Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1906-08-11
BRYAN SETS THE PACE.

y
of the National Democratic Congress
sional Committee. writes to the MES
sENGER as follows
1T is far cry to the next Demo-
politicians who come to the national
Capital are talking nothing else but the
fight that is two years off and the gen.
eral consensus Of opinion is that if the
convention were to be held tomorrow
William j. Bryan would be nominated
by reclamation. Well. why shouldn' I he
be :? He is the inventor of everything
that has been asked for by Theodore
Roosevelt: of everything that was pass
ed by the last session of the Congress
that was of any peculiar interest to the
people. and why should not the inven-
tor of a machine be acclaimed by the
people as the man who uses it ? Every
thing that Roosevelt has advocated in
his messages to Congress that has been
worth shucks to the people. is demo-
cratic doctrine. 1t was advocated
either by democratic national conven-
ton in the platform. or else some demo
crat has blazed the way by a speech in
Congress on the subject. long time
before Roosevelt ever thought of say
ing a word in favor of anything that
was passed by the Congress.
A glance at any democratic national
platform since 1896, or the Congress
sional Record since 1898. or the Con-
gressional Record since 1898. will prove
the truth of my assertions. AS long as
year and five months before Roosevelt
ever said a word about railroad rate
regulation, speech was made on the
floor of the House by the Hon. John
Sharp Williams. of Mississippi. the demo-
cratic floor leader. that read exactly as
the message of Roosevelt on the sub
ject. and nobody doubts that from ii
Roosevelt got much, if not all, the in
SEPARATION when he wrote the message
asking Congress to enact railroad
rate legislation. If he had stuck
to his text and insisted on the same
policy advocated by Williams we would
have had a law that would have had
teeth /; but he went back on all and
everything that he had asked for and on
everybody who had trusted him in the
transaction.
People seem TO think that should
Bryan be nominated by the democrats
that Teddy will be forced to run by his
party as the only man who would stand
any chance to beat him. Those who
know Roosevelt at short range know
that if such proposition is put up to
him, Teddy will accept it, no matter
what he has said to the contrary, and
many people believe that he is working
to that end right now. 1t would give
the people Of the entire country chance
to choose between the genuine thing
and the pinchbeck. For if ever there
was piece of pinchbeck in the shape
of politician in the whole range of
human history, il is the man now in the
White House. And | speak advisedly
when | say politician He is one of
the best politicians who ever sat in the
White House, and one of the luckiest
He came near being dragged from
his pedestal upon which the people
have placed him, when he tackled Till
man. Bailey and Chandler, but he
wriggled out of that predicament by
jumping on the meat packers, whom
everybody hate and despise. He knew
that fact and played on it for all it was
worth and the trick won. Everybody
Immediately forgot the railroad rate
incident. and the fact that Roosevelt
had played double game and shown
bad faith and in the end had surrender
ed to the roads and gave them the
broad court review. and at once began
heaping praises on his head for hitting
the hated meat trust. Have you ever
thought of that?
DO you remember that the two things
followed on each others heels Well.
that's the way he played il on the peo-
pie and they swallowed the bait, hook
and sinker."