Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1908-12-02
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Says the Washington Post:


Says the Washington Post:
That Mr.. Bryan is as much =
cand date for president today as he
was n 1896, 1900 and 1908 before
he achieved the nomination Is abso-
lutely certain, and Il is equally rs
surci that II the parry shall be -
the same temper In midsummer of
;JlR hat Il in the late autumn IF
1908. he will be tn head of the
ticket for the fourth time.
What Democratic eader will APP
pear in the next Democratic nation
al convention and protest against
tho incorporat on of MIR. Bryan's
Iogmas in the platform? Mann
him. Let us have a sight of
statesman SO audacious as thus to
take his political life in his hand
and attempt to bell the cat.
ITO employ Henry Watterson's
metaphor. what would a nomina-
on be worth gained over the dead
body OF Mr.. Bryan?' 1t m ght be
the price of victory, for the mex
Democratic preSlden:-M there shall
be one-will be made president by
the votes OF hundreds of thousands
or men who supported Roosevelt in
1904 and Taft in 1908. And The
one way for a Democrat to secure
those votes is 20 expose to their
gaze the political corpse OF William
Jennings Bryan"
Here we have the same mood and
tense which disfigure the argument
OF Harper's Weekly. Both Mr.. Nc
Lean and and Col. Harvey seem to
lose sight OF everything except the
personality OF one man, Mr.. Bryan.
Col. Harvey will abuse Mr.. Roose..
Welt like a pickpocket, and Mr.. Nc
Lean Will extol him to the skies;
but lie cher Of. them will hold him
answerable. whilst both turn them
selves loose upon every uttarance
OF Mr.. Bryan throug twelve years of
inlamed and unbroken agitation.
why is this?
Let us agree that Mr.. Bryan has
alked too much and zoo we'll. Let
us also remember that the agitator
rarely reaps other rewards for his
e!oquence, his ardor and his endur-
ance that pu'ar.ty and applause;
hat Lincoln, not Seward, or Chase.
and still less Garrison, or Phil DIS
or Greeley, was chosen by Heaven
20 save the Union and destroy slay-
cry; that a letter beat Clay, that a
sentence beat Blaine; in short. that
there was no escape for Mr.. Bryan
from ten years of incessant newspa-
per writing and platform speaking
Yet all these years he was the voice
or popular aspiration which may
not have known precisely what t
wanted, but was conscious OF serious
shortcoming in the government of
the country. However ignorant. or
mistaken, this popular aspiration
wlil always have to be reckoned
with.
Col. Harvey dwells upon the
tn nkless south" He might equally
dwell upon the thlnkless west"
The peop'e N the aggregate do no.
think-they feel-and. under our
peculiar system OF dual parties and
complicated electoral machinery the
final equation often turns upon or
ganization and momentum, The par
ty in power having an oyerwhelm-
Ing advantage.
Mr.. Bryan's following Is credit
not a scredit TO him. It's fidelity
to him u a credit, not a dlscredl. 10
It, Neither he nor It, should be wan
tonly assai'ed Like the Roosevelt
follow .ng, the Bryan following sa-
yors ov.rmuch OF heroworship. yet.
nevertheless, II remains force
and Z may be made a force for good
u taken Alright r. is certainly not
sagacious leadership in Col. Harvey
and Mr.. Mclean supposnR ta,y
care anything about LEADERSHIP
thus early to begin an ant.-Bryan
crusade. 40 matter how such a
crusade terminated Mr. Bryan
would have everything to gain. and
moth ng 20 lose, by reason OF IL. n
it should be persisted in It could
only tend toward an accumulation
OF the differences already existing
between ;he Democrats. so-callcd.
OF the east and tho Democrats So
called OF The west and south. by no
means 20 "thlnhcss" as Col Har-
veg fame - them.
The only Democratic presfder.
since the war hailed from the cas-,
Under MS lcad.rsh she parry went
to havoc. Let us say that under
Mr. Bryan's leadership the havoc
has been maintained. Meanwhile
3 there really an irrcpressible CON
hict between tho east, on the one
hand and the west and sou.h on .he
other hand? Are the differences
rreccncalable? on would think