The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-16
Bryan in the House.
washington Special to Chicago Rec

washington Special to Chicago Record
William J. Bryan was visitor at the
capitol today. Although Mr.. Bryan's
Visit was wholly informal, as he was
merely passing through the city on his
lecture tour, his brief sojourn here has
gwen rise to u great deal of interesting
discussion. The most important features
l.. Bryan advises the Democrats to
make imperialism their leading issue in
the coming Congressional campaign.
=. Mr. Bryan has not abandoned hope
OF being for the third time the nominee
Oh MS party for President
AS to the last, this is the impression
winch the hero of the two lost battles
makes upon his friends. Men who are
IN mis- confidence and his warm support
ers say he will even be willing to aban-
don free silver and run on an anti-im-
perialist platform. Most Eastern Demo-
Gratis believe they have finally disposed
OF Mr.. Bryan, but his admirers will not
tnink so. They predict that he will either
be the nominee again in 1904 or will have
a great deal to say as to who the nomi-
nee shall be.
During mis- short stay here Mr.. Bryan
has tried to put obstacles in the way of
the rising influence of Senator-elect Cor
man In the party affairs. Mr.. Bryan does
not like Mr., German. Next TO Hill. the
Marylander is the man whom the Nebras-
kan most cordially hates. When it was
proposed at one stage of the 1900 cam
paign to make Mr.. German the Democrat
&c manager Mr.. Bryan vetoed it and said
he would rather not be elected than to
owe his election to German. 1t is well
known that German is preparing to re-
sumo leadership of his party in Congress,
where there Is great need OF his serv-
ices. His credentials as Senator were
presented today. and he will take his
seat next March, which will give him a
year of control of the party, so far as
the legislative end is concerned before
the campaign of 1904 becomes acute. Cor
man is himself ambitious to lead the
party. and struggle between now and
the spring of 1904 is already on. 1t is
said the Maryland man will not consent
to manage the Democratic Congressional
campaign this year, though he will be a
member of the committee and have a
good deal to say about its operations.
One of the peculiarities of the situation
is that shrewd Democrats do not want
to capture the House of Representatives
this year. Mr. Gorma2 is credited with
being among them. THEY argue that If
the Democrats are forced to assume re-
sponsibility for that branch of Congress
on the eve of the Presidential campaign
the effect will be most unfortunate Much
surprise has been expressed that the
Democrats were making such little effort
to bring the tariff reform question to the
front. They do almost nothing that is
designed to take advantage of the feeling
of unrest that pervades the West in re-
gard to the tariff They overlook the
fact that all the victories the Demo-
Gratis have won since the war have been
on that issue.
Instead of trying to take the lead on
tariff reform. for which large sections of
the country are ready they insist upon
talking anti-imperialsm, which the coun-
try has twice sat down upon and will
probably squelch again at the first oppor-
tunity. One we'll known Democrat ex-
plains this failure of his party leaders