The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1908-12-18
THE FEAR THAT BEAT BRYAN


A contributor to the Des Moines
Register and Leader presents the
circumstances of his having lost 81
ON the result of the election as his
credentials emitting him to express
an opinion on how ii happened. His
opinion is worth good deal more
than the 80 it cost him for chance
to formulate 1t.
This contributor disposes of the al
legation that Mr.. Bryan is person
ally chargeable with the defeat, be-
cause of distrust of him, in this
wise:
mo doubt thousands voted for
Mr.. Taft because Of the fear Of
Organism. But they are few in
cOmparisOn-this vote was over
Swallowed by the votes of thous-
ands hundreds OF thousands Of the
best voters in the country
who east their votes for Bryan be-
cause of his splendid personality
his moral worth and his stand for
principle. Mr.. Bryan gained ten
votes from the latter class for every
vote he lost from the former"
And then he proceeds to place his
finger on the cause of Mr.. Bryan's
defeat. That defeat was due, not to
The fear of Bryan, but to fear of the
enemies of Bryan. II il stated this
way by the contributor:
at was not Bryan or Organism
that the decisive vote feared. Ii
was the fear of the enemies of
Bryanism-the fear of the trusts
the fear Of the corrupt combinations
OF capital, Of the thousand and one
different interests that are enjoying
the favors of IA high protective tariff
and the special privilege legislation
as manufactured by the corporation
favoring elements Of the republican
party. The fear OF the power of
these interests would have defeated
any man the opposition could have
brought out"
Analysing n bit further, the writer
divides the vote that elected Mr..
Taft into three elements. There
was the selfish vote. 1t represented
the power of the cheap politicians
and the favor-grabbing corporations.
II was vote not for patriotism or
principle, but for self-interest. Next
there was the "narrOw-minded vote, :"
term which the writer applies to
the standpatfers, the partisans who
vote their ticket straight and prefer
their tariff high, comprising perhaps
the bulk Of the rank and file Of the
Republican party. Finally ther" was
the "timid vote" and of THY class |
the contributor writes AZ follows:
"Thcy are all clean, conscientious
men-men who want to vote right
men who are clcar-headed enough |
to see things in their right light, but
who for fear of the power of the
high protective tariff interests feel
that they dare not oppose them-thc
Iaboring man, the merchant, the
man who has his home halfpaid for,
he man whose exceptional ability II
allows him to be fairly prosperous,
regardless of the monopolistic OPP
PRESTON, the farmer, upon whose
PRODUCTS the greed of Illegally or
CARRIED capital has not as yet fast
,ned its hold, would all have liked
% vote for principles II thcyldarcd-
hey as yet haven't the courage.
viii they get ii before 1t is too
atc?n
This is dangerously near the point.
If It be true that Bryan was de-
Teatcd because timid people feared
.he vengeance of the trusts, what
Ices 1t mean?
II il be true that there were thou
sands who cheered him, loved him,
hung upon his words, believed In
lim-aud who went with heavy L
hearts to the ballot box to cast their
votes against him because they
we're afraid "the system" would
punish the country II Taft were not
then?
Is the prospect, under this hypoth- I