Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1904-11-23

cr8ts VINO are yet 10 % neero from
and they may not endorse his Popu-.
list platform, There is John Sharp,
Williams, Of Mississipp,; there is
Senator Joseph W. Bailey, OF Texas;
there is Senator Ben Tilman, of South
Carolina; there Is Senator Morgan,
of Alabama; there is Senator John w
Daniels, of Virginia; in fact, there are
quite . number of distinguished Demo.
Gratis who may claim the right to put
in q word before the next national
Democratic platform is fixed. They
may not be willing to take for instance,
Mr.: .Brysn's Al different systems OF
government railroads.; they may not
be in favor If some other planks in
his platform. Be that as it may, Mr.
Bryan has no more right at the pres
ent time to say what the Democratic
platform shall be in 1908, than an.
other distinRu shed Dem ,crat. For
the next four years the Democratic
creed must rem Ain what the St.
Louis conveA ton of 1904 made it,
and the machinery of the party
must rem lin in the hands of the
men who now hold IL. The air still
rings with the elcQuence with which
Mr. Brya an endorsed the candidate of
the St. Louis convention, spoke of him
as the Moses Of Democracy, spoke of
Parker's ideas as his own ideals,
and proclaimed the sincerity" with
which he was advocating both the
platform and the nominee of 1904
Mr.. Bryan himself will remain for
four years as much bound by the &C.
ton of the St. Louis convention as he
was when be made his whirlwind trip
through Indiana. If the action at the
convention bou I'D him then, it binds
him now. The election didn't release
him. He can only be released by an
other national convention; and that
national convention will not meet un.
til 1908. There fore, when Mr.. Bryan
cuts loose from platform which he
so recently asked the people to en-
dorse in behalf of Judge Parker, he
takes q position which is that of Bry-
an, the individual, and which cannot
bind any other democrats whatsoev
For four years the democratic party
has got to stand by the action of the
St. Louis convention, whether they
wish to do so or not What they did
there is official and binding. Mr..
Bryan himself gave it his sanction.
Again, Mr.. Bry an has no substantial
reason for believing that he can ever
get the national democratic party to
adopt the populist program which he
has just formulated. The democratic
party never did do it and never will
The plutocratic element has just as
much power within the party now as
it had when the St. Louis convention
met. Indeed, it has more. 1t has ell
the machinery now which the Bryan
men then hac; it has the same control
over the newspapers which it then had;
there fore, it is as certain IS anything
can be that they will be able to again
defe at Mr.. Bryan in the national con-
vention when he comes before it with
his populist platform. Suppose how
ever, that he should be victorious over
TIT m in the national convention-csn
they not knife him just as successfully
as they did in 1896? Is it not abso.
lutely certain that they are just as
much joined to their idols now as they
we're then? Will they not be as de-
sperate and as INSCRIPTIONS in knitting
their own ticket as they we're in 1896?
Every argument based upon human
nature says that they will. Then even
If Mr.. Bryan should win the nonina-
ton OF his populist platform in 1908
the plutocrstic element in his own
party will bar his progress and COM
pass his defeat JUS, as they did before.
Again, suppose that the plutocr attic
element should triumph over Mr.. Bry-
an in 1908, as they did in 1904, then
what? Mr.. Bryan will have to submit
just as he did submit in 1904, after
having declared publicly and positive
~ that he would never support q gold
standard nominee of the democratic
party. Mr.. Bryan could not bolt in
1908. The time TO have done that was
1904. That opportunity will not re-
turn. he himself has set the example
of submitting to what was wrong, be.
cause, although it was wrong, it was
regular.
In short, the democratic p ,rty pre-
sents this hopeless situation. The
Brysnites cannot drive out the pluto
cratic element, the plutocratic element
cannot drive out Mr.. Bryan. They
exhaust their strength with Internal
struggles leaving the party where its
enemies can always defeat it At the
polls. There is this further weakness
in the program of Mr.. Bryan. The
plutocratic element has shown that 1t
can safely defy him and combat him,
although he is the nominee whereas
he submits to them when they put up
| plutOcratic nominee. From q party
50 hopelessly divided, 1t Is the rank.
est folly, in my judgment, to expect