Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-19
POLITICAL PARTIES
WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN has
w a happier knack than any other


man In public life of expressing
an old idea with novel force infused into
1t by the felicitous turn Of the phrase
which he chooses to express ii. This Is
not phrase mongering. The mere phrase
monger selects words fer the effect of
the sound of the words, not the effect
of their meaning. Mr.. Bryan has the
orators gift, and has a nimble tongue,
but he has a nimble wit withal. We
have never seen the cause of Democra-
cy better stated, urged or pleaded than
it is stated. urged or pleaded by him
in the following brief paragraph:
Democracy appeals to the young be-
cause it is the growing doctrine. Be-
hind it are the eternal and irresistible
forces which bring victory to the truth.
The young man wants an opportunity.
and Democracy .insures opportunity.
Democracy's aim is justice, and the
young mans heart responds to Democ-
racy's arguments
This is weR put, and true. 1t proves
that in many respects Mr.. Bryan is the
typical modern Democrat. There are
many other worthy exponents of party
causes, principles or measures. But Mr..
Bryan goes to the root of the matter
and gives a reason for the vitality of
Democracy, which, older than Repub-
licanism, will be in existence when Re-
publicanism is forgotten. Republican,
ism is slowly accomplishing it's own ul-
innate undoing. The Republican party,
after passing its earlier years, before
{ war of the Rebellion, in an ambigu-
Gus, non-committal fashion which hard
ly made a ripple on the surface of his
tory. suddenly became a power in the
land. What vitallzed it? A living prin-
ciple. A cause that appealed to the
people of the United States, cause
that represented aggressively some
neglected first principles of American
ism, namely that life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness were meant for all
the people in the United States, inde-
pendent of color and that the greatest
happiness and greatest good for the
greatest number did not exclude a man
because of his skin. In other words
the Republican party told the people of
the United States, first at one critical
period of history, then at another, and
finally in the first Mckinley campaign,
that it represented opportunity. It's
course of conduct in power has shown
it represented only oppOrtunism, that
is to say, the political habit of seizing
opportunities and turning them to it's
own ends. This is merely form
of selfishness. Surely the public has at
last learned by bitter experience to dis
criminate between the party of oppor-
tunism and the party of opportunityi
Mr.. Bryan speaks in good faith when
he says the Democratic party is the
party of opportunity. Present day
Republicanism is tenacity of tenure of
office, founded on mere opportunism.
The Republican party illustrates it's
true nature by looking 'askance at the
honest efforts of a Republican presi-
dent, who is an original thinker to re-
adjust Republican conditions to the de-
mands and needs of the nation, and by
pretending it mistakes them for radi-
calism. President Roosevelt knows that
only by concessions to Americanism
will the Republican party retain its
hold on the public. In this we find i'm
mediately an explanation Of the ap-
Proclamation of Republicanism to
Democracy, which has been commented
on in these columns. But must we ac-
cept mere concessions when an old ma
tional American party with leader
whose honesty is undoubted and whose
genius is unquestioned offers to lead
the country to the enjoyment of condi-
tions under which the poor house will
not be too prominent and school build
ings will not display Old Glory half
masted to signalize the inglorious fact
that under Republican rule two million
American boys and girls were robbed of
their education, their youth, their lib
erty and their pursuit of happiness.
j. Pierpont Morgan has gobbled the
subway and elevated property of the