Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1908-08-20
POtiC(l Comment.
Mr.. Bryan,s Speech.


This is either the righteousness of a
native simplicity or it is sheer imperti-
hence.
The complaint lodged by Mr.. Bryan
against the Republican party is that it
has done nothing. and that it will do
nothing in the future. The Democratic
leader is somewhat unfortunate in a
quotation which appears early in his
speech, unfortunate although he used it
in an attempt to prove what he thinks
IS the hollowness of the promises it sets
forth. The quoted words are from Mr..
Tafts Cincinnati address and they run
thus:
The strength Of the Republican
cause in the campaign at hand is that
we represent the policies essential to
the reform of known abuses, to the con-
tinuance of liberty and true prosperity,
and that we are determined. as our
platform uneQuivocally declares, to
| maintain them and carry them on
This is a pretty fair statement of the
Taft intention, and as the party is
bound to the letter and the spirit of
the same declaration, Mr. Bryan is as
Stunning more than either politics on po-
likeness justifies when he charges insin-
cerity and a set determination on the
part Of candidate and party to break
the faith.
In his speech Mr. Bryan constantly
asks the question, shall the people
ruler He can find the affirmative an
sWer only in the rule of the party which
he has twice led to defeat. He asks
Shall the people control their own gov
eminent and use that government for
the protection of their rights and for
the protection of their welfare? Or
shall the representatives of predatory
wealth prey upon a defenseless public,
while the offenders secure immunity
from subservient officials whom they
raised to power by INSCRIPTIONS meth
| ods?'
The Republican party took the initia-
| tive in the work of reform that the
| Democratic candidate seems to hold SO
| close 1T heart. Under President Roose-
welt The work has gone on steadily, and
| it will go on just as steadily under
| President Taft If Mr.. Bryan has
| found anywhere among the people a
| feeling of distrust Of the sincerity of
| purpose of the administration, or any
sharp evidence of doubt of the integ-
rity of the Taft promise Of continued
| oil hn Of
achievement, he has penetrated a hith-
erto undiscovered part of these United
! States. 1t is not the sense of the peo-
pie that this is the precise psychological
moment for change of leaders.
In the complaint of Mr.. Bryan that
the Republican party has not pro-
crossed fast enough with the reforms
undertaken after the moral awakening
Of the people under the Roosevelt lead
ership, is to be found one of the sound
est reasons for the defeat Of the Dem
| ocratic party at the polls. Hasty and
half considered action defeats its own
ends Care that legitimate interests
should not suffer is necessary in the
work of securing true reform.
The Republican administration has
| gone about its work conservatively, but
none the less effectively Mr.. Bryan
| would take the pace that recks nothing
of the consequences to the law-abiding
1t is the unchecked Impotence that
serves only destruction. In the future
! the wonder will be not that it took SC
| long for a great party to correct con-
| ditions that had become intolerable, but
that the time necessary was so short.
Of the Democratic platform Mr.
| Bryan says: Il indOrse it in whole and
in part, and shall, if elected, regard its
declarations as binding upon me- 1t
contains nothing from which l dissent
but it specifically outlines all the rene
dial legislation which we can hope to
secure during the next four years"
| OF the declaration of principles al
Denver to which the Democratic candi-
date gives his resolute adherence, Mr.
Taft said at Cincinnati: THE chief
difference between the Democratic and
tn Republican platforms is the differ
ence between Mr.. Roosevelt's progressiv
and rgulative policies and Mr.. Bryan's
destructive policies Although Mr.
Bryan has a word or two to say about
safeguarding legitimate business inter
ests in the day of the assault on male
factor corporations, there is little in
his speech to show that Mr.. Tafts judg
ment Of the case between the platforms
and the policies of the two parties was
not based on sound reasoning.-Chicagc
Post
! Why Farmers Are Protectionists.