River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-10-20

4 Lne cC. Louis convention naQ voted IOF
! William Jennings Bryan for the Presi-
dency. Yet they were willing to see
| the gold Democrats restored to good fell
| l0wship in the party, and they carried
their generosity to such an extent that
they were willing these former voters
should actually hold places of trust in
the party management. 1t was well
understood that Judge Parker, like Dave
Hill, and Belmont, and German, and
Sheehan, and practically all of the lead
/ ing eastern Democrats, were gold men.
The majority of them, however, liked
Parker; had maintained some kind of
regularity and had voted for Bryan, al
though they did not believe in him or in
the silver standard. The delegates at
| st. Louis, and most particularly those
from Indiana, were unwilling that the
platform should contain a slap in the
face for William Jennings Bryan. 1t
was for this very purpose that they omit
ted all mention of the gold standard and
Alton b. Parker was nominated with
the unanimous support Of the Indiana
delegation, simply and solely because he
had voted for Bryan in 1896 and 1900
| and because it was felt that he could
| appeal to the country and to the loyal
Bryan Democrats, not on the financial
issue, but on the basis Of a reorganized
and rejuvenated Democracy.
An Understood Move.
When Parker yielded to the advice
of Sheehan and his other associates in
| Albany and in New York, and sent his
| famous telegram to the convention, re-
| buking it for not passing a financial
| plank, and reiterating his own latter-day
devotion to the gold standard, it sent a
chill down the backs of the loyal old
time Bryan Democrats of Indiana. Park
er never would have been nominated if
that telegram had been sent in the early
hours of the convention. The Bryan
! Democrats naturally looked upon it as an
intentional insult, not only to William
Jennings Bryan, but to themselves. They
knew that Parker had voted for free
silver just as much as they did, and
they did not see why he should feel called
upon to assume the functions of a com
mittee on resolutions, and amend the
! platform as he did through the unfair
medium of a telegram which was sprung
upon the convention just as it was about
to adjourn and when it's action in nomi-
mating Parker could not have been re-
called without inviting defeat at the
very opening of the campaign.
These good Bryan Democrats were
furious over the Parker telegram. Every
thing which has happened since in the
party management has only tended to
make them more angry. Judge Parker
has surrounded himself with no one ex-
cept New York men. He has abso-
| lutely ignored the rest of the country,
and the rank and file have become con-
WINGED at last that he and the men about
him are playing for the control of New
York State, and care little or nothing
about the result in the rest of the coun-
| try. Instead of the gold Democrats
acting as grateful prodigals, humbly ap-
preciative of the generosity of the Bryan
| Democrats, they have assumed to act as
masters, and none of the old Bryan lead
ers has been able to get anywhere near
the sage of Esopus. These eastern
Democrats denounce Bryan as fiercely as
ever they did, and the men who bore the
| brunt of battle in 1896 and in 1900
although they voted the same as did
Alton B. Parker himself, are given no
hand in the management Of the cam
paign are denounced as ignorant and in
sane, and are used by the gold Democra-
tic party to further its own plans with
out regard at all for the best interests
of the Democratic party as whole
C1eve1and's Affront.
Grover Cleveland, who is cordially
hated n" despised by Indiana Demo
Gratis -s,-c.illy, has become the chief ad-
wiser of the Parker crowd. He has for
gotten and forgiven nothing. He still
talks of Bryan and the Bryan Demo
Gratis as if they were political and So
| cial outcasts. Within few DAYS. in
discussing the gold telegram, and the
action of the convention, Mr.. Cleveland
said:
| The party's action speaks for itself. It
| has returned to sanity, and future progress
| on the right lines is now assured Yes if
| speaks for Itself. The welfare OF the Demo
| cratic party is close to my heart and If il
| once more upon the right road.
1t is no wonder, therefore. that thous.
ands and tens of thousands of BRYAN
| Democrats in Indiana have become dis
gusted at being treated like yellow dogs
| by the men they forgave and invited
back into the party. Hundreds and
thousands of them are preparing to-day
to give the gold Democratic wing of
the party a taste of the very medicine
| it administered in 1896. Many thousands
of the Bryan Democrats are fiocking to
Watson, the Populist candidate for the
Presidency, and they are particularly
delighted at his letter of acceptance.
which hews close to the line, letting the
chips fall where they will. Candidate
Watson has voiced the views of great
many of the old line Democrats through
out the State, when he says:
Roosevelt is straightout Republican
who declares boldly for Republican nrin
ciples, defiantly defending existing cpndi-
tions He is not in ambush; he is behind
no blind. 1 can understand a Republican,
like that and while ! would love to make
nv battle az ring on his helmet, untii one
of us went down, in political defeat and
death, yet, I could respect him ali the
while as foeman worthy of any mans
steel He is not seeking the sunnort of
Bryan Democrats upon false pretenses He
is not playing q confidence game on the
negro question. He is not attempting TO