Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1908-04-29
WattsrsOn Supports Bryan.


month spent in Wa~hi"gton and
\..w York hacking oyer the pOiiti-
ct situation and conferriny with
,t.. leaders Of the party in these
..,t;es. that there i ne chance for
any one tn defeat MIR. Bryan for
,he Democratic nomination at
Denver.
MIR. Wat,crSon' letter. which iS
three columns in length. grcS deep.
/, into the conditions which sur
rounded the Waterloo uf Parker
,he Wall street candidat"c. IN 1904.
,.d reviews the political history of
l,, country since that tim.
Coming toa consideration { the
camlmign Of 1908 he SAYS:
/, will be remlcrci thai ,,v.Jvr
months agr. when the C1ng.rr-
.J,urnal set out To try To orYauizc
within the DcmOcrtic party vol
ume of opinion sufficiently strong
T.. impress Mr.. Bryan and h.>
friends that IL were wiser of him tn
ulay Warwick than king. its pur-
pose was not to divide, bus to unite.
the party.
It was weary of factionism. 1t
vearned for old-fashioned Demo-
cratic brotherhood and All old
fashioned Democratic victory.
Mr.. Bryan declined to see it. He
refused to be impressed, and,
with good reason, because the
effort of the CouricrJournaI re-
ceived no answering voice.
The entire summer and autumn
we're wasted on tomfooling about
a dark horse Did he have a
mustache. wired Scott Bonel Was
this blond. or brunettel Joined in
the chorus. Then it leaked out
that the Democrat in reserve was
the governor of Minnesota, and.
iterating line i'm famous old play,
we had deal of guying which may
have been humorous, but was GER
tainly ill-timed, about "A party by
the name of Johnson.
Ii grew trifie tiresome. Ex-
cept to an angel il. would have eX-
asperating. Yet, 1t seemed Dem
ocracy. Governor johnson de-
clared himself out OF it. So did
Governor Folk. So did Senator
Culberson. The Courier journal
was put in for the costs and left to
hold an empty bag. Naturally, it
threw up its hands in disgust and
took To the woods. And then!
Why, then, right out of the open
mouth of Wall street, came a
stentorian voice. Johnson
What chance would Johnson
have over the dead body of Bryan
What chance would Johnson have
carrying a Wall street tagl What
chance would Johnson have using
the undemocratic two-thirds rule
to defeat the will of the majority,
and that at the behest of the East,
defying the West and working the
Souths
The thought is preposterous.
But, cry the weak of faith,
echoing the strongofpurse, Bryan
cannot be elected" Let us look
into this lick or two. | think |
have said some things along that
line myself. All that could be
fairly said, intelligently said, |
have tried to say, that, with the
two factions of the East and West
hating each other worse than they
hate the Republicans, the repre-
sentative of neither faction could
be elected. Either faction might
beat the other. Hence Mr.. Bryan
could not hope to run so we'll in
the debatable States as some one
else to be agreed on-JOhnson pre-
ferred-and | see no reason to
change this opinion.
Mark the sequel. The time has
passed for some one else" Mr..
Bryan retaining the field; it is too
late for some one else" the con
ditions what they are; and / confess
that | am In sympathy with Mr..
Bryan in refusing TO be ruled of
the track by a group of New York
newspapers, whose motives are,
to say the least of them, suspicious,
which will support no ticket except
one framed by themselves, and
which do not agree with one
another touching the ticket to be
named. Whatever his claims may
be or may not be, Mr., Bryan has
MS rights, and no thoughtful man
can, or will, say that he cannot be
elected, the ipss dixit equally OF
the unthinking, the Interested, anC
the prejudiced to the contrary be-
ing of no weight whatever. liz
American politics anything is pos
Slole. Assuredly MIR. Bryan may
be elected; as an affair of dinner
pals, If empty, he will be.
But, among Democrats who
Know why they are Democrats
Vhere ought to be other and higher
considerations; some arrest of the
oreakneck speed on the highway
toward the Capitalization of power
some real and not spurious pur
pose toward tariff reform; som,
sure separation of the politics o