Woodruff County news., 1901-08-08
STILL A FIGHT AHEAD.
The Columbus Convention Did Not Settle Everything to the
 Party's Satisfaction,

The democratic convention of Ohio was controlled by the Mclean ele- ment and those leaders who bolted the ticket in 1896 and gave but a per tunctory support to MT. Bryan in 1900. To placate the fusion element of the party and to aid the candidacy of Col. Kilbourne for governor, the railroad taxation blanks demanded by the friends of Tom Johnson were in- cluded in the platform, but any men, tion of the leadership of Mir. Bryan or the national platforms of 1896 and 1900 was studiously avoided. This unpardonable rudeness and incon- ceivable folly of ignoring the nation al platform and candidate, who in two of the greatest campaigns in the history of the party had boiled more votes than were ever before record ed, has led to the calling of another convention at Columbus on July 31.
 The Mclean ring have long doEi- hated the democratic party in Ohio, and the more complete their rule the worse the condition the party has at tained until the last election for gov ernor, when Mclean himself was a candidate, he was disastrously de- feated, but still controlled the party machinery. McLean's interest in Ohio politics has always been of personal nature, and if he was not a candidate the assistance he rem dered was lukewarm, to say the least, and yet by his control of the party machinery it has been impossible to clear the organization of this Old Man of the Sea-
 The republican and trust-controlled newspapers pretend to take great satisfaction at the action of the con- vention. They call it a defeat of MT. Bryan. Of this Mr. Bryan says: "Mr. Bryan is not a candidate for any office, and a mention of him mi ght have been construed by some as an indorsement of him for office. The vote should have been upon the naked proposition to indorse the platform of last year, and then no one could have excused his abandonment of democratic principles by pleading his dislike for MT. Bryan"
 Referring to the platform, he con- tinues: "The convention not only failed, but refused to indorse the Kansas City platform, and, from the manner in which the gold element has rejoiced over this feature of the convention, one would suppose that the main object of the convention was not to write a new platform, but to repudiate the one upon which the last national campaign was fought.
 The gold papers assume that the convention refused to adopt the Kan sas City platform because it con tained silver plank If so, it would have been more courageous to have declared openly for the gold stand ard. If the gold standard is good, it ought to have been indorsed-if bad it ought to have been denounced. To ignore the subject entirely was ineX- cusable.
 The money question is not yet out of politics. Every session of congress will have to deal with it. Republic ans declare that it is dead, but they keep working at it.
 MT. Bryan comments on parts of The platform, especially those refer ring to state and municipal affairs. He indorses the nominees of the con vention and urges their support. Re ferring to the senatorial fight and the reported candidacy of John R. Me Lean, he says: Did the leaders ignore the money question in order to please those who bolted? Or does MT. Me Lean want to be left free to affiliate with the republicans on financial questions in case of his election?"
 He concludes as follows: "If any of the Ohio democrats feel aggrieved because the reorganizing element of the party triumphed at the con vention, let them not visit their dis appointment upon the state ticket, but rather see to the nomination of senators and representatives who will select a trustworthy senator. Let them see to it also that the state platform is made at the primaries next time rather than at the conven- tion.'