New-York tribune., 1908-05-23
THE POLITICAL MIDDLEMAN.

We are glad to find Colonel Hemphill, of
The Charleston News and Courier, and the
Hon William J. Bryan in earnest accord on
one subject Mr.. Hemphill has supported Mr
BRYAN twice for the Presidency and intends
TO support him again if he is nominated this
year al Denver. But between conventions Ihe
News and Courier manages to convey the I'M
preston that it is utterly out of sympathy with
Mr.. Bryan's aims and leadership. 1t has bitterly
opposed committing South Carolina to Mr..
Bryans candidacy. and on Wednesday last-the
dav on which the South Carolina convention in
structed for Bryant said: NO one sincerely
believes that Mr.. Bryan probably ca1 be
elected President of the United States.
IF he shall be indorsed to-day the Endorsement
will be an explosion of ignorant passion"
Such views are of course, antipodal to those
of the Nebraska leader Yet there is one
point on which these two eminent Jefersonlan
statesmen do agree. They both maintain that
the dav of the middleman in Democratic party
management is past, and that state conventions
TO nominate delegates to a Democratic National
Convention are an obnoxious relic of the dis
credited boss system.
Mr. Rrvan was moved to comment at Al
toona. Penn. on the methods by which Colonel
Guffey had prevented the passage OF Bryan
resolution of instructions in the pennsylvania
convention. He contended that Colonel GuHey
had reversed the verdict given at the primaries
by the Democratic voters. This contention hao
undoubtedly a solid basis, for The Philadelphia
Record, the strongest anti-Bryan Democratic
newspaper in Pennsylvania, gave this slSnlh-
cant explanation yesterday of Colonel Guhey
victory:
When Colonel G1ffey was able to back up his
uarriehurg argument against instructions for
the delegates large to Denver by reminder
OF past financial obligation and OF future hiah-
cfal inducement he was simply 1rreslsuoie.
According to the Bryan theory the action of
the state convention was 'an empezzemehl
..of mower. and can be defended only by those
Ignorant of or Indifferent to the Democratic
..nrInclple that conventions derive their just
mowers from the consent of the voters. TO
political middlemen of the Guffey Murphy class,
however. the consent of the voters is merely
one of Jcffersons glittering generalities.
Colonel Hemphll is greatly exercised, on the
other hand because the South Carolina state
convention instructed for Bryan, and he asserts
with equal Indignation and conVlctloh lhat tne
South carolina convention was just AS wickedly
blind to the intent Of the voters The editor OF
The News and Courier is just as ardent as
Mr. Brvan in his advocacy of a direct method
of plecting national delegates. Indeed he goes
further for he tolls forthwith the knell OF the
convention system in South Carolina. He says:
The convention system for the choice of dele
gates 10 the convention that nominates cahGi.
dates for President lags superhuouS, dtIeiic'
Interfering with free political navigation We be
lieve that the last convention for the nomna-
tion of delegates to a Democratic National Con-
yention has been held in South Carolina
This concord of opinion between two other
wise antaconistic Democrats is noteworthy, for
il may lead to some revision of the antlguateu
and arbitrary convention system still tolerated
by the Democratic party This system puls
ti.oS e
mon furnishing them with a weapon of
tyranny in the unit rule and allowing them TO
disregard majority opinion under the shelter
of the two-thirds rule. The state primary is,
of course the ideal JeffcrsOnian method OF
choosing delegates. But the state primary
would clip the wings of the bosses, and they
will fight everywhere to defend their status as
political factors and brokers. We trust that
Mr. Bryan and Colonel Hemphill Will make
common cause in aboshing as far as possible
the parasitic functions of the political middle
man.