Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-10-23
Especial Washington Correspondence of

Especial Washington Correspondence OF
The ArgusD
Recently | was in Richmond with
Mr.. Bryan. He had been invited there
by some Democrats of Virginia to
speak at the state fair. 1t had been
asserted that he would declare him
self on the matter of his possible can
didacy for the presidential nomination.
This he did not do. But he spoke very
strongly Oh certain matters that the
Democratic party will have to handle
in the next national campaign.
Two things that Mr.. Bryan said at
Richmond seem to me matters of i'm
portance. To begin with, in his speech
there he took a much more positive
stand on the tariff issue than either he
or any other Democratic statesman
has taken in the last few years. He
insisted that tariff reform must be ac-
complished by the friends of reform
and not by the friends of the tariff.
Let me quote:
IF you are ever to have tariff re-
form you must have it by those who
believe in tariff reform and not by
those who propose to practice it as a
political necessity. No bene-
ficiary of political industry will ever
let go of the public teat until it Is
dragged away by main force"
Mr.. Bryan's attack upon the tariff
was so forceful and so strong that 1t
has made his friends in the east be-
lieve that he purposes to make the
tariff issue the paramount issue in the
next campaign. happen to know that
this is not his intention. If he should
be the candidate, and only the Demo
cratic masses can determine whether
he shall be or not. he will urge not
one issue. but three. And all three
are so interviewer that they cannot be
separated. There is the tariff which
creates the trusts. There are the trusts
that contribute the campaign funds to
maintain the party which enforces the
tariff. There are the railroads that
give special concessions to the trusts
and contribute campaign funds for the
maintenance of the tariff. You can't
get away from these great factors in
American politics. If you touch one
the other two come to its defense. II
is what the doctors call ''malign in
f1uence." as when mans heart and
lungs and kidneys are equally affect
ed The physicians say that they
might be able to cure one. but they
cannot make the cure complete with
out healing all three. And so the tar
equally vital to the body polite, and
If one is TO be healed all must be.
Senator Pettisrew In Washington.
The Republican party, as a rule, is
very shy of its ablest people The
best men it ever had have one after
another been elbowed out of any sort
of place or influence in its counsels
1t sounds like ancient history, but il
is fair to recall the way in which In
gals was quietly eliminated from the
party. though he was one of the mOs
brilliant and one of the most honest
men that American politics ever knew
He died poor. Could anything better
than that he said for him? That party
set aside other mentor example
former Senator Pettigrew of Soutf
Dakota. Mr.. Pettigrew is one of the
hard fighting men in the cahse of the
people. In the senate he was brilliant
in debate. and out of the senate he was
striking in discourse. i met him only
Il day or two ago, and from him l so
this comment upon public affairs ii
Washington:
THE Republican party ought t.
| nominate Uncle Joe Cannon. He bes
| typifes the ideals of his party. HI
stands for high tariff and oftentime.
| against the interests of the people.
| The Democrats will nominate Bry
an. Mr.. Bryan stands for the inter
| ests of the people. He has been urgin:
the policies that Mr.. Roosevelt ha