Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1908-04-10
WHY DEMOCRACY 2"
Great Speech by Hon. William ].
Bryan Recently Delivered
In Chicago.

Bryan in Chicago recently, at
meeting held at the Seventh Regiment
Armory under the auspices of the Bryan
League, Carter H. Harrison, chairman:
Assuming that reforms are necessary
what party can best be entrusted with
the work of securing them? 4 1 beg to
present the claims of the democratic
party. What are the evils to be cor
rected?
The greatest of all evils, and it is the
fruitful source of nearly all other evils,
is the domination of politics by the
favor-seeking corporations. By ydOmin-
ating politics they dominate the govern
ment, national and state. There is no
question upon which the people are
thinking which doessnot to greater
or Observation-Disclosures thissLquestion.
Shall the government be administered
in the interest of the.wholespeople, by
unpurchasable, sincorruptibles srepresen-
tatives- of the, e,people, or shall the favor
seeking corporations control the cleo
tions, raise their representatives to
power and through them exploit the
country? If. the present situation is
satisfactory; if the people..are contented
with the distribution of swealth, and
with the observation-disclosures of
these combinations, then there is no
good reason why the republican party
should not be continued in power, for
it has created the conditions which now
exist and must have credit or blame,
according to whether these conditions
are desirable or undesirable. l think l
can safely assert that conditions are not
satisfactory and in support of.this asser-
ton can point to the fact that remedial
legislation is demanded by practically
all of the democratic. party, and by a
very large proportion of the republican
party.
Whatever popularity the president
has is due. .to.the efforts that he made
in the. e.directionEof reform, although
these efforts have been spasmodic rather
than continuous, and have not been
supported by.his own party. .The DEM
ocratic party can claim the right to
carry out these reforms, first, because
that party is almost Unanimously :. in
favor of reform while il, the republican
party there is very large minority, if
not an actual majority, against any and
all important reforms. While the re-
publican party is occupied with fight
between reformers and standpatters,
the democratic party is ready for action,
and can move forward at moments
notice.
Then, too, a democratic administra-
ton will, if elected, enter office pledged
to specific reforms named in the plat
form, while the republicangparty will
ask the public to trust it to carry out
such reforms as may be outlined after
the election. -- In the one case the people
know what to expect; in the other case
they are:left in uncertainty. IS But this
is not the worst of it. A republican
president will have no straightforward
platform declaration, with which to
draw republican legislators up to spe-
cific reforms, while democratic presi-
dent will have platform which will
J commit those elected with himIto GER
tain clearly defined measures. Presi-
dent Roosevelt's trouble has been that
his platform promised & nothing and,
with all his great energy, he has not
been able to secure any substantial re-
forms. How can less positive
or aggressive republican accomplish
more, if hampered by the same ambi.
guilty and uncertainty in the platform!
The democrats have the advantage
also, in that they make "a distinction
between the natural man and the fcti
tious person called corporation. They
recognize that man was placed on eartt
to carry out a divine..decree, while th'
: corporation was created to make money
and this difference in the purposes o
creation necessitates difference in tn
treatment of the two. The republicans
on the other hand, have confused tn
naturalsman and the operation, ant
have given to the corporations all tn
rights of the.natural man, besides tn
i, special tights given the corporation b,
!: law.
J.. Democrats believe in the natural an,
; inalienable rights of the individual
/. they believe that theIndividual shoul
be left free to exert himself as he will
except insofar as he must be restraine
from denying to Others rights equal t
If his own. Democrats believe that eac
:, community ought to be free to act upo
n the things in which it is interested, an
that the state should he undisturbed i
$ its control of affairs of purely state in
!. portance. Beginning with the right {
y the individual, the Democrat proceed
II to defend the right of each group ,
persons up to the federal government
and insists upon the right of the feder,
government to the full use Of .lall pov
ers delegated to it. Guarding, as
z does, the rights and interests of the il
l. dividual, the democratic party is mo
solicitous than the republican par
about the individual, and therefore
more careful to protect him against Il
traspasses that have been made up(
n his rights by the corporations.
10 The difference between the democr,
ic position and the republican positi
can be illustrated by reference to t
position taken by three prominent
publicans. Take the presidents po
vs. ton on national interpretations ]
-. favors the Incorporation of railways a
~ interstate state commerce corporatio
by the federal government, and in