The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1905-09-01
Bryanlsm.

The fear and apprehension of the re-
publicans and that brand of plutocratic
democracy as represented by Parker,
Hill, German, ct al, over the probability
of Bryan again taking control of the DEM
ocratic party through the popularity with
which the policies of reform advocated by
him are received by the rank and file, who
have little faith in those men who led the
party to the disastrous defeat of last year,
by their advocacy of policies which prom
ised no departure from the existing order
ofthings political, is shown by the follow
ing extract from an editorialof one of the
leading accredited republican organs:
eff Organism meant nothing more than
the free silver delusion which was its
chief and almost only conspicuous feature
in the campaign of 1896 there would be
little or no reason to give attention now
either to it or to the activities of the ire
pressible agitator and self-seeker who per-
soni6es it to the public thought. But it
connotes much more than that. Bryan
ism today includes practically all the ele-
ments of discomfort, reasonable and un-
reasonable in the country. And these are
many. There is dissatisfaction with the
inequitable distribution of wealth, with
the enormous aggregations of capital,
with the increasing difficulty encountered
by the ordinary man in acquiring COM
petence, with the methods by which cor
porate power is exercised, with the in
crease of the cost ofliving that seems dis
proportionate to the increase in wages,
with the service given by steam and cleo
trio railroads, lighting and telephone
companies and the other corporations that
do business under public franchise.
"How much of this dissatisfaction is
reasonable and how much unreasonable,
it is needless now to attempt to decide.
The fact that there is all this discomfort
is what should for the present chiefly
concern us. The existence of it gives an
alluring opportunity to man like Mr..
Bryan. He has amply demonstrated his
unusual qualities as leader of the dis
contented, as a magnet for the concentra.
ton Of all the voting force of the opposi.
ton to conditions as they are. 1t was
only by great effort and at enormous cost
that he was defeated in 1896; and the
much greater ease with which defeat was
last year administered to those who
wrested the nominal control of the demo-
cratic party from him gave patent mega
tive proof of his practical superiority as a
political personality. He is man who
accepts no overthrow as final, but ever
rises again to the contest, even exuber-
autly. He is apparently preparing now
for another bout with the established or
der, and the material is waiting from
which he may marshal his forces.
HE has, retained with perhaps but
little diminution from past campaigns, a
personal following that is by no means in
considerable; he has the winning qualities
and the PROSECUTING zeal that can vastly
increase that following if he again comes
before the people as in any way a duly
accredited knight in opposition with his
lance couched. On a platform of anti
monopoly, anti-graft, anti.extravagance,
anti-protection and of general govern.
ment ownership of all public utilities,
with all that such platform could be
made to seem to promise in the way of
lower cost of living. reduced taxes and
more equitable distribution of wealth, he
might succeed, as perhaps no other man
now prominent in our country could, in
solidityiug all the forces of discomfort
into a formidable army. And it looks as
if he we're now patiently and persistently
aiming at just that end. There are indi-