The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-07-18

forth by the Democratic party In 1876. Mr..
Tilden carried the country by popular
majority of nearly 100000 He, the Demo-
cratic party and the people were counted
out of the fruits of their victory by a
process of fraud as p.Ipable as ii was ex-
traordinary but, from 1876 to 1896, the
issue uppermost in the minds of thinking
Democrats was that created by the legal
lied enrichment of the few at the cost of
the many; the encroachments of lawless
wealth and arbitrary power; the progress
OF the plutOcracy; the impOsitions, impOs-
lures and antics of the money devil.
1t was in this latter year that Mr. Bryan
arrived on the scene. His coming made
an epoch. By some hokus-pokus. evolved
from his inner consciousness, this COM
paratively obscure young man contrived
to lift himself into leadership. and, by
the familiar eXpedient of sustaining the
body in the air by sheer force of sus-
penders, has kept himself there. to the
end that, for a third time, he is made the
Democratic nominee for president. Were
II not the part of wisdom and Justice
and is it not tme-that those of who
have consistently opposed him should
look into the why's and wherefores, should
take stock of our antecedents and the
partys assets-that is, in case we be Dem
ocrats, and not Republicans. nom
descripts-with the purpose of reviewing
the past, or revising the present, and of
casting some kind of balance sheet upon
the ledger of our individual conduct,
our actual opinions, and our reasonable
aims?
AsSuredly. the Courier-Journal thinks so.
and proposes to do so. We need not en-
ter upon any course of elimination and
recrimination. Whatever free silver was,
or was not as an economic issue. it is
no longer here to divide us. Those who
contended for it, led by Mr.. Bryan-risht
or wrong as to the fiscal proposition
thought they were fighting for the masses
against the classes, for the people against
prerogative, and against the same old
money devil we had all fought under the
leadership of Mr. Tilden. That question
out of the way what is there now to
divide us? Nothing upon the face of the
contention except the personality of Mr..
Bryan. Having been twice beaten, ne
can never be elected says Sir Oracle.
Having been twice beaten. he can never
be elected shrieks the Republican press
Having been twice beaten, he can never
be elected, echoes the unthinking Demo-
crat. Yet. it is this twice-beaten candi-
date whom the rank and file of Democ-
racy cling to and the Republican leaders
and newspapers most savagely abuse
Why?
In our opinion. it is because there is in
the people a discerning instinct and in Mr.
Bryan a reflecting spirit which make for
mutual trustfulness. each turning to the
other, as both turn to God with child-like
confidence.
The Republican leaders and newspapers
know this. and they dread it. They are
superbly equipped. They are supremacy
confident Yet they largely rely upon the
bluff they are playing upon our credulity
and coWardice.
We entreat every thinking and loyal
Democrat in the land to study the situa-
ton, leaving Mr.. Bryan out of it, for Mr.
Bryan is merely an instrument under
heaven. recording popular vOlitiOn.
There is but one real underlying and
that is, can the people by their own un-
aided strength change their governments
against the marching army of federal
office holders supported by unlimited sup
plies either wrung from or contributed by
the corporations? Is the money devil an
over-match for the American voter? Can
the administration at Washington success
fully employ upon the country al large
the ruthless agencies which were success
fully employed at Chicago upon the Re-
publican party? That is all there is to IT.
fellow Democrats and fellow citizens; no
more and no less.
All economic issues pale before the SUI
preme eXigency Mr. Bryan's reviled per-
sonality is but an atom. The most hide
bound conservative cannot fear Mr.. Bryan
with a Republican senate already liked
to outlast the next presidential term. Mr.
Taft's personality, however attractive. is
but an atom, when we reflect that ii is
simply the velvet hand of the old confi-
dence game of high tariff and high
finance, played upon the American people
and American industries by the parity of
Standard Oil and steel and iron, of the
sugar trust and the tobacco trust. OF
fraud and force. from the hour when it
sought TO MexicaniZe the government by
the impeachment of a president who had
committed no legal wrong and the setting
aside of the verdict OF the ballot box oy
congressional usurpation, to the hour
when it adopted platform of imposture
placing upon it the pretended counterfeit
presentment of Roosevelt, but coupling
of hlxr
tex of predatory wealth and the jaws OF
monopoly.
Flying the flag of Roosevelt, the Re-
publican leaders have already made their
peace with the system, that is, with Sa-
tan, Pittsburg and Wall Street. From
Rockefeller to Carnegie. from Hartman
to Morgan every chieftain of lawlesS
riches is we'll content with TAFT and
Sherman. They foretoken and imply the
old order of special privilege TO the few
impOsitionS of every sort to the many;
high finance rampant: high tariff. re
vised by its friends" rampant; the end
of RooseVeltism and agitation Tor the
good of Observation-Disclosures only organized
capital and licensed monopoly; the same
old story. the same old song, the same
old gang, slicked over with goose grease
from the Roosevelt larder, but meaning
four years more of the rascaldom. which
Roosevelt has unmasked, but not downed;
which Roosevelt has exposed, but left
intact: which, in spite of Roosevelt and
all his works, stands today as impudent
and defiant as ever it stood, "A gray wolf
presiding over the senate, a gray wolf
presiding over the house, and gray wolf
giving tone and effect to the ticket
Can any thoughtful Democrat can any
patriotic American, balk of his duty be-
fore a layout so menacing and obvious?
w
If the Courier-Journal could get to Mr..
Bryan as it has and as 1t did quite three
months ago. most sincerely and with en-
tire heartiness. any Democrat may; but.
the better to explain the situation and to
simplify its logical bearings, let us say
that two facts, sufficiently ascertained
to be conclusive, decided us; first. that
an overwhelming majority of the Demo-
Gratis of the south and west were for
Mr. Bryan in spite of the argument we
had made against his availability as a
candidate; and, second, that the belated
movement to defeat his nomination ap-
peared under equivocal patronage and in
volved the use of money which emanated
from doubtful sources. The latter. boding
party disruption, impelled US actively to
take a hand. urging that we refuse to
rest silent whilst A scheme, inSldlous,
dangerous and unworthy in character.
percolated beneath the surface To do
so would have amounted to acquiescence.
The result was friendly conference
with Mr. Bryan, for whom we entertained
only sentiments of personal respect and
good will
nd