The age-herald., 1902-03-17
Washington Day byDay

1 Washington, D. C.. March 15.-(Special.) Friends and opponents alike of MT. W. Jennings Bryan of Nebraska are agreed that he Is for the second time peripa- tetic candidate for the Democratic nom- ination for the Presidency
 Previous to Mir. Bryans first nomina- | tiol, in 1896, a nomination that was most stavtling, and made with a degree of enthusiasm wholly without precedent in the politics of the rebublic, not even his most intimate friends were aware that he was candidate. That he was a work ing candidate there has never been since his nomination any doubt: but the mar vicious courage exhibited in his self-con- l trol and self-reliance in keeping his pur- poses to himself has never ceased to be the wonder of the American people. And the mans courage and his audacity al- most transcend imagination.
 Admitted upon a contest, the decision | of which was grossly and historically un- just, to seat in the Democratic National Convention. MT. Bryan made an oppor- l tunity to deliver a wild and revolutionary ] speech which secured for him the nomi- nation for the Presidency And the most striking phrase of that speech, the re- ference to "a cross of gold" which was gross blasphemy in the sober view of every American Christian. was taken from a Republican Congressman of puri- 1 tarlcal Massachusetts, one Mccall who Is still in Congress. the representative of more bigotry, religious intolerance and l hypocracy than can be found anywhere else in the world outside of Scotland, lanl which is parson-ridden and almost without holy piety.
 Although supported in 1896 by the votes of some six million Americans, MT. Bry- an was disastrously defeated. The groans that arose because the noblest princi- pies upon which a political party was ever founded had been submerged and l temporarily silenced by the wild clamor of the hour of fanaticism had not died away when MT. Bryan began his wan derings about the country for the purpose of securing a renomination in 1900. There was no opposition to him. Even the stoutest-hearted conservative Democrats realized 1t was, humanly speaking, inn possible to elect any Democrat to the Presidency in 190O and so the party at 1 large favored his renomination because l for the double reason that the minimizing stiu demanded it and the thoughtful lovers of the party foresaw in 1t the 1 practical end of what those who grieved most had come to designate as "Bry- anism.'
 Mir. Bryan is again pursuing the course he pursued in 1897, 1S9S 1899, and the ear Her months of 19O0 He is canvassing the country for renomnation, and is doing so under the pretext of featuring tours, | charging 50 cents head for each person who desire to hear him rave over impos- sibllites thereby further enriching him self in his disguise as party leader, and, as he believes, strengthening his chances for the Presidential nomination in 1904.
 Democrats who hold the triumph of the party and it's abiding historic principles above every possible individual ambition, and who were actively friendly or pas sively indifferent to Mir. Bryan between. the calamitous disaster into which he led us in 1896 and the consequent humilia- ton of 1900, are becoming very sore and resentful toward him in his present course as professional lecture-candidate They didn't care what he said or did previous to the election of 1900, for even the most foolhardy knew he had no possi- ble chance of election. Mir. Bryan is now sacrificing the respect of the respectable element of the party which twice he led to appalling disaster, almost to utter ruin; for there Is no possibility of doubt ing that he is now a candidate for the privilege of again leading the party to ruin. It is as utterly impossible to elect MT. Bryan President as 1t Is to cause the Mississippi River to flow up its val lev against the mountains instead of talk ing its natural course to the wide sea. This is recognized by every thoughtful man of int ntelligence in the Democratic party. To the Republicans MT. Bryan is a wandering minstrel of politics. a thing of shreds and patches politically, though possessed personally of a greater income than the Presidential salary. He is a rich man in money. thanks to the Demo- cratic party, upon which he has been an old man of the sea; but in the party sense he is as entirely pauper as any beggar that ever blew a tinhorn in the
 
 street.
 The general situation of the Democratic party is. vastly improved; 1t is better to- day than it has been since the summer of 1892. Not only have we a most excel lent chance to regain control of the House of Representatives in November of this year, but by the exercise of the most ordinary common sense, the common sense of saving wood and saying as near | ly nothing as possible, and naming a strong and conservative real Democrat without foolish 'isms" the winning or the Presidency two years hence will be as nearly certain as anything in politics can be.
 All Democrats of information and judg- ment are fully aware of this; and the truth has alarmed the Republicans, evil dence of which is found in the sudden and acrobatic change of their party attitude respecting reciprocity with Cuba, or the apparent determination to shake off the mastery of the beet sugar owners of the Republican majority in Congress.
 All the better and more practical politi- cal indications now promise Democratic success. Yet at the very moment when the party prospects are the brightest