The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-16
wAs THr oNLY MAN.

when a reporter tried to interview Grover CIevaiAnd on. last Tuesdays defeat he declined to talk. saving that the returns spoke for themseiyes. we we now believe that he is the only man we had who would have stood ghost of chance of beating Teddy the Ter ribie.--Selma Times.
 The number of men who haven't much use for old Grover" Is not credi- table either to the South or to the Democratic Party. but let that pass. What is distinctly noticeable is that many, Democrats are now able to see what The Advertiser was contending for year Ago. and that is that Mir. Cleveland was the man to nominate. If the. convention at St. Louis had adopted a cIean-cut, uneduivocal sound money. iow-tafiff. anti-trust platform and nominated Mr. Cleveland on 1t we believe now. as we believed before, that he could have been elected. With him we stood a chance, and none with any other man, ana we say this without any thought of disloyalty to Judge Parker or of criticism of him. He Is . good man and good Democrat. and would have made us good President beyond doubt. Under normal cir- cumstances and conditions we do not know nan who would have been more creditable to the position than he. but 1t was not tho. time for him. The times and the occasion needed and de- .manded man of great force and positiveuess. . man who had been tried and not found wanting--a man. in short. with . record behind him that would have been a full and complete endorsement and an assurance for the future. Such man was Grover Cleveland. and it is no disparagement to Judge Parker to say that he does not measure up to the Cleveland stan
 dard. or that it was possible for him to-do 1t under the circumstances.
 And we believe further that mis- take was made In the platform. It was
 not time for dodging. equivocating and nest-hiding. It was a time for
 the plainest of plain speaking. The l Republican policies were well under. stood. Where they were vulnerable they should have been condemned and opposed. Where they were correct
 they should have been endorsed or ac- quiesced In. Especially was this true of the financial question We had tried the free coinage heresy twice with disastrous effect. We could not afford to try 1t again and should not have tried to dodge it.. Our convention should have accepted the inevitable, recognized the memorable logic of events and made a clean cut deliver ance in favor of the gold standard. Thus we would not only have aligned our party with the undoubted senti- ment of the country and allayed the fears Of the business interests, but we would have largely taken the wind out of the Republican sails by showing that we were as keenly alive to the financial honor and credit of the gov ernment as they were and as deter mined to protect t.
 It is idle to say that Judge Parker's telegram bridged over the lapse in the platform. That was the act of brave and honest man, but it was not the voice of the Democratic Party That had spoken or failed to speak, in the platform. and no one can blame the intelligent people of the country if they took the platform as the voice of the Party No one should be surprised if conservative men everywhere refused to consider Judge Parkers message as cure for what the convention failed to set out. The times demanded a brave platform and strong man. The man was Grover Cleveland and the platform such as he would have been satisfied with.