The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-01-28
MIR. RRrAN,s LECTURE.

! dHllAC lNpbiA VI MI IL eAAN ~ 49,
ture. delivered in New York on Tues
day night. is that in his opinion he is
! about the only honest leader the DEM
ocratic party has, and that it is his
duty to prevent the party from EN-
tering upon a course of pillage." The
subject of his lecture was The Moral
! Issue" He wants the Democratic par
ty to present this issue in public ques-
tions and to appeal to the public con-
science.
! We do not believe the Democratic
party has any objection TO presenting
this issue or to appealing to the pub
| lie conscience. In fact, it is doing
these things at this time in it's effort
to get Congress to investigate the post
! office scandals and to inquire into the
attitude of the administration in the
matter of the Panama revolution. The
party out of power is always seeking
to get the moral issue to the front.
As far as we are informed, however,
Mr.. Bryan isn't trying to get his party
to make a declaration in favor of the
rights of the people OF to take a stand
for the moral issue involved in public
questions. He is trying to get 1t to
take a certain stand on the questions
themselves. a stand that he approves.
He wants it to take his views of these
questions, views which have been
twice repudiated by the people.
These views are involved in the Kan
sas City platform. In the campaigns
in which Mr.. Bryan was candidate
for President he wasn't so inslstant
upon bringing the moral side of the
questions involved to the front. He
urged his views of the questions with
all of the eloquence and logic of which
he was master. AS a matter OF fact
the moral side of public questions is
given no more attention in the Kansas
City platform than in any other
platform which the Democratic party
has adopted. And in the platform to
be adopted this year Mr.. Bryan doesn't
expect that any more attention will be
given to 1t than has been given to it
in the past. He simply makes the
moral issue" a catch phrase with the
hope of winning to his support people
who otherwise would give him only a
passing thought.
If the Democratic party would agree
to declare in favor of the free coinage
of silver and one or two other dead is
sues he would be satisfied, and would
have no more to say on the subject OF
the moral issue" In the opinion of
a great majority of the people of this
country the free coinage of silver at
the ratio of is to l is of very doubtful
morality, because it means the forcing
upon the people of a dishonest dollar.
In view of recent developments in
will case, in which Mr.. Bryan is in
terested it is doubtful If he is qualified
as a teacher of morals.
In speaking of those men of his par
ty who are called reorganizers he
wants to known what they are get
ting together for, whether to defend
the rights of the people or to enter
upon a course of pillage." When 1t is
known that nearly all the members OF
Congress, four-fifths of the members
of the Democratic National Committee,
nearly all of the chairmen of the DEM
ocratic Executive Committees of the
different states and most all OF the
Democratic newspapers are against
the reaffirmation of the Kansas City
platform it is evident that Mr.. Bryan
either has a very exalted opinion of
his own moral cleanness or a poor
opinion of the moral condition of the
great majority of the leaders of his
party.
Mr. Bryan complains that in his
campaigns the Democratic party had
but little money for campaign pur-
poses. The reason for that isn't hard
to find. 1t wasn't because he object
ed to receiving money from any source.
but because those who had money were
not in sympathy with his views. He
wanted to flood the country with cheap
dollars and those who had dollars
didn't want them cheapened and those
who hadn't didn't want the dollars
they hoped to get made less valuable.
There wasn't any superabundance of
morality on Mr.. Bryan's part that kept
contributions from coming into the
treasury OF the Democratic Campaign
Committee.
or course Mr.. Bryan will have cer-
tain following in the course he is pur-
suing, but unless all signs fail he will
cut no figure of Importance in the st.