The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-09-15

tive in the Fifty-second and the Fifty
third Congresses.
While Mr.. Bryan poses as Demo-
crat, if he has ever, on any occasion,
advocated sound Democratic doctrine,
it has escaped my attention, and IN
this connection / would further say
that in his voluminous public utter
ances l am unable to point to SIM
gle patriotic sentiment in accord with
the teachings of the great leaders or
Democracy.
If Mr.. Bryan has at any time, since
his advent as a Democratic leader,
made an effort to build up Demo-
cratic party, in his own state upon
sound Democratic principles, 1 have
never heard of it.
Mr.. Bryan in 1892 voted for Gen. John
B. Weaver for President, the man the
Atlanta (Ga.) Journal claims to have
run out of Georgia in that memorable
campaign, the Journal alleging that ne
was guilty of grossly dishonest I'M
soldierly conduct in Tennessee after
the war.
Mr.. Bryan refused to vote for the
nomination of Mr.. Crisp for the speak
ership because he Crisp had been
Confederate soldier After Mr.. crisp
was elected = Speaker Mr.. Bry-
an went home, and IN ms
candidacy for reelection to Con-
gress, said on the stump in Nebraska
| that one of the main reasons why ne
should be reelected was that he had
refused to vote for an ex-Contederate
for Speaker of the House.
1 protest against the leadership OF
| that kind of a Democrat. Our blunder
| in nominating Mr.. Bryan in 1896 was
only equalled by our folly In nominat-
| ing Horace Greeley in 1875. The party
i i 1.E1 nj
went out of it's ranks for a candidate,
and abandoned it's old time principles,
but was left in a badly demoralized
| condition. If Mr.. Bryan is to pc
| judged by his public utterances In 1885,
| he was no more of a Democrat than
Mr.. Greeley was in 1876.
| Mr.. Bryan is neither by birth, edu-
| cation, nor association Democrat. HE
| halls from a state that has no Jeffer-
sonian or Jacksonian Democratic par
! ty. There is not now, and there never
| has been. in the state of Nebraska,
any real Democratic party. Only
| few days ago Mr.. Bryan was quoted
| as advising a fusion of disgruntled Re-
| publicans, Populists, Socialists, and
handful of men calling themselves
| Democrats. If the Democratic party
every four years is to be called on by
| Mr.. Bryan to adopt platform that
will hold the Nebraska fusionists to-
gether, l say it would be infinitely bet
ter fer our party to disband than to
longer suffer from such dictation.
Democrats should be careful not to
stray from the footsteps of Jefferson
and Jackson. Those two great leaders
are dead, but their souls are marching
on. Their memories are still revered
by the American people, and not un-
til their principles are forgotten need
we despair of the republic. AS lead
err, Mr.. Bryan makes a lot of noise,
but he throws no light on the situa-
ton. Under his leadership our party
has lost every state north of Mason
and Dixon's line except little rot
ten borough in the North
west that was purchased by Senator
Clark. He has not only caused us to
lose all the Northern states, but, with
his advent as a leader, we lost every
Democratic senator and nearly all of
the Democratic representatives from
the North. Before he was accepted as
a Democratic leader, the South was
solidly Democratic in all elections.
Every Southern state had a Democratic
governor and two Democratic United
States senators. Under Mr.. Bryan's
| leadership we have witnessed five
Southern states with Republican gov
ernorS, and have seen seven Republi-
cans in the United States Senate from
the South. Organism seems to have
wiped from existence the Democrats as
a party in all parts of the United States
except in the South.
With the exception of David B. Hill,
all the great Democratic leaders in the
North have either been relegated to the
rear or driven from the councils of the
party. There are to-day no great Dem
ocrats TO take the place of Seymour
Tilden and Herman in New York, Bay
ard and Salisbury in Delaware, Parker
in New Jersey. Randall and Wallace
in Pennsylvania. Thurman, Vallanding-
ham and Allen in Ohio, Hendricks and
Mcdonald in Indiana. Doolittle in Wis
consin and Field in California.
The Democrats will either have to
stop the absurd cry of imperialism and
militarism, or go out of business. I
prefer to see the party abandon Bryan
ism and be saved, while my critics seem
to prefer Organism and destruction
Those who are ready to criticise me
for the views l entertain on public
questions seem to be blind to the evils
that now threaten the party. They re-
mind me of the fellow standing a mile
away from a barn who could see a fly
on the barn door, and yet could not see
the door.
The unwisdom of Democratic leaders
during the past ten years in forcing up
on the party undemocratic and hurtful
policies has not only we'll
nigh destroyed Democracy in the
North and West, but it has
driven into the ranks of the Republf-
can party some of the South's ablest
and best citizens. The duty of the
hour demands that the Democratic
party return to its time honored prin-
ciples, not according to Mr.. Bryan's
false definition of them, but as defined
by Jefferson, Jackson, Tilden and other
true Democrats. The Republican party
in the South Is growing. not only in
numbers, but in point of respectable
ity. In Georgia, for instance, Mai. J.
f. Hanson, Judge Emory Speer and
Col. A. r. Lawton are Republicans, not
simply as a matter of choice but from
earnest conviction. They are peers in
ability and integrity of Democratic
leaders anywhere Hanson and Speer
were Confederate soldiers and Lawton
is the son of a Confederate brigadier.
When such men in the South ally them
selves with the Republican party be-
cause they indorse it's economic and
foreign policy, Democrats must be
more tolerant in their views and meet
them in a more rational way than by
reiterating the senseless cry of impe-
rialism and militarism; otherwise there
is danger of the organization of a
formidable Republican party in Geor-
gia, as well as in some of the border