The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-07-14
mR. sRYAN,s STATEMENT.

lcdfhcstness, ms tenaClty, ms aDfllty as a debater. his devotion to losing causes Impressed his opponents even with his sincerity and his conscientiousness And his final yielding on the floor to John Sharp williams's severe stric- lures. his proposition to accept a direct, unequivocal gold plank without further protest. were accepted as a submission to the will of the overwhelming major fly against him. It was generally un- lderstood that he was going to support the amended platform and the ticket lcordially.
 It is quite surprising, therefore. to find that Mir Bryan's attitude has been misinteroreted. The statement given out by him from his home at Lincoln and printed yesterday in every Associated Press paper in the country shows that he has not carried out his promise at St. Louis in good faith He is still irre- iconcilable. The three crushing votes against his positions in the Convention have taught him nothing. He does not believe that the Party has gone back to its historic standards. He still holds aloft. his tattered free-silver banner platform with resignation. much less with sympathy and heartiness
 In truth his statement is calculated to hurt the ticket rather than to help 1t. He gives four reasons for opposing Roosevelt and the Republican platform, I1x,hi ho It and then he proceeds to give about fourteen reasons which will influence many of his followers to vote against Parker and the Democratic platform. Ion the financial question, the trust is- lsue. labor matters. the tariff etc, he lgives Democracy the hardest sort of blows. He has no confidence in Judge Parker and declares him a subservient tool of Wall Street" and the plutoc- racy.
 That is all bad enough, but 1t is not the worst He asserts that the ticket was made by crooked and indefensi- ble methods Thus he arraigns the great majority of the whole Convention of one thousand representative Demo- lcrats.
 The crooked and indefensible meth ods" which MT. Bryan charges are not detailed by him. but there is light on the subject in the following dispatch from Lincoln, Neb., to The Chicago Re- cord Herald:
 | Lincoln Neb., July 11.-O. W. Palm, a business man of this city and a friend and ardent admirer of w. J. Bryan, said today after returning from the Convention:
 MT Bryan fought them every step of the way and won great victory. Even the Wall Street crowd recognized that he was the man. He had the crowds with him. but of course the oth CT side had the delegates. As Tillman told them, and I quote his. own words They admired Bryan as man, and all that. but they needed the money and there was too much of the Wall Street lcoin floating around there to permit of flair play.
 I How many million dollars were spent I don't know, but 1t was not less than ten and the crowd that spent 1t made it all back and more too the lnext day when stocks advanced on the news that Parker had been nominated. Every leader from any distance in the lcountry had his own special car and it was all paid for. When he wanted to
 
 down to his car and get fin it. All the Rockefeller interests were there in force. They had one whole floor in the hotel and paid all the bills"
 So it appears that MT. Bryan believes that the majority action at St. Louis was brought about by bribery. while his close friends at home are making the direct charge How on earth as an honest man, he can find any ground on which to Support the ticket, after such asser- tions as he and his friends make, we lcan't see.
 It is very plain. in any event. that John Sharp Williams was right when he shook his finger in MT. Bryans face on the platform last Saturday night, and told him that while pretending to be the great harmonizer he was sound ing the one note of discord that he was the chief disturber of the Convention. He now gives notice that he has learned nothing at St. Louis. but Is going to carry on his fight for dead issues in the campaign. He is utterly lacking in Judgment and common sense He is consumed with his own vanity. The applause of the packed galleries at St. Louis has turned his head. So fond Is he of prominence, that he will continue to lead a forlorn hope
 Clearly. the Party attempted the im- possible at St. Louis Mir. Bryan can not be pleased unless allowed to have absolutely his own way. MT, Hill and the majority made a great blunder in trying to reconcile him. An unqualified gold plank had far better been incorporated directly in the platform. Nothing has been gained by temporizing with Mir. Bryan. He talks beautifully about yielding to the cardinal principle of Democracy-the rule of the majority, but he does not know how to practice lit.
 We believe that the general judgment of the Party will now be that MT Bryan would have hurt it less by square bolt than by such dubious support as he gives in this statement. He arraigns Roosevelt as a god of war. but he stabs Democracy in the back as the god of plutocracy. His criticisms will be widely used by Republican speIl-bind- CTS