Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1908-05-25
M CRAVS
TT|TUDE
N"--onal Committeeman Explains
Position Before the State Conn
mittec ut Observation-Disclosures OF
Bryan.

The following letters written by
Hon. w J. Bryan and Hon. John r
MeGraw should set at rest all
doubts concerning the attitude OF
the later towards the former:
Lincoln. Neb..
April IL. 1908.
My Dear McGraw:-
am very glad to receive your
letter. l had not seen the Abbott
article. and was not. of course. re-
sponsible for II. | havN always had
confidence in your friendship.
had heard recently that you
were opposed to Instructions. but I
could not believe 1t, for the opposi-
tion to instructions comes from
Wall street.
The voters have a right to select,
III am their choice | am entitled to
instructions, and If they are against
me some one else should have the
Instructions.
| hope you will try to get all OF
our friends together against the
New York influences. They are
working as they did in 1896, 1900
and 1904. not for success, but to
keep the Democratic party from in
juring predatory wealth.
Yours truly,
(Signed) w. ]. BRYAN.
Democratic National Committee
Office of the Member From West
Virginia.
Grafton. w. Va,
April 90, 1908.
Hon. w. j. Bryan,
Lincoln, Neb.
My Dear Mr.. Bryan
am under renewed obligations
to you for your kind letter, and
would have answered earlier but
from the newspapers l see you have
been away from home moving about
from one place to another, and |
knew letter would not reach you
until your return.
I thought you could not be re-
sponsible for the Willis Abbott let
ters, because throughout your pub
lie career you have had few who
have followed your political for
tunes more earnestly than 1; and
the personal friendship you have al
ways manifested is, to me source of
the keenest qualification. AS | told
Mayor Dahlman, Of Omaha. at the
meeting of the National Committee
in Washington, / have always OPP
posed instructions on principle be-
cause / think them Hndemocratic,
destructive OF minority representa-
ton, and think they have been, in
many instances, the fruitful source
of much of the ills from which our
party has suffered. Had 1t not
been for the instructed delegations
to the ST. Louis Convention OF 1904,
with your vigorous opposition to
Judge Parker, he would not. in my
Judgment, have been nominated
there, but the party would have re-
spected your protest and selected
another candidate.
My position at Parkersburg, be-
fore our State Committee, was not
opposition to you, as you well know.
after our talk in the Eutaw Hou"e
in Baltimore last October, but II
was prompted by my conviction that
n state Committee should not, from
any viewpoint. usurp the powers of
convention, which alone possesses
the right to instruct those whom 1t
commissions to execute its Will.
with the convention, however, 1t Is
a radically different question, be-
cause the exercise OF the inherent
right TO instruct it's agents is one Of
the vital and legitimate functions OF
the convention which appoints
them. Besides, It was we'll known,
and generally conceded, that the
Parkersburg resolutions were not In
their origin, intended TO promota
your interests, but TO subserve an
ether and entirely different purpose.
The Democratic sentiment OF our
state is now, and has been since
1896 for you, and. as you suggest, I
have seen number Of our friends,
and the Wheeling Convention
which convenes on the 2Sth inst.
will, I have no doubt be OF the high
est character comm endatory Of you,
and your long and continued fight
for democratic ascendency; and the
delegates there selected will be in
structed to vote for you. ] shall
certainly contribute all can to
that end
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