Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-11-18
Relieved of the Influence
Ambition Might
Weld.
MUCH TO ACCOMPLISH
Issues Call for New Democracy
in Current Number of
Comm0ner.

Lincoln, Neb.. Nov. 1S.-Declaring
Theodore Roosevelt something OF po-
litical accident, but insisting that the
president has an opportunity such as
comes TO but few men in generation.
w. j. Bryan devotes page OF the
forthcoming edition of the Commoner
to the result of the election and TO
discussion of what MIR. Bryan thinks
the executive should accomplish. He
begins by saying no candidate for the
presidency lever used the power of his
office more openly or notoriously" to
secure denomination, and continues:
Has Good Chance.
But whether the presidents great
victory was due to admiration for his
own qualities or to dissatisfaction
among democrats. he now has an OPP
portunity that will not return. He has
announced that he will not be a candi-
date for reelection. and this announce
ment not only relieves him of anxiety.
but it removes from him the binding
influence of selfish ambition. Unless
he is restrained by obligations, con-
sciously or unconsciously incurred. he
can devote himself to the duties of his
Office with an eye single to his position
in history"
Mr.. Bryan then enumerates some of
the reforms with which he says Mr..
Roosevelt should SignaliZe his reelec.
tion-a stand on the side of the people.
opposition to plutocracy and trusts.
more strict regulation of the railroads
and a change in policy toward the
Philippines. He concludes this dis
cusSion thus:
Indebted to Chance.
He owes his first elevation to the
presidency to an unexpected event. the
murder OF a president. He owes his
recent great victory largely to the err
ror of democratic leaders. Others have
therefore given him the opportunity
which he coveted. How will he en-
ploy it? His place i'm history will de-
pend not upon what others have done
for him, but upon what he does for the
country. Let him read again the his
tory of his country and note the differ
ence between those presidents who
have befriended the masses and those
who have espoused the cause Of the
privileged few"
Mr.. Bryan also discusses the lesson
of the election as it affects democracy.
saying the rain has descended alike
upon the just and the unjust, and that
the members of the party must stand
or fall together
Party i'm New Hands.
Eight years ago" he says, the dem
Ocratic party put it's hand TO the plow
and began the work of reform De
feat dampened the ardor of some I'm
1900. but still the party continued to
the seed sown i'm 1896. Again
the season was unpropitious. and by
1904 there were enough who were dis
to turn the party organiza-
lion over to those who had not been in
full sympathy with the party's pur-
pose.
Those who had tried to- prevent the
of the party went down
in the general wreck with those who
were conspicuous in leading the party
astray. III the penalty fell only upon
the guilty ones there would be less
care taken to put the party right and
keep ii right. But when the whole
party must bear the blame for the ac-
ton of those who obtain control the
members of the party who desire to-
make the organization effective i'm be-
half of reform are forced To be ever
upon the alert.
Let the experience of 1904 be q
warning for the future. Let the work
or organization begin today. In order
that the party may regain at the first
opportunity the ground that has been
lost"