The morning journal-courier., 1908-10-27
CLEVELAND ON BRYAN.

leF-JO Ourndl, EOt n pOlltlCdl pee m HIS bonnet. He believed he had good req son t5 question the authenticity of certain letter which had been pub lished by the New York Times in conjunction with several other papers about the country The letter was signed with the name Grover Cleve- land" and in 1t the late-lanented ex- president appeared to spare no pains in putting the political forceps on MT Bryan as the candidate of the demo- cratic party for the presidency. As a result the letter In question has suf- fered considerable ill-repute and a certain magazine and newspaper writ CT named Brandenhurg has been arr rested and lodged in jail, charged with forgery, larceny and other serious crimes
 Whether the so-called Cleveland letter was really authentic or worth less is not even yet made concluslvcly apparent There is certain internal evidence in lt which offers foundation for a belief in some quarters. belief not easily swept away that the much loved Grover was its author Ev- dentlv Marsa Henry wished 10 show, beyond the shadow of doubt, on the eve of election, that Mir Cleveland was not opposed to MT Bryan as a candidate. Otherwise the fact that the letter was forgery or not would have been entirely immaterial 10 him But whatever the truth of the letter incident and in spite Of MT Olney and others of the Cleveland cabinet NAo have since come to the front in Mir. Bryan's defense. more recent events have not tended 10 substantiate the conclusion in the minds of the voters that Mir Cleveland favored Bryanism.
 Within tho week Mir. McMahon, who was deputy controller Of the treasury during the first Cleveland administration. has taken occasion to call the attention If the public 10 what Mir. Cleveland had to say of MT. Bryan a' Harper's Ferry in 1900. The constitution, he then said, framed by men whose wisdom and patriotism have been commented by tho universal world, and under which we nave lived as a nation SO long and l think so happily seems wholly nn- satisfactory 10 Bryan Whether hc would amend it or reconstruct it to suit himself. the Lord alone knows. He is not satisfied with the consttu- | tional method of appointing our fed cral judges, our monetary laws are ! all wrong the gold standard is to be 1 exterminatrd, men who were demo- | crats before he was born are now traitors because they will not con- i done popuism and socialism, All in all, considering Bryans solemn avow- als of his fixed purpose to demolish and destroy whatever does not satisfy hinl-and know nothing that does from the Constitution down-his vain assumptions his appeals to passior and prejudice, his arrogance in his new and self-constltuted role of the leader of the democracy, his nostrums his quacks and his demagoeism I re. gard him as quite as dangerous m enemy 10 our country as was Aaron Burr"
 There will be Bryanites to say tha MT Cleveland lived to change his opinions of Mir Bryan for the better in the years after 1900. But he did not. The New York Times has just
 made public a letter written by MT Cleveland to Colonel r. A Reeve, o' Washington, in July, 9G6, a letter tho authenticity of which cannot he ques toned Said Mr Cleveland in that letter T note what you say in regart to the unfortunate plight of democ racy. I am dumbfounded when l set its apparent willingness 10 turn aRaif ' to Bryanism sugar coated, but other
 wise unchanged -as manifested by th, cool and characteristically modest in
 terview of The Peerless published il
 the newspapers of yesterday I can
 not put out of my mind the idea ths
 however good a party platform ma,
 he, it cannot cover the unrepentet sins or deficiencies of the candidate ] am more saddenod by present polit
 teal conditions than have thought
 could be in any such circumstances,
 And there Is no reason tJ think Mir Cleveland would believe otherwis
 about MT. Bryan, if he were living to
 day He WAS first, last and alwa}
 anti Bryan and Marsa Henry himsel
 could not prove anything to the con
 trary Says the Springfield Repub