The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1908-04-26

Writing to the Chicago Record
Herald under date or Miles City,
| Mont, Walter WelIman, Washington
correspondent for that paper. said:
Miles City, Mont, March 3O--Wh!-
| liam ]. Bryan never made a better
bid for the presidency than when he
suggested that the federal government
| should guarantee the deposits in all
..eIi4>@lI nI.s----Itv+has ,qsiyap Rir Ritz
which few men are aware of except
those who travel about and mingle
with all sorts of people and learn
what is really going on in the public
mind. 1t should be remembered there
are two great and commanding topics
of thought land discussion before the
American people today, and only two
One of these is the recent panic and
the other il rho -neFin~ IF a new nresi-
- The panic was drama. it was
tragedy, 1t entered the life of almost
every man in the country sharply or
indirectly. II is the one thing | find
men talking about wherever ] go from
the far east TO the far west-the
panic. how it came, why it came. who
Is responsible, how future panics may
be averted.
The business men. the men of af-
fairs, the men who are carrying on |
the great commercial activities of the |
country, the men one meets and talks |
with in the smoking of sleep |
ing cars. in hotels, in clubs. the mer. !
chants one meets in cities and towns
the bankers, all are convinced there
Is something rad cally wrong with the
financial and banking system They 1
know the recent panic was not COM
mercial, it was not Industrial, IL was
purely a banking and currency col
a - !
sent, which is their life, was hit a
blow from above which staggered it.
a blow which came from a quarter
where business has the right to eX-
pect only safety and support and help
from the banks. Realizing this. fee
ing 1t deeply, resenting it bitterly, de I
mand ing that it shall never occur
again. these men, hundreds OF whom
have talked with in all parts of the
country, want something done, and
want it done Immediately {
Such was the setting of the stage, z
such the psychological condition. ,
when Mr.. Bryan came forward with :
lis proposal that the government c
guarantee bank deposits That idea :
net with instant response in all parts !
II the land. 1t impressed millions 7
II men as a sensible and proper and G
necessary thing to do. Government r
'uarantee, they say. would make the n
collapse of confidence an impossibiI- y
ty; with confidence in hanks unim- r
aired, there could never he runs on =
anks; with no runs there cOud be -
o panic Ike the one which swept I.
he country last fall, starting at New =,
DIRK, and stopping not till it had h
cached the borders of all the seas. y,
Not everyone agreed that the ex- a,
ct method OF accomplishing this re- n
llt proposed by Mr.. Bryan was the
est one to be adopted. But he had
-ated the principle. He had pointed
lie way. He is given the credit -
hich naturally adheres TO such &C -
on Mr.. Bryan is the only man OF n
rst-rate pubic prominence who has
ared deal with this question in any 81
av- The president has been silent;
aft has been silent; Hughes has 81
zen silent; Cannon and AldTich. with
e presidents support. have been try
g to pass a measure which the en-
re country knows is ineffective
van. and Bryan alone. has spoken
4 N way to command attention.
How much good that one sugges-
m has done Mr. BRYAN as a presi- 81
initial aspirant can be judged only
visiting among the people. 1t is
t theory, but fact. It has gath