Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1904-05-05
THURSDAY. MAY 8, 1904.
AN EMOTIONAL PARTY.

half as rational ana steadfaSt as lG is emo
tioDal and tickle it would be more worthy
of popular confidence and more capable of
contributing to the public welfare. That
it is an emotional and tickle political or
ganization its most ardent and ablest de-
Tenders cannot successfully deny. During
the past twenty years We have seen it
swinging from one extreme to another,
both in its support of men and measures.
The peculiar nature of this organization
may, perhaps, be accounted for by the
very strange quality of its makeup. The
Richmond imes.Dspatch recently spoke
of the Democratic party as "a disorganized
mass of humanit )" representing every
political creed, except the Republican.
This excellent definition of modern Dem.
ocracy was like thunderbOlt cast at the
readers of the excessively cautious metro
pohtan organ of the Virginia Democracy;
but no one was bold enough to deny that it
was true. 1t was a confession made when
the Times Dispatch was in a state of fren.
zy over Mr. Bryan's speech and interview
at Richmond; and would not have been
said in the cooler and more cautious mo-
ments of our contemporary.
The character and qualities of political
organization are, as rule, fixed by the
character and disposition of its leaders
This accounts for the emotional and tickle
nature of the "dsorganized macs Of hu-
manity" that is now called the Democrat
ic party. The emotions and convictions Of
the leaders are more numerous and varia.
bic than are those of the infatuated disci-
pies of the many lens that are represented
in this vast "dsorganized mass of human
ity."
A stream of water can be no purer than
IFS source; and a political organization is
never more rational and decided in its
convictions than is its leadership, viii it
be a misstatement of fact if we assers that
the Democratic leaders have for many
years been the most emotional and tickle
that haye ever been known 10 this coun-
try? Let us 90 back in memory only
about eight years and recall the emotional
scene which was witnessed at the Chicago
Convention. when the "boy orator" Of the
Platte electrified that memorable gather
ing with his metaphor, the crown of
thorns and cross of gold, and sent them
forth to every nook and corner of this
great country, shouting his praises ard Of
firing his freak nostrums as the great
"c1re.all" for "hard times" Who would
then have thought that those enthusiastic
worshipers of newly discovered idol and
devout converts to his startling political
theories would now be scorning the idol
and regulating his doctrines9 But that
ewhat the Democratic leaders have done,
and none are more amenable to the charge
than the Democratic leaders of the South.
The emotional, tickle leaders who 70
proudly carried the flag of Organism in
1896 have thrown that insignia of their
party in the dust and are trampling upon
and cursing it. The relation now existing
between MIR. Bryan and the leaders of his
party would be truly pathetic if it was not
80 Enthusiastically Democratic.
Eight years ago the Democrats were
shouting glad hosannas to their new polit-
ical messiah. Now they haye pressed
upon bis noble brow a crown of thorns,
have stripped from him the robe Of
Democracy and are trying to cruelty him
on his cross of gold. Mr.. Bryan may be
po'ilical fakir, but even his enemies have
been disposed to regard him as an honest
enthusiast and a sincere fanatic. There
was some reasonable excuse for the Demo
cratic leaders at the Chicago Convention
Welding to their emotional natures and
becoming captives to his magical histrionic
mowers. for she is native here and to the
manner born" and his public and pri'
vate record had been clean and unspotted.
Rut. il seems, the Democratic leaders are
no respecter of persons. This has been
demonstrated by the wild enthusiasm
which the Democratic members exhibited
over and toward Bourke Cochran in the
House of Representatives last week. They
were thrown into an emotional frenzy by
the supreme impudence Of the hired glad
iator of TammaAy llall-that same Cock
ran whom the Democrats in 1896 de-
nounced as a traitor and political free
booter. What matters it to them if he is
the Dugald Dalgetty of American politics,
"who transfers his allegiance from stan
dArd to standard, at the pleasure of for
tune or the highest bidder" lie had
been against Bryan in 1896 and for Bryan
in 1900. His opposition in 1896, be says,
was based on ga heresy regarding the f.
,,onces advocated bv MIR. BRYAN" but be