Los Angeles herald., 1906-06-14
COL. HENRY WAT1ERSoN ON WILLIAM J. BRYAN
Editor Of the Louisville Why
viii Be Nominated 1908
dtorial in he Courier r-Tourra

There is good reason for the belief
that. long before the assembling Of the
national Democratic convention Of 1908,
William Jennings Bryan will have been
.put In nomination by states enough in
their separate and several conventions
to leave to the larger body only the
business Of confirming an already
agreed candidate, the selecting OF his
yokemate and the building Of a plat
form.
In this there appears certain in
stinct of the people which often baf-
fies the best laid plans Of the most far
seeing statesmen and astute politicians.
That which Is about to happen to
Mr.. Bryan happened to Mr.. Tilden.
Rejected by the party leaders In 1880,
when the issue of the old ticket would
have swept the country. his unanimous
acceptance came too late in 1884. The
Sage of Greystone had grown old and
infirm, and could not avail himself of
the glory that at length was his He
lived, however. long enough TO witness
the triumph of the cause which was
dear to his heart in the person Of
nominee put forward by himself and
his immediate friends.
Mr. Bryan is more fortunate than Mr..
Tilden. He carries no disabilities He
has survived the crudites and hysteria
of the il-starred campaign Of 1896.
Though he went to n dwindling instead
of rising vote in 1900. he held his or
ganization and following intact. The
end of the campaign OF 1904 saw him
the one king-pin erect and standing:
and since then 1t must be conceded
that he has carried himself with a
prudence and aplomb, intimating to
thoughtful observers the growing,
rather than the waning, man.
The Nebraskan is at the height of his
powers If the party cannot be united
on him, upon whom else? There is a
living hope among the Democratic rank
and file that we can carry the next
election and a latent fear that the
chance of doing so may be blighted by
possible factionism. muddled by mis-
leading influences, perhaps by corrupt
and corrupting influences. These Dem
ocrats refuse to take two bites at a
cherry. Mr. Bryan is as good now as
he will be two years hence. They in
tend to say so. They do not intend to
wait What he will most need Will be
moral support, and this they mean to
heap up in sufficient measure and in
advance. AS a consequence each state,
at least in the west and south, which
meets in convention for any purpose
from now onward will follow the lead
of Missouri, Arkansas and Indiana,
naming him as the standard-bearer for
1908.
So much for the more or less super
fetal and party aspects of the case.
But, behind them and below them,
there lie, yet half hidden forces i'm
measurable and momentous The peo-
pie have lost the control of their gov
ernment, and they begin to feel 1t, to
see it, to know it. The free silver
emotion, for it was little else, was
merely the manifestation of distemper
of whose real nature and extent, in
1896. the country was not fully advised.
Something allied it. 1t cried aloud, and,
in answer to its cry. various doctors
appeared many of them empiricistS,
most of them strangers, but all of them
urging a nostrum which, as everybody
ought now to realize, was not remedy
at all.
If Mr. Bryan had been elected in
1896 and the free silver cure-all could
have been tried 1t would have brought
no relief. On the contrary it would
have resulted in overwhelming disap-
pointment and reaction. Just as the
trend of modern thought had set
against slavery the middle of the last
century had the same trend set against
the double standard at the close of It.
Slavery had become impossible and it
went its way. Free silver was equally
impossible, and it has gone its way.
It's disappearance makes Democracy
whole again. 1t brings Democrats to-
gether 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 peo-
pie for the people and by the people,
seeking the greatest good to the
greatest number. against the organized
power of dishonest money getting
through favorltism and privilege. the
government of the syndicates, by the
syndicates and for the syndicates.
This latter we now surely know