Omaha daily bee., 1908-08-02

up as a model for Roosevelt 10 follow;
President Roosevelt had, by his statement
on election night. eliminated himself from
the presidential race, before Bryan found
It in his heart to give him any praise. In
his own party. Grover Cleveland remained
q strong. virile character and a presidential
possibility. and We find Candidate Bryan
shouting from the platform in Urbana, D.,
four years ago. in reference to Grover
Cleveland: THE democrats in 1892 played
a confidence game on the public and put
a bunco steerer at the head Of the party
All Of those things must. ! say. determine
the question Of whether Candidate Bryan
has been sincere and straightforward or
whether, on the other hand, his every utter
ance has been tempered and colored.
chameleon-like, by considerations of OPP
portunism.
Ont of the Race Once.
One more little illustration: on November
:. 1900. just after Mr.. Bryan's defeat the
second time by Mckinley, the Worlds
Work states that he sent the following teie-
gram to j. F. Merrill of Kansas city:
Thank you for your telegram of condol-
ence. The defeat was a severe one; you
all did nobly. I cannot conscientiously ask
the party to consider me again for the pres
idency. | led the party to defeat four years
ago and that ought to be enough for any
one man."
Compare his present candidacy in view
Of this telegram with the calm. deliberate
and self-sacrificing manner in which Presi-
dent Roosevelt yielded not to temptation
but kept his faith and his word.
But whether deliberately insincere and
yet never right, on the one hand, or sincere
and always wrong on the other hand, is not
for me to decide. The democratic candi-
date has ever seemed to follow the scrip
tural adage: Let not your right hand
know what your left hand doeth." With
one hand. especially in republican %centers,
he paints the virtues OF President Roose-
welt i'm the brightest colors; with the other,
through the medium of Chairman Clayton
of the democratic national convention,
whose speech Mr.. Bryan is said to have
read and approved before its delivery, the
president is assaulted personally and his
personal honor assailed. Chairman Clayton,
referring to the 1904 campaign. says:
lis it true or not that four years ago he
CTheodore Roosevelt) selected for his cam
paign manager a novice in politics, whose
principal qualification was the power he
held over the corporations of the land? Is
1t true or not that the official place as
secretary of commerce and labor gave full
knowledge of these business secrets and
relations of corporations to this campaign
manager, and clothed him with power, with
the assent of the president, to punish or
reward them. publishing or Withholding
their secrets that he had collected as such
secretary"
Chairman Clayton then proceeds to con-
tinue his accusation that President Roose.
welt is a blackmaile and purchased his
election in 1904 by the use OF money which
he had wrung from the corporations by dis
honest methods.
Another Condemnation.
The Denver platform, of which Candi-
date Bryan is the conceded author, makes
another cowardly attack upon President
Roosevelt, as follows:
w condemn as a violation of the spirit
of our institutions the action of the pres
ent chief executive in using the patronage
of his high office to secure the nomination
of one of his cabinet officers. A forced
succession in the presidency is scarcely
less repugnant to public sentiment than is
life tenure in that office. No good inten.
ton on the part of the executive and nc
virtue i'm the one selected can justify the
establishment of a dynasty"
If this be true, President Roosevelt SHOULD
be impeached for misconduct in his higl
office, and !, as one, confidently brand this
accusation as a ,brazen and cowardiy false
hood, and would be glad if the democratit
maligners OF the president would produc,
facts and dates and make their charge def
mite.
If Mr.. Bryan be sincere, he is no lesi
dangerous to the nations welfare. II sin
l cere, he Numbered in 1892 when he said tina
the tariff would crush the life out of tn
. farmer. He Numbered in 1896 when he sal
3 that free silver was the only possible hop
I Of restoring prosperity. He Numbered /
y 1900 when he said on July eth, in welcoming
4 the Bryan home guards. The fight thi
$ year will be to carry out the sentiment o
that song we have so often repeated. M.
Country tbs of Thee il we lose, our chill
S dren's children will not succeed to tn
n spirit Of that song, and celebrations of tn