The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1908-03-26
Mixing Up Parties.

OF kepuDiictH SeHalor us 'elnDeLIlSFs
of power" Treachery Is base In what
ever form it appears, aud the betrayal
Of party trust Is Il vile offense. il
Is also rare, and, fortunately, has never
occurred In an obligation as vital as
that of national elector. where II might
strike at the roots of the government.
But there never has been politician
in this country who has done more than
own party lines. Ever since he became
nationally prominent he has been 4
professional fusionist, and the canss
paign of the present year will snow
him to be as deep in the mercenary
business as ever. He win say that q
Democrat should never act with Repub-
licans; but he will also declare that a
Democrat should be a Populist, or vice
versa, according to circumstances. In
1896 he was the presidential candidate
Of three parties, all of whose plat
forms contained material differences.
On one ticket his running mate was Mr..
Sewall, Of Maine, Democrat. On an
other the candidate for second place
was Mr.. Watson, Populist then and
now. The third, or silver party, whose
ticket Mr.. Bryan also headed in 1896,
was provided for Republicans who We're
against the gold standard
In 1892 Mr.. Bryan voted In Nebras-
ka for Gen. Weaver, the Pcpulist nomi-
nee for President, who carried several
Western States, and, by fusion, came
near getting the Nebraska electoral
vote. Mr.. Bryan says he voted for
Gen. Weaver because the Democratic
National Committee advised this course
wherever Weaver could poll more votes
than Cleveland. Consider the political
judge of the '.embezZlemcnt" In vot-
ing for one in the name of the other.
There was nothing common between the
Democratic party as led by Cleveland
and the Popuist party as directed by
Weaver, but Mr.. Bryan felt himself JUS
tilied. as a Democrat, In voting for
Weaver, and he has continued to act
as the leader of the Nebraska Populists
to this day. When the Democratic Ma,
tional convention of 1896 approached.
Mr.. Bryan got up In Nebraska a State
delegation antagonistic to the Demo,
cratic party as led by Mr.. Cleveland.
At the opening of the convention the
Cleveland delegation from Nebraska
was enrolled by the National Commit
tee, but Mr. Bryan prevailed i'm the
credentials committee, and entered the
assemblage to the sound of the Popu-
list yell that then broke loose and
whooped him into the nomination. The
Democratic party, as it was, had beea
"embezZied.' and third of the seats
I'm the delegations became empty as n
result.
In the present campaign Mr. Bryan
will again court Populist support and
also IN alliance with Mr. Hearst
What, then, is Bryan Democrat: AS
likely as not a Populist, or an indie
pendence League man. Mr. Bryan's
test Of party fidelity Is this: Say and
do precisely what ] order" lie made
speeches in Kentucky in behalf Of the
Goebel law. conspiracy against the
ballot. What about embeZzling the
power OF the people by schemes that
put the vote of citizen at the mercy
of politicians, regardless Of what goes
into the ballot box? Mr.. Bryan has
done, and is doing now, his utmost to
obliterate party lines as far ms he con
ceives the operation to he productive Of
votes for himself He was as much
for greenbacks as for the silver stand
ard, as much for Populists as for Dem
Ocrats, and as much for silver Republic
ans as for either. In declaiming for
party regularity let him state how
many parties he expects to speak for in
this years campaign.--St. Louis Globe
Democrat.