The Leon reporter., 1901-07-25
Con11no1ler Comment.
Extracts From W. J. Bryon's Paper.
The Ohio Platform.

Inc Ohio democratic convention vas
the political event of last week. The
platform adopted made strong pre-
sentation of some of the issues but
tailed to reafirm the Kansas City plat
form.
1t began with municipal and state
issues and the handiwork of Mayor
Iom H. johnson was evident in the
terse and emphatic declaration of dem
ocratlc principles SO far us they apply
10 local questions. The necessity for
municipal reform is an urgent one and
there is sound democracy in the plank
demanding that the people be given an
opportunity to vote on questions in
volving the granting or extending of a
franchise.
The plank which declares that sssteam
and electric railroads and other corpo-
ratlons possessing public franchises
snail be assessed in the same proportion
to their salable value as are farms
ana city real estate" is both logical and
just, but it is likely to offend the very
people who were to be ,conciliated by
an evasion of the silver question.
The plank against passes is all right
put will not make votes among the So
called conservatives. The platform
urges tariff reform.
Inc antitrust plank would have been
stronger if it had reiterated the Kansas
Clty platform on the subject The free
hst and the prevention of railroad dis
examinations are good so far as they
60 but they do not go far enough.
whenever trust can export it's goods
70 other countries it can live here with
out any tariff. Something more than
iree trade is necessary to such case
Absolute fairness in railroad rates is
desirable, but even this will not make
private monopolies impossible. The
Kansas City platform suggested com
plete remedy-the only one yet pro-
posed-and it is to be regretted that
the Ohio convention was SO prejudiced
against the last national platform Of
the party that it ignored remedy en-
dorsed by more than six millions Of yo-
ters.
The plank condemning Imperialism
:riticizes the republican policy without
pointing out a remedy. Here again
the failure to reafirm the Kansas City
platform has weakened the Ohio dem
ocracy,
The convention endorsed the propo-
htlon to elect senators by the people.
The labor plank is. excellent, but those
VINO wrote the platform failed, either
intentionally or unintentionally, to
mention government by injunction, the
black list and arbitration. A reaffirm-
alton of the Kansas City platform
would have covered these points also,
but having failed to reafirm, the con-
vention should have been careful to
touch on all the important questions
The convention not only failed, but
refused to endorse the Kansas City
platform, and, from the manner in
which the gold element has reioiced
over this feature of the convention, one
would suppose that the main object of
the convention was not to write new
platform, but to repudiate the one up
on which the last national campaign
was fought.
General Finley was right in insist
ing upon vote on his resolution en-
dorsing the Kansas City platform, but
he made mistake in including in his
resolution complimentary reference
to Mr. Bryan. Mr.. Bryan is not can
didate for any Office, and a mention of
him might be construed by some as an
endorsement of him for Office. The
vote should have been upon the naked
propos ton to endorse the platform of
last year, and then no one could have
excused his abandonment of democrat
lc principles by pleading his dislike for
Mr.. Bryan. The cause ought not to be
made to bear the sins of an individual.
Mr.. Bryan will endure without com
plant any punishment which the dem
ocracy of Ohio may see fit to admins
ter to him, but he does not want his
name used to the injury of good plat
form.
The gold papers assume that the con-
sention refused to endorse the Kansas
City platform because it contained a
silver plank. If SO, it would have been
more courageous to have declared open
~ for the gold standard. If the gold
standard is good it ought to have been
endorsed-if bad, it ought to have been
denounced. To ignore the subject en-
tirely was inexcusable.
The money question is not yet out of
politics. Every session of congress
will have to deal withit. Republicans
declare that it is dead but they keep
working at it. At the last session of
congress they tried to make the silver
dollar redeemable in gold and when
that is accomplished they will try to
limit the legal tender qualities of the
dollar. The gold standard will not be
complete until gold is the only legal
tender money and bank notes the only
paper money. Then our supply of pri-
mary money will be controlled by for
eign financiers, and our supply. of cred
it money by domestic fnanciers.
This plan has been developed grad
ually and every step has been taken
secretly and stealthily. The republi-
can leaders have been in this movement
for years; as soon as the democratic
The men who paid the Porto Rican
tariff under protest are not worrying.
They added enough to the price
charged to the consumer to nav the