Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1902-09-18
SUGGESTIONS FOR DEMOCRATS
Some Things That MRy BE Overlooked
or Not known by Campaign
Rccomme nd ders.


nounced that theywill have speaking
campaign of the old-fashioned kind
in due season. Doubtless the orators
are now practicing their pieces, well
aware that they must be more circum-
spect than usual. If the leaders are
prudent they will have the speakers
before them for rehearsal. If they
talk along the line of the state plat
form no allusion can be made to the
record and purposes of the democratic
party the past six years. If they ig-
more the state platform andaccept the
statement of Secretary Edwards, Of
the democratic congressional commit
tee. the faithful will be edited by al
lusions to the Kansas City platform
as the last expression of democratic
faith. He is a hopeIessly stupid demo-
cratic orator who does not now realize
that there are two wings to the demo-
cratic party, or, more correctly, two
democratic parties. which are as far
apart as the poles. The Cleveland
Hill democracy is the most distinctive
Wall-street political organization the
country affords, while the Bryan
democracy dcscibes all of the hcresies
of populism, says the Indianapolis
Journal.
1t will be said that none Of these diff
ferences which divide the party need
be discussed in the campaign. That
is, the democratic party has come to
a place where it is not polite to dis
not older than any voting democrat.
In other words. the speaker must not
talk of democratic principles since the
days Of Andrew Jackson. unless the
risk of controversy as to what con
stitutes democratic principles shall
be assumed by the orator. Still,
party which declares that its tradi-
tions are as old as the constitution
cannot go before an audience and be
silent as to that long record Neither
can an orator trace these principles
down to the administration Of Martin
Van Buren, and stop there with the OBJ
seryation that the democratic record
from 1910 to1SGS is of no consequence,
and that since 1892 the democratic par
ty has had two sets Of principles which
have the same affinity for each other
that cats and dogs have in a state of ma
ture. The half-scnsible democratic
orator must realize that he must say
something of the record of the demo-
cratic party since 1892; he must know
that many democrats now desire to
know whether the democracy Of Cleve-
l., :. : l.
future. No man, will be a convert to
democracy unless he knows to which
of these two wide-apart factions and
views he Will be consigned.
In view of these weighty embarrass-
ments, the Journal offers two or three
suggestions that may simplify the
situation. First, when the democratic
orator faces his democratic audience
let him begin with the statement that
the democratic party is now divided
between two sets of ideas. Let him
say: Il wish to suit my audience, and
to that end | have two speeches, one
fitted to the Bryan platform and the
other to the Cleveland platform. !
propose to advocate the platform
which the majority Of this audience
favors. TO determine the majority
l will take a vote. Those who desire
the Bryan brand, please rise" Hav-
ing counted the democrats who would
continue to hail Bryan as the peer
less leader" and his platform as the
genuine democracy. let him call upon
those who prefer the Cleveland brand
of democratic principles. Having as
certained which faction is the larger
let him advocate the principles it pre-
fers. In the event that the two fac
tions are 50 equally divided that he is
in doubt as to which is the larger.
let him make both speeches. 1t may
be a trife tedious, unless one faction.
following the example of both Mr.
Cleveland and Mr.. Bryan. applies cpl
thets to each other. This would give
interest to a meeting that otherwise
would be still-still as a Hfl demo-
crat in 1896. If the orator fears t o put
the vote, as suggested, he can say that
"iust now there is doubt asto wheth-
er the principles of David Il. Hill or
those Of William i. Bryan are the genu-
inc ones; therefore, until the ques-
tion shall be decided, | will proceed
upon the theory that the democrGtic
party has no principles" The adop-
tion of either of these suggestions.
if previously announced, will bring ont
large audiences where otherwise the
meetings would be small. and general
~ will give the feature of gayety to
I,,,t ii