The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1908-10-31
Will Mr.. Bryan BE Able to Bluff the
WOrkingmani

Some time ago, in a written state
ment, sworn to and signed by him, Mr..
James Campbell, former head of the
Window Glass Workers of America,
preferred a charge against Mr.. Bryan
of serious import. Mr.. Campbell said
that during his visit to Washington
in 1898 he asked MIR. Bryan what he
thought of the workingmen of this
country.
They are lot of public bgegars!"
replied Mr.. Bryan.
Mr.. Bryan has made no denial of
the Campbell allegations. Also, Mr..
Campbell is a responsible man, the
equal of Mr.. Bryan in every respect.
Later Mr.. Bryan went to Carnegie
Hall, New York, to address a mass
meeting of the voters of that city.
The hall was packed. About the
doors were hundreds who couldn't get
in.
Standing in his automobile Mr.. Bry-
an began speaking to the crowd out
side. Just in front stood a working
man. He was quiet, sober, decorous.
! Theer was an air of clean respecta-
bility about him. The gray in his
hair and beard indicated his age at
about fifty years.
With arms folded quietly across
his breast the workingman put in
query. Mr.. Bryan, out for a presi
dency, was asking this workingman
for his vote. The latter thought he
had the right to ask Mr.. Bryan ques-
ton.
The workingman, referred to in the
Campbell affidavit, asked:
did you call the working people of
America a lot of public beggars?"
Mr.. Bryan grew pale he hesitated
The workingman, standing with fold
ed arms, repeated his inquiry. Mr.
Bryan began saying something about
my record -" The workingman
insisted upon a direct reply. other
workingmen added their demands to
his.
Mr. Bryan still began with my rec
ord -" The question-putters would
not let him proceed. He must say
Eyes" or mo" Had he characteriz-
ed the working people as 'lot Of
public beggars?"
Mr.. Bryan in the end declined to
meet the question and refused to adj
NIT or deny the charges which Mr..
Campbell had made. Growing des-
perate, he shouted: I'm fighting the
Republican party! l do not intend to
answer all the charges brought by
some one who is trying to help the
Republican party" Here he broke of
short and hastily rushed inside the
hall.
There is room here for word OF
comment, not to say correction. Mr.
party; Mr.. Bryan is asking the people
to give him their votes. No one is
fighting any party. The people are
about to choose a president-that is
all.
Mr.. Bryan's evasion of very nat,
ural question of the workingman was
both weak and foolish. His position
did not justify it, his prospects were
not bettered by it. In a moment o.
congressional security, before a pres
idential bee began to trouble his bon
net with its buzzings, he had applied
to the workingman the epithet o
public beggars." Now, when he him
self had become in very truth pub
lie beggar, and was publicly begging
that particular workingman of tn,
folded arms, and all other working
men, for their votes, it was not TO
him to don high airs, ignore the ques
ton, and wave the workingman asid
as one not worthy of his lofty notice
During the remainder of his canvas
Mr.. Bryan will in all chance encoun
ter other workingmen asking tina
same question touching public beg
gars," which so put him that evenin
in New York to confusion and flight
While he cannot deny the Campbell
allegations, he should at least study t
meet them In what will seem a fairel
franker way. Certainly he does nc
think to bully the workingmen to hi
support. Insults are not going t
evoke their confidence, snubs an
sneers will not secure their votes
San Francisco Examiner.