The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1901-01-17
BRYAN AND GROVER.
THE RIVAL LEADERS OF THE
DEMOCRACY
And Their Fight for Supremacy-JeRer-
son and Jack Would Deny Both of
Then-The Real Democratic Party
Long Since Dead.

1udicrous or less inspiring spectacle
than that presented by Grover CIeve-
land and William J. Bryan in their
discussion Of the constituent elements
of true Democracy Here are the
only two men whom in more than
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 C1evelandism or
Organism in it is hardly more than
tradition And how humiliating it
must be to the rank and file of this
once great party to see its erstwhile
orac1es and heroes belaboring each
other through the public prints.
What Bryan Says.
Mr.. Bryan accuses Grover Cleveland
of having diverted the Democratic par
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
maunder through columns about the
de ad and gone.
Both Against Protection.
However, it is clear enough that both
Mr.. Bryan and Mr.. Cleveland cannot be
right in claiming to have chung 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-evfdent proposition that the
Democratic party is addressing its
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 Endorsed it in all OF his messag es-
The first of the three p1anks 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
IL
with respect to the doctrine Of anti
expansion, and both insult the memory
of their political progenitOrs by claim
ing Democratic tradition their
guide. The chief glory of the Demo-
| cratic party finds its 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 pusi1-
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 TO
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
| ciaIIy 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.
| CIexeIand,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. Cieve-
| 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 woefu11y mistaken The party
| is so sweepinsIy wrong in most Of it,
| fundamental aspects that nothing less
| than a revolution can hope to reform
| It
Real Party Is Long Dead
What the people object to is its at