The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-11
Virginia's Keynote.
Memphis Commercial-Apreal.

Memphis Commercial- Appear.
 The Democratic party has been very | kind to Mir Bryan. In 1896 he was con
 testant for seat in the National Demo
 cratic Convention at Chicago. He was al | that time. virtually a man without any settled occupation He had tried law, ne
 had tried journalism, he had tried poll tics and he had tried featuring, ana ne
 had practically been a failure at all ot them. He was a poor man with a rlch
 command of language. The Democratic | party gave him the presidential nomlna- 1 ton in return for a speech. That was
 the making of him financially. After his
 defeat he wrote book about 1t, and he went out featuring. Finally he started a
 newspaper. He was enabled to acquire q
 fortune thanks to the Democratic party | In 1900 the Democratic party turned It's case entirely over to him. He was all
 lowed to nominate himself without op- position and to frame the platform. No
 obstacle of any kind was put in his path.
 He was given his own way absolutely.
 Never in the history of politics has a
 great political party surrendered SO com
 pletelv to one man. The result was dis
 astrous to the party. but the party. through its partiality for him, has made him a rich man.
 What should be Mir. BrYan's attitude towards a party that had treated him with such conspicuous kindness apd def erence, if he really had its success at heart? Would he say this to 1t? T have twice been your standard-bearer, and on both occasions you have adopted a plat- form that conformcd with my views. Those views represent the unalterabie principles of Democracy. and if you do not reafflrm them, you are faithless to your principles and every man who op- poses reaff1rmation is q traitor. reor- ganizer and a tool of the money power"
 Is this the language a grateful man should use to the party that honored him. Or should he say this? "The Dem ocratic party has twice conferred upon me the highest honor within it's gift. It has adopted a platform twice that met my views exactly. It went before the country with me as its candidate and my platform as it's platform. The defeat that came to the party was SD over whelming that I can only conclude that my platform does not meet with the ap- proval of a great majority of the Amer lean people. As these defeats came un- der my leadership. and on account of a platform that embodied my views. have come to the conclusion that the princi- ples I advocate, and the cause I embody are repugnant to a great majority of the American people, I shall therefore en- deavor to repay the generosity of my party, by retiring from It's councils. of fering no suggestions as to it's candidate or its platform, Snd leaving to the un- | trammeled judgment of the party the se- lection of its standard-hearer and the framing of its creed. In short, feel that I should step aside. and give others u
 chance to do what failed to accom- plish.
 This, we take it, is what he would say if he were really solicitous about Demo cratic success. The Democratic party and the Democratic South have done ev- erything for Mir. Bryan. but what has
 he done for the Demoratic party and the South? Absolutely nothing.
 But in spite of the propaganda started by MT Bryan for reaffirmation of the Kansas City platform. the leaders of the Democratic party are lining up almost solidly against him At the annual din- ner of the Virginia Democratic Associa- tion in Washington Senator John W. Daniel sounded the keynote of the occa- sion, and possibly the keynote or the
 coming campaign. There were presen; on this occasion both Senators, and near