New-York tribune., 1906-11-24
Mr.. RRYAN'S NTFS.

Eternal vigilance" in the not altogether orig
inal opinion Of Mr.. Bryan, "is the price of lib
erty," and he Is going to head party of. Wig
ilantes In the Democracy. There will be lamp
posts a-plenty for Democrats who, In 1904
yield to the temptation held out by Wall
Street" Mr.. Bryan Is determined to have una
nimity In the Democratic party, If 1t costs lynch
ing. There is no room In it for any one who dis
agrees with its established doctrines, confirmed
by the recent triumph of ideas" here in New
York. There will be no contest says Mr..
Bryan, 'fn the national convention of 1908 On
platform" Sound the glad tdings Let the
bells ring and the horns toot and the steam
sirens add their resonant contribution to the
general jubilationI We have Mr.. Bryan's prom
ise of this fellcitous consummation. and the
Bryan vigilantes will make good. Mr.. Bryan Is
going to take a leaf from the book Of Mr.. Hearst
and drive out all the Democrats who are not
Bryan Democrats or Hearst Democrats! Then,
Of course, there will be unanimity-that Is. If
these two factions shall happen to agree.
1t is not enough to have the right platform,
bundle Of doctrine which will be Democraucally
automatic The party must be made willy
nilly, to fit the platform. The Democracy must
not be crippled by an organization out of har
mony with the partys purposes" 1t must not
serve both Bryan and Mammon. Here is where
the Bryan vigilantes will do their best work.
Reorganization IS almost as necessary as plat
form" You cannot put MammOn on the ma
tOnal committee in charge of the campaign,
Bryan Cor Hearst) up as a candidate. and
appeal to the Peepul with a composed counte-
nance. What is the use Of trying to reconcile
the irreconcilables? Drive them out! Throw
them out as was done at Buffalo! The party
may be smaller, but 1t will be select. If it fails
to elect its candidates 1t may ruminate upon
such "signal victories as the ingenious mind of
Mr.. Bryan may be able to point out to it. 1t
may watch unselfshly the triumph Of its
ideas" while its opponents batten on the offices.
The soul of the party IS above expediency.
I'VE cannot" says the great vigilante, fight
upon moral plane with an immoral organiza-
"tion. We cannot appeal to the conscience Of
''the country with a constituencies crowd in
charge Of the party machinery" Mr.. Bryan
must view with pride the result of the recent
Democratic lynching IN New York How the
personnel of the New York state Democratic
machine is improved in the elevation of Mr.
Corners and Mr.. Murphy! There you have
friends of the Peepul to lead a fight upon
moral plane! There is conscience personifedi
How much stronger an appeal can these prod
ucts of the vigilante movement make to the
conscience Of the country than Mr.. Roger Sulll-
van, of Illinois, who has defied the Bryan man
date and remained a Democrat! Mr.. Sullivan is
not alone. There are many Democrats who
''be a detriment to the party" If they try to be
prominent call out the vigiantes, If they are
content to keep In the background they may be
permitted to go to the polls and vote the Dem
ocratic ticket, provided they put on a set OF
false whiskers or some other disguise when vot-
ing, and so spare the party the shame of their
support. There are several classes of these
''publicans and Sinners like Mr.. Sullivan, who
are warned of the lamppost No one connected
with corporation may expect to occupy post
In the party organization. Does this include the
famous Star Company No one so connected
with railroads as to be 'bassed In their favor
may emerge from the discreet background. No
favor-no, not even Quarter-wil be given TO
the railroads by the government ownership ad-
vocate. Every aspirant for position whose past
record is open to objection" must stand aside.
NO representative ought to desire to make him
self an issue" That is the lesson of the recent
Hearst campaign. 1t should apply with equal
force to Mr.. Hearst two years hence.
We grieve to learn that the corporations are
medtating crime We know how they try
to control the government and fill all the Offices
We have been told only too often how the Peepul
suffer from their wantOnness. But now they
seek to poison the wellspring of our national
purity. They will attempt to control the Dem
ocratic party! Mr.. Bryan says so. Was ever
such treason conceived Was ever such mon
strous wickedness contemplated! There alone
is the Peepuls hope. 1t is a foul attempt to
throttle growing intelligence, to silence at its
source the public knowledge Of its wrongs.
What chance would there be for the world If the
corporations should get control of the Democ-
racy? 1t is clearly q case for the vigilantes.