The Savannah morning news., 1903-04-10

purpose to make addresses in New
York and other Eastern cities early
in May is the subject of considerable
comment. As is well known he is OPP
posed to leaving out of the platform
of the Democratic party in 1904 any
! Of the declarations which the platform
of 1900 contained, and he does not
seem to be satisfied with any of those
mentioned for the presidential nom
ination of that party. Hiu OIL
! ney Parker and German find no
favor with him. 1t may be that
/ he would approve Mayor Tom
! Johnson of Cleveland, O., who has
| just been reelected Mayor of that
| city, but he is shrewd enough to see
! that Johnson has but a small follow
/ ing and would stand no chance of be-
| ing elected. Even though Mr.. Johnson
( should succeed in reaching the gov
ernorship of Ohio next fall his pros
! poets for leading his party in 1904
would not be improved very much.
The truth is, the country doesn't want
man in the presidential Office who is
pyrotechnic in his political methods, as
Mr.. johnson is. The present occupant
of the White House has entirely salts
fed the public desire for statesman
ship of the picturesque kind.
The thought has been thrown out,
and it may be well founded, that the
purpose of Mr.. Bryan's Eastern visit
is to convince Democrats of that
section of the country that the best
and safest course to follow in making
new national platform is to adhere to
the declarations contained in the plat
forms of 1896 and 1900, and that upon
such a platform he himself is the
logical candidate.
1t hardly seems reasonable to sup
pose that he has the hope of being
the party's leader in the next national
campaign. He has announced on a
number if occasions that he was not
seeking another chance to test his
popularity with the people, but it is
claimed that evidence is now cropping
out in his paper, The Commoner, that
he has practically Withdrawn that an
nOuncement, and that he now holds
himself ready to respond to his partys
call. Perhaps he thinks in regard to
the presidency as Sir Thomas Upton
doe in contrasting for the Americas
cup, namely, that he may succeed in
gaining the prize by making a third
effort.
When he begins his speeches in May
he will probably discover a GOODNESS in
his audiences that did not exist in his
campaigns for the presidency. There
are of course plenty of Bryan men
in the East, but the number is small
as compared with the number in that
section a few years ago.
Mr.. Bryan has deceived himself into
thinking that he was a more popular
candidate than Mr.. Cleveland, and he
never gets tired of pointing to the fact
that he received more votes in 1896
than Mr.. Cleveland did in any one of
his campaigns. He seems to overlook
that fact that he got votes where they
were not wanted while Mr.. Cleveland
got them where they would do the
most good. Mr.. Bryan in the Popuist
and Silver Republican states got tens
of thousands Of votes that were no
help to him, but he was singularly
weak where he needed help. If Mr..
Bryan wants to compare his popu-
larity with that of Mr.. Cleveland at
the times when they We're presidential
candidates he should name the NUM-
Der of electoral votes he received and
also those received by Mr.. Cleveland.
The electoral votes are what count in
a presidential campaign.
If it be fact that Mr. Bryan is
thinking that his party, under circum-
stances which he may be able to bring
about, will offer him the nomination
he will be satisfied he is mistaken be-
fore ne finishes his series of speeches
during his May visit.