The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-19
BRYAN AND BossISM
sayoyard in Washington Post.

tAatA SeuulnES Bryan. II lncAO ac 1e vention at St. Louis next July lt VIII pe in spite of William Jennings Bryan. If there Is discord in the Democratic Geuncils MT. Bryan will carry m tnete. ,,c platform and Democratic ticket Mir. Bryan will lead it. That is the Kettle or nsh that is cooking for the Demo sraS ana Sopa psfty MT s;aH Brya9 ike K g0S spoe1 child and talking like an angry boy, ana assuming to sit in judgment on Demo cratic leaders and to dictate Democratic policies. Whom he objects to IS IS 2 neretic; which he does not indorse IS VI cious Nobody is allowed to be Demo crat without his consent, and nothing can pass for Democracy that he does not utter. In tho whole history of politics failure was never before so dogmatic and so insolent.
 We had q specimen of this phase of Bryanism in Ohio last year Mr. Tom l.. Johnson held a convention, made platform and nominated a ticket: That was In August, 1908. In September MT. Johnson sent for MT. Bryan to come over ana look at his work and pass on 1t. AS Inere was opportunity to make sundry invitation and crossed over He pro- nounced the fads and vagaries. chips and whetstones of the platform excellent Democracy and laid hands on Candidate Clarke and assumed to make him whole; MT. Clarke was the nominee for United States Senator. In 1896 he was Palmer and Buckner man. So we have 1t that 2 Palmer and Buckner man may be senator in Congress, but shall not be candidate for President There Is another wrinkle of vagary in Mir. Bryan's con- duct. He has decreed that Mir. German shall not be nominated for President, Bryan both times. If this man would have some system, some continuity. some consistency, in his bulls of political ex- communication 1t might work to elimi- nate some of the confusion, he unloaded on Democratic politics when he returned from abroad.
 Mir. Bryan is the enemy of wealth. His platitudes and fiatulencies and cantings about the wickedness of wealth. while with tongue and pen he proceeds to gath CT wealth by the thousands, are calcu- lated to disgust plain people. who think 1t just as honorable and legitimate for banker to make money as 1t is for an editor and stump speaker to make 1t. Many centuries ago the throng demand ed, Release unto us Barabbas," and one the blessed Redeemer ma had aSfded in the the house of and broken bread with Zac- cheus, publican, a sinner, and-a pluto crat. That there is bad distribution of our enormous wealth all candid men admit. That it is demoralizing is cer- tain, but it was and is paternalisrn fin government that is responsible for the immense overgrOwn fortunes of multt~ millionaires. and no man has advocated more vicious and more destructive pater- nalism in government than William Jen- nings Bryan. Twice he accepted the Populist nomination for President when he ought to have known that every atom of PopuIism was the spawn of
 In l8s8 MT. Bryan had a platform that suited him exactly, and he kept this country in hot water for months. He q Al cd the public justice. After campaign of thorough education MT. Bryan was disastrously defeated. Then we thought we were done with him. But in 1900 Mir. Bryan forced the national convention to readopt his platform and again he ac- cepted the Populist nomination. The re- suit was an even more disastrous defeat than, in 1900. Both his electoral and increased. That is Bryan the leader.
 Here is 1904 ShaI1 Mir. Bryan dictate the platform and name the ticket? That is something the Democratic party must determine. and do 1t pretty. quick. He has announced that the platform of 1896 and 1900 shall be reaffirmed. He has de- creed that nobody who did not vote for him in 1898 shall be nominated, and he has even gone so far as to- say. that some who did vote for him shaft not be nomi- mated. How is that for bossism? What does it mean7 It means this: You have
 
 divide the party" That Is what he means and all he means. If that Is not MT. Bryan's determination he ought to go home and stay there: If he keeps i, other place for Mir. Bryan to go in a very few years. up like Q rocket, down like a stick" has been the .gatsSOf greater men than Bryan. .,-
 do about 1t? It Is in the timber to elect a Democrat to the office of President this year. If MT. Bryan will go to Thibet, and not start back until November, the next President will be Democrat. If the Democratic party should discover that Bryan Is as impotent for harm as Bryanism Is for good the next President will be a Democrat. As a bolter Mir. Bryanism east of the Mississippi will vanish. If the party should put the corpse of 16 to 1 in it's platform 1t would not add a single electoral vote to the the sagacity to bury that corpse and plant itself firmly on the traditional Democratic doctrine of home rule, honest money. just taxation, supremacy of the law, and honest and economic govern ment the party will find enough electoral votes at the North for all practical pur- poses when added to the certain Demo- cratic electoral votes at the South.
 It is useless to attempt a straddle. That could be successful only when the candidate is a platform. We have but one man of that sort, and he is in no sense a candidate, and has so announced in unmistakable terms. Thus the party cannot afford to make 8 mistake in its declaration of principles. The platform must be Democratic, or Bryanic. It can not be both. They will not fuse. We saw that in 1S96 and 1900. There are half a million Democrats in localities where every Democratic vote counts, who will not submit to anything of the sort. They want to vote the Democratic ticket this year if there Is any such thing in politics. Thousands and thousands of Republicans are ready to join them. for for change of parties in power. There is the G. O, F., vulnerable on all sides and reelxing with sins and iniquity, con- stantly doing things 1t ought not to do and daily leaving undone things 1t ought to do. It is a hypocrlte on the tariff gold standard so securely that Presi- dent like Bryan and a Secretary like Patterson, of Colorado, could not throw the finances into confusion by monkeying with the silver dollar It Is reckless in expenditures, and as for the Constitu- instrument Q profound and a sovereign contempt.
 The country sees these things and is ready to give power to the Democrats just as soon as they show themselves worthy of it. But if Mir. Bryan Is to shape Democratic platforms and pass on Democratic tickets. there is no use in holding an election. The result will be. the same--the result will be the same. If Mir Bryan is to have his platform for Democratic principles there is but one other thing to do-the platform must have-M Bryan for the Democratic cam didate.