Washington sentinel., 1901-05-25
MR.. BRYAN'S
Utterances Are Comforting 20 Re-
publicans.


In the course OF a speech deliv
cred at Nevada, Mo-, and ostenta
tiously reprinted and paraded By
the Republican newspapers, Mr.
William Jennings Bryan is re
ported to have said:
For Democratic principles we had q
hard fight Ia 1896, harder one in 1900
and believe the hardest fig hit IS to come
in 1904 to keep those principles to the
front. Being unable to win in an open
fight, the reorganizers resort to fraud
and deceit. Were they TO prepare a
platform and submit it to a primary
voice of the Democr acY, they would
scarcely carry precinct in the United
States, but they work in the dark and
are backed by the great Democratic
daily newspapers and all the corporate
interests of the country. They are be
coming formidable The trusts have
more power in the party today than they
nave had at any time since 1896. The
men who went out OF the party IN 1896
are now shouting harmony and trying
to wreck the Democratic party from
within
1t is easy to see, says the COHYifr
ToNrNak, why the Republican
newspapers are delighted by such
an utterance and why they herald
it broadcast-they feel that as long
as Mr.. Bryan continues to b. ac-
cepted as the spokesman for De-
mocracY they have a sure thing Of
it-but the extract, quoted above.
furnishes Democrats themselves
food for thought.
Let us take it apart and examine
it, point by point, with the purpose
OF ascertaining precisely what it
means and portends, and whittier,
II it be needed bV any considerable
body OF the party, it would lead US.
If 1--WE" made a hard fight in
1896 "ior Democratic principles"
that is, the Chicago platform
"a harder one in 19oo"-that is,
the Kansas City platform-and if
"the hardest fight is to come in
1904, to keep those principles to
the front" are given to under
stand that nothing will satisfy Mr..
Bryan, except the continued reas-
serti On OF what he calls Demo
cratic principles" that is, two
twice beaten and discredited plat
forms-to the end Of time, or, as
long as he lives.
He is to be the sole judge and
arbiter. Disobedience to the law
he lays down is treason. The dis
cussion of other policies is "fraud
and deceit" But, whom can Mr..
Bryan mean by "they" who "work
in the dark" and are Backed by |
the great Democratic daily news
papers," loosely labeled the ere
organizers1" In general way he
describes them as "the men who |
went out of the party in 1896" and !
against whom he levels the accu-
sation that they care now shouting |
harmony and trying to wreck the
Democratic party from within"
This is extraordinary language |
most extraordinary. Scarcely |
one Of those "who went out OF the
party in 1896" remains upon the
scene Of political activity, certainly
none of the prime movers. But, |
suppose they did remain upon the
scene9 Was it fraud and de
ceit" in them to help elect Carter
Harrison Mayor OF Chicago, Tom
Johnson Mayor oil Cleveland, and |
Rolla Wells Mayor of St. Louis7
Mr.. Bryan seems to think so, for
he deplores at least the election OF
Rolla Wells with its rescue OF St.
Louis from the grip OF a corrupt
Republican Ring. Ifit be "wreck-
ing the Democratic party from
within" to beat the Republicans
and to achieve Democratic victor
les, what may it be to encounter
successive Democratic defeats,
with no other compensation than
Mr.. Bryan's assurance that
though beaten, we were right"
and that "all will vel be WELL"
cold comfort to the myriads who |
did not wholly agree with him and |
followed him for the sake Of party |
regularity, and to a receding not
to a rising vote.
But, according to Mr.. Bryan's
dictum, "the trusts have more
power in the party today than they
have had any time since 1906"
which is merely to say that to differ
with him Is to bring upon one the
ascription Of having sold out to
the trusts, and that unless a public
man, or daily newspaper wears
the chalk mark of his approval, it
is secret enemy OF Democracy,
working "in the dark" and i'm
pliedly for pay "to wreck the Dem
ocratic party from within"
These are serious charges. II
they be true they imply a greater
degree OF rurpitude in human ma
ture than we have commonly at
tributed to It; because who but the