The Washington herald., 1907-06-06
THURSDAY. JUNE 6. 1901
NIr. BRYAN and senator Ravncr.

Coincidently with Mr.. Bryans inva-
sion Of Maryland, Senator Rayner fear
lessly throws down the gauntlet before
the Nebraska statesman in a review Of
the political issues from the viewpoint
Of a conservative. though not as he sees
himself. a reactionarv. Democrat. Jet
tisoning the Democratic cargo Of all for
which Mr Bryan distinctively stands. Mr..
Rayner finds left a residuum Of Demo-
cratic doctrine that he thinks ought 10
commend itself 20 the intelligence Of the
country. Summing up his conclusions,
he says.
I have tried 20 -huv that Democracy stands for
tariff revision and against territorial expansion: in
favor Uf governmental economy and against govern
mental subsidies. opposed % Executive usuTTatian
and in favor of The reserved rights Of the States
believe that the Republican party is against tBrin
reform. snd I'm favor of territorial expansion and of
liberal expenditures in order q, justify Us c1ntiuu-
arc. q A high protective tarF that it is IN favor
Of subsidies that il believes IN the broadest possible
Construction q Executive power ard that in lis
Interpretation II the reserved rights Of the States IL
proposes 20 restrict them by forced construction
Of The Constitution within the narr0west possible
confines vh-ucTer they come IN conflict with lis utr-
pes-- in its march 90 Capitalization. Upon these
issues I would be willing % throw down the gage
Of battle"
It will be noted that Senator Rayner
has omitted from his summary Of the is
sues the particular one which now en-
cages the attention of the countrywide
question Of the relations Of government
and corporations. In. his effort to deal
with this question, Senator Rayner thinks
the President has gone too far. MF
Roosevelt. he says, has brought the
country 10 the verge of trouble. The
hand Of The investor is shrinking from
the public market, enterprise is trem-
bling for fear Of some new agitation that
will retard IL. and financial depression is
the order of the day" This being the
situation. according 20 the Senator's OBJ
servation he would restore normal con-
dtions by a policy Of Tess government
and more commercial freedom. less poll
tics and more business Yet he would
not nullifv line Of the recent legislation
in the interest Of the people against
their financial oppressors,' and he would
keep up the war against monopoly and
corporate oppression but he is conf
dent that "the business and lab0ring in
terests Of the country, tired Of the tur-
moil and the tumult that have taken
possession Of the body polite. will rally
10 the support of the party that will per
nit them. without meddles0me interfar-
enCe. 10 pursue their various callings and
vocati0ns, and afford them a calm and
lucid interval OF peace and tranquility"
Mr Bryan, however. emphatically dis
agrees with the idea that President
Roosevelt has gone too far in the pro-
gTamme OF disturbance On the con-
trary, he thinks Mr.. Roosevelt has not
gone far enough or fast enough I'm the
prosecution Of the trusts. He declares
that all trusts are wrong, that all pri-
vate monopoly must be destroyed. and
that combinations Of wealth for the con-
troll Of productive industry should be at
tackled not only by restrictive legislation.
but also by the removal Of the protec-
tive duties. which have aided in the
building up Of mOnopolies. We fear that
from Mr.. Bryan's standpoint Senator
Rayner must be rated a reacti0nary. no
matter how vigorously he may resent
that designation, and that between the
Democracy Of the Maryland Senator and
that OF the Nebraska leader, saving the
irreducible minimum Of Democratic doc
trine, there is a great, and, perhaps, i'm
pas5abe gulf