The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-25
INDIANA WILL BE CLOSE
REPUBLICANs LEADERS MUCH CON-
 CERNED OVER OUTLOOK.

LEADERS MUCH CON-
 CERNED OVER OUTLOOK. rhree Teiai.x Strokes for the Densoc-
 rats in the state Csnyasnc
 Chesre vf Tawgaxt for Na&1enNh
 Chaifman, the N0minatien of !
 Kerr for Gsvernor, and the
 campafen Tour ef ". '.
 Bryss. Special Corresponde1t or
 New York Evening Post.
 If the Democrats carry Indiana fnis year.n remarked a lifelong ana very skfllfui Republican campaigner. tooay' ..it will be due to three strokes or sen. ius; First. the choice of Tom TasssI. y,,y etsa afrnar, of the National Commit- tee. second. the nomination of ohn ". fxsrr for Kovernor;. and. finally, the tour of the State by William J.' Bryan. Tha last of the three hangs. of course. mon the other two. Taggart Is the oniv Democrat who can command and yna mage the machinery here. and dic- tate the expenditure of national money on . State plan of campaign. who also has the good judgment to know whom to bring here, and what effect the visi- tor Is likely to produce; almost any of the other men who are now in control of the State organization would have orixfng the Gold Democrats and driv- ruled Bryan out for fear of his antae- fnK them back to their Republican af- niiations. Taggart had no such non senna in his head.
 Tho second point I mentioned was the nomination of Kern. He is pret- tv nearly the only prominent Democrat in Indiana whom Bryan likes well enough to be willing to come here and help. Of Kern he is very fond Indeed. and would go long distance and put himself to almost any inconvenience to serve him. So, if Tom TaEgart had not had the sense to see and the power to declare what should be done. and if the candidate for governor had been a man to whom Bryan was indifferent. we should have had no Bryan in this campaiEn."
 And what then?"
 ''The Republican party would have been in a much better position today. It is all very we'll, for political effect, to decry this tour of Bryan's and say that his crowds turned out merely from curiosity; nothing of the sort is true. Wherever he appeared. he has left be- hind him monuments of his visit. All the Gold Democrats who were ready to 20 back to their original party allegi- 80cG AdQ koNe UcN01c nG SothtC oPOAA eta~ scene. The danger from their defection we had already discounted. and it was not to be despised in a State as close as ours.
 "But we cherished the hope. till Bryan began his tour, that we should draw to us this year thousands of free silverites who, having nothing now to hold them longer in the Democratic leash. were all prepared to cross to our side rather than support candidate whom they regarded as recreant to his party obligations. The first dozen speeches dispelled this illusion. He had our local workers instructed to notify us within a few hours after each speech of what effect 1t was likely to produce in their respective neighbor- hoods. Their letters came promptly, reeking with loyal optimism. They read very much alike, and in about this fashion; "Bryan's speech here last night was well attended but will. not change ten votes, or A large crowd turned out to see Bryan and hear what his speaking was like, but it made nc permanent impression We had. how ever. other informants men who were not regularly in the campaign business and who went about and talked with people of all classes a couple of days after Bryan had come and gone. Their reports were very different. and some what on this order: John Smith, or whom we had counted with his five employees, says that if Bryan can af- ford to vote for Parker he guesses he can can, too. William Jones, who has two sons and keeps a hired man, ha, split the difference and vote for Par ker His man will go the way he goes erA rrftll ern fhA he goes The two boys are still on the fence. So, you see. by losses of i've or si0 in one place and two or three ir another, we are liable to see quite 2 slump in the vote we had expected tC get from the disaffected Democrats,
 Y0ung Men Drawn to Roosevelt.
 "Why should MT. Jones two sons b' on the fence still, when the old mar and the hired hand had decided what tS do? Isn't Bryan getting the young mep"'
 "A few-not many. Of those whc have been brought up in Democratic families, a majority feel that now tba Bryan himself is not running, they ar' emancipated. They can go over t6 Watson if they like. or they can sup port young mans candidate fin Roose welt. They have no such personal tit connecting them with Bryan as theil fathers had, having come upon tiIt stage too late to have experienced wha preceded the Bryan era in the Demo cratic party. Bryan is to them merel! former candidate and a statesman not a Moses to whom they looked fol years for guidance to the promised land For their fathers, Bryan has half-leg endary character. such as Washington had for the mature man of the Revolu tionnry period, such as Lincoln had fol the veterans of 1861. These are som' of the reasons why families split il two and the young fellows are as like to them. We count upon there being very little in the Democretic party O today attractive to the Youthful mind hence we do not feel under the neces sity of making so strenuous efforts t' capture the young men as to win owe the old ones"
 Gold Democrats Not Frightened Away To go back to Bryan. what inf1uenc, did his tour have upon the former Col, Democrats?'
 II am sorry to say that we were dis appointed agafn.,We believed, before h, came that he would frighten off tha element. We knew that a large con tinEent of them had drifted back be cause they had faith in Judge Parker and we chuckled at the thought of how they would scatter when Bryan cam, along with his heretical miserere. Bu we were badly in error. His speeches though demagogiS in the extreme, wer' good tempered in dealing with every thing which these men held dear And now you can hear or every side. after he has drop Ia H,s L.