Omaha daily bee., 1908-10-14
BRrANs PLEA FOR HARD TINES

Mr.. Bryan a at least got back to
one of the cardinal principles of the
democratic party of the olden days.
Being a little toe late in the season
to pin his faith to the drouth and
chinch bug, he is making a desperate
effort to use hard times and depression
as a democratic political asset. He
has made the astounding discovery
that the country is on the road to the
dogs, just as 1t was in 1896, when it
refused to listen to his free silver
heresies, and that any signs of return
ing prosperity noted from the mills
and factories and mercantile houses of
the country are all a part of a deep
laid plot on the part of the republican
party to fool the people. In an adj
dress at Lincoln, on October 2, 1908,
Mr.. Bryan said;
That this panic still continues can be
proven in many ways; First, by the mum
Der of men out of employment-men
anxious to work who are not able to find
work to do. An effort has been made
among those securing special privileges
from the government to answer this argu-
ment by starting up some of their mills
in the closing days, but the people can
hardly be fooled by such transparent
tricks.
Let it be admitted at once that the
producers, manufacturers and consum-
ers have been unkind to Mr.. Bryan
by making their wants and the
methods of supplying them known at
this season of the year. They must
have known that calamity is the hand
maiden of democratic hope and de-
preston the party's most cherished
asset. The hum of industry, the whir
of factory wheels, the groaning of the
over-1aden bins of the farmer and the
song of the workman at his task are
elegies of grief to the party that fat
tens ON woe and sings in jeremiads.
Fortunately, the country takes a diff
ferent view of the situation. The re-
ports show that the 413 600 idle
freight cars that were on the side
tracks last April have been reduced to
about 10000, thinning out the long
line of empties until there is already
talk of a car shortage. Railroads are
putting men back to work and orders
for new cars and other equipment are
larger than for several years. Fac
tories are reopening throughout the
country. Steel mills have booked Or
ders for structural iron, indicating a
building revival greater han the coun-
X..- 10. aAzH 1s,aA 1nnG HIA..4.
house reports show that the banks are
breaking records and have all of the
funds needed for legitimate enter
prises. Dun's and Bradstreet's both
report a marked increase in shipments
of goods to all parts of the country.
The Department OF Commerce and La
Dor reports that the percentage of I'M
and all this in spite of the usual de-
creased from 1913 per cent in April to
1876 per cent in August, with a
marked trend to better conditions and
a prospect that normal conditions will
be restored before the end of the year
and all this in spite of the usual de
pressing uncertainty of a presidential
/ campaign.
; AS Mr.. Bryan's statement was made
: in all seriousness, it must be so con.
| sidered. 1t was made as the deliberate
adjudgment and opinion of a man who
) is a candidate for the highest office
in the gift of the American people
He goes on record as declaring it to bC
his firm conviction that the railroads
are spending millions of dollars foi
, improvements; that the manufacturer
are putting thousands of men on theil
= payrolls~ and turning out products
= that the jobbeTs and retailers are bus,
j, buying goods by the trainload; all To-
the purpose of making the people be
1 lieve that the era of commercial anC
S financial depression is over; all 70,
e political purposes In charging tina
: this industrial and commercial revlva
n is "a transparent political trick" Mr.
: Bryan leaves the inference that thesl
t enterprises and this activity will b
k abandoned as 500 as the election /
h over; that it is all part of a big politi
4 cal blum. The voters must Judge 70
3 themselves whether a man who woul,
S deliberately make such a statement /
a a fool or just a demagogue.
.
The people of Omaha should under