The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1906-06-15

Silver was equally impossible, and il
has gone its way. Its disappearance
makes Democracy whole again. II
brings Democrats together once more
precisely as after the War of Sections
they came together, all factions and
factional issues removed, the bond OF
agreement yet vital and eternal; the
pact of the masses against the classes
the Militia against the Regulars; the
Government of the people, for the peo-
pie and by the people, seeking the
greatest good to the greatest number
against the organized power of dishon-
est money-getting through favoritism
and privilege, the Government of the
Syndicate, by the Syndicates and for
the Syndicates
This latter we now surely know
rules in the two Houses of Congress
at Washington, if not in the White
House, where a yet problematic char
acter is playing queer politics and pur-
suing devious ways, to what finality no
man can plainly say or see, but as
Democrats everywhere feel and be-
lieve, boding no good to any real or
lasting reform.
The Republican party is mammoth
Trust, It is the greatest of all the
Syndicates. 1t could not, if it would,
mend any of the abuses which have
grown up under it's ministration and
which appear in every department of
the political, commercial and economic
arena. 1t is responsible for the con-
version of the public highways to pri-
vate uses; for the diversion of the
taxes from purposes of revenue to pur-
poses of emolument; for the CONSOLE
dalton of all official power to a few
hands at Washington, the concentra-
ton of all financial power to a few
hands in few money-centers; for the
elimination of the spirit and sense of
accountability from the party fabric;
for the corruption of the very sources
of the political fabric in the Legisla-
lures and the Electorate from one end
of the land to the other.
This is not an reinstatement. 1t
is not a prejudiced statement 1t is
fully substantiated by the revelations
of the year gone by; the revelations
incident to the Insurance inquiry, the
revelations incident to the proceedings
of Congress, the revelations incident
to the exposure of the Corporations,
beginning with Standard Oil and end
ing with the Pennsylvania Railway.
There is moral awakening. There
are popular revulsion and uprising
There must be thorough overhauling
of the System, complete change of
parties in the Government, and no
matter how attractive the President
may appear in the character of Re
former, or how successful he may
shape the elements so as to force his
party to accept him, or defeat, in 1908,
there is prevalent belief-which may
prove irresistible-that Mr.. Bryan has
served his probation and earned his
reward; that in his person stands an
actual and visible victim of all that Is
wanton and criminal in our politics;
that with increasing years, and study
and travel, has come increasing wis
dom; that, in short, he can be trusted
to take the helm and to steer us away
from the breakers of gang-and-graft
politics, having it's headquarters in the
Republican Steering Committee of the
Senate and in the Republican Speak
er, and his Rules Committee of the
House.
Such is the meaning and portent of |
the Bryan boom and movement, which,
upon the Return of the Native" will |
at once receive an impetus and ac- |
celebration great enough to allay all
doubt of its spontaneous and popular
character.
The Courier-Journal accepts the sit
uation heartily. 1t is a Democrat
pure and simple. 1t nurses neither
sores nor scores. Nothing has ever
entered the head of it about Mr.. Bryan
which it did not long ago kick out at
the heel, and it proposes to labor
and increasingly to make his
election an accomplished fact, enter
tanning the while the very iveliest