more than a
tradition. And how humiliating ii
must be to the rank and file of this
once great party to see its erstwhile
oracles and heroes belaboring each
other through the public prints.
What Bryan Says
Mr.. Bryan accuses Grover Cleveland
of having diverted the Democratic par
ty from its time-honored principles,
and he invokes the fathers of Democ-
racy to prove it. At the same time Mr..
Cleveland accuses Mr.. Bryan of having
done the same thing, and he also in
vokes the fathers to prove it. The Dem
ocratic party has always been great on
the fathers. In this respect it some
what resembles the Chinese people,
with their ancestor worship and their
hate of progress. So it is not to be
wondered at if Mr.. Cleveland and Mr..
Bryan avoid the live and important
issues before the American people and
dead and gone.
Both Against Protection.
However, it is clear enough that both
Mr.. Bryan and Mr.. Cleveland cannot be
right in claiming to have clung closely
to Democratic traditions. To just the
degree in which they differ, one or the
other must be wrong And it is to
this self-evident proposition that the
dIlC pal ID ddhl lLo
present quarrel-each side trying to
prove the other wrong-without grasp
ing the fundamental truth that both
are in the same boat.
For example, Mr.. Cleveland is op-
posed to the principle of protection to
American industries. So Is Mr. Bryan.
Protection was approved and sustained
by all the Democratic fathers. Jeffer-
son indorsed it in all of his messages.
The first of the three planks consti-
tuting the first platform put out by
Democratic national convention de-
clared unequivocally for the doctrine.
Therefore both Cleveland and Bryan
have departed radically from the
teachings of the founders Of their par
ty in sustaining the policy of free
trade.
Both Against Expansion.
Today Mr.. Bryan and Mr.. Cleveland
stand together on the same platform
with respect to the doctrine Of anti
and both insult the memory
of their political progenitors by claim
ing Democratic tradition as their
guide. The chief glory of the Demo-
cratic party finds it's wellspring in the
record of expansion. We are indebted
to the founders of the Democratic party
for the greatness and grandeur which
our country may boast today. If JEFF
ferson had been inspired by the pusil-
luminous doctrine which Bryan preach
ed from the stump and which Cleve-
land advocated with his pen, the Unit
ed States might today consist of thir-
teen small states surrounded on our
own continent by rivals and foes. I'M
agine President Jefferson hauling down
the American flag in Hawaii! Or An
drew Jackson bleating like a sheep
about having no constitutional right 10
annex Porto Rico.
Only Point of Difference.
So far as the records go Mr.. Cleve-
land and Mr.. Bryan are apart on the
question of finance. Now, the question
of finance is not the only one which
makes for loss or gain to the American
people, nor the only one on which
they are dividing politically. While
president. Mr.. Cleveland put in practi-
cal effect every policy for which Mr..
Bryan stands, with the exception OF
free silver, and the result was that he
almost ruined the country, CONNER
cially and industrially. If Mr.. Bryan
had been president he might possibly
have made the ruin deeper and brought
it quicker with his additional fallacy
of free silver, but he certainly could
not have improved on the administra-
ton. If he stuck to Democratic lines.
CIeveIand's Policy brought Ruin.
The whole truth, not recognized by
either Mr.. Cleveland or Mr.. Bryan, is
that the American people are over
whelmingly opposed to the Democratic
party in its entire collection of atti-
tudes before the people. If Mr.. Cleve-
land thinks he can bring it back into
popularity by patching up a little here
with respect to finance, and a little
there with respect to something else,
he is woefully mistaken. The party
is so sweepingly wrong in most OF its
e,.do,,a1tol ocpaofc that n0fhing less