Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-07-11
Nomination OF Kern for RUM
ing Mate Precludes Success
of Democratic Ticket
KERN NOT a VOTE eETTER
Man Of Excellent Character But Lack
ing in tho Essentials Of Leadership
- His Selection Will Not Add
Strength to Ticket in Eastern States
Sherman outranks Him.

Denver. July ll.--COupll1ls tHe hetule
of John w. Kern of Indiana, with that
Of William Jennings Bryan OF Nebras-
ka, is good enough politics in It's way,
but 1t does not go far enough.
That is to say, the vice presidential
nomination here in Denver can hard
Nv be considered to have more than To-
cal significance. 1t is not likely to help
Mr. BRYAN secure the presidency, al
tho II will contribute a doubtful state
and possibly effect the election of
governor and one United States sena-
tor
Mr. Kerns nomination for second
place on the ticket with Mr.. Bryan was
achieved as a distinct result Of an
early morning conference of the lead
ers. who unquestionably had the sane
ton of Bryan himself before they
played their winning card. The con-
yention was extremely harmonious on
second place, because the Indiana man
represented about all there was left
to choose from, the really strong vice
presidential candidates, who would
have added national weight to the
ticket. having deity side-stepped the
nomination.
Strength in East Lost.
John W. Kern Of Indiana, Is not at
ali bad sort as politicians go. he Is
a politician in spite of the fact that ne
is a pretty good lawyer. He represents
fairly well the old line democracy OF
the Hoosier state. and he has definite
strength of his own at home. 1t can
scarcely be expected or believed that
he will add anything to the ticket IN
New York or New Jersey. to say moth
ing of Illinois or Minnesota.
At the outset the idea was to select
an eastern man who would represent
the gold democratic element and VINO
would in his own person, bring ABOUT
some chance of carrying the great
pivotal states of New York and New
Jersey. without which Mr.. Bryan can
not hope for the remotest chance OF an
election next November.
Unfortunately for the commoner, ana
fortunately for the republicans, this
original plan could not be carried out.
There were two really strong men IN
the east. w. L. Douglas of Massachu-
sets and Judge Georges Gray OF Dela-
ware. either one of whom would nave
been a,political quantity east Of the
Aaleghanies we'll worth reckoning with.
"a ervan's Last Hope Gone.
: Each of them removed himself from
the field by positively declining to be
treated as a candidate, and as there
was no one that had the ghost OF
chance of uniting the New York dele
gates. the nomination inevitably went
to the west, and with it, in my judg-
ment. went the last hope of William
Jennings Bryan becoming president oi
the, United States.
In a way the nomination of Kern Is
as much of a compromise as that OF
Sherman at Chicago. He represented
originally an element which was not
friendly to Bryan, or which, at least,
was doubtful about. the wisdom Of Sc
lecting the Nebraskan for third time
tn lead a hopeless race for great
prize.
In 1896 when Bryan split up the de-
mocracy, Kern went back to Indiana
from the Chicago convention in a per
picked frame of mind. He came of a
conservative element of the Indiana
democracy, and the socialistie crowd
which was in control at Chicago had
shocked all of his ideas of public pol
icy.
Gradually Warmed to Bryan.
For time it seemed likely that he
would ally himself with the anti Bry-
an democracy in the state Up to the
time of the Indianapolis convention,
when Palmer and Buckner were nomi-
mated as figureheads for the gold DEM
ocratic movement, Kern was unde-
niably on the fence. He climbed down
gradually, however, and during the
campaign became an active and forc1-
bic advocate of Bryan's election.
Even his views on the silver question
seemed to have been modified, and be-
fore the end of the campaign most
people had apparently lost sight of the