New-York tribune., 1908-08-13
MR.. BRYAN'S SPEECH.

Mr. Bryan is determined to make the issue OF
this campaign the question Shall the people
rule?' Taking the affirmative of that question,
he is sure of general sympathy and inter
est as If he appeared as the defender Of the
affirmative of the proposition that 1.-The whole
is equal TO the sum of all its parts" His would
be great issue if some one would kindly take
the negative, but so would Shall these United
States be preserved?" IL some one threatened
their integrity, and so would any other po-
litical trusp If some one should combat it, but
you can arouse only ribald curiosity by entering
the market place and proclaiming the Intention
10 defend against an insidiOus attack the his
toric right and natural prerogative of two and
two to make four
Not only will openly make an issue
with Mr.. Bryan on the dominance of the people
in this country, but there is nothing in existing
circumstances from which he can extract the
implication that the Republican party, while
avowedly for, is secretly blocking popular rule
The people enjoy a greater measure of power
than ever before in the history Of the country.
During the long period in which, as Mr.. Bryan
points out, the Republican party has been in
control of the government, the legal machinery
which has given TO this country. both in the
state and in the nation, its steadily increasing
democracy has been devised by the Republican
party. The measures which nave broughl
ABOUT, IN the greater Ol lne CouAlis, tii0
popular control over political parties are not
held by the Democratic party under an exclil-
sive patent right The devices which have
made Mr. Bryan's outcry for the popular
election of Senators late in the day have not
been exclusively favored by the Democracy
and fought by the Republicans Republican
states and the nation under Republican adj
ministrators enjoy laws which enable the
people to protect their interests in their rela-
tions with the public service corporations.
The people rule now to the extent TO which
they are determined 70 rule In one or
two states they desire to rule to the extent of
possessing the initiative and referendum. but
Mr. Bryan very promptly abandoned his project
of telling the rest of the people that they were
slaves because they did not exercise the power
of direct popular legislation. In some other
states their desire to rule is limited to the eX-
tent that they have never adopted the device
which is virtually a popular election OF SEN
ators. But the fact that they can do so when
ever they want to takes all the meaning out OF
Mr. Bryan's popular election of Senators issue.
1t is the pent-up explosive that makes the noise
and does the damage. People cannot be
aroused over the want of something which they
have 1t III their power to take at any time.
Mr.. Bryan's argument that the Republican
party has been in power, with the exception
of two administrations, ever since the Civil
War and that therefore the economic abuses
that exist are due TO the Republican party and
1t is incapable Of remedyng them, is sophistical
The vast concentration of capital, with It's
abuses is a recent development, extending only
over period in which the Democratic party
has been in power half or nearly half, the
time, and the correction Of the abuses has al
ready been undertaken by a Republican admin
istration in q spirit which promises complete
success. The worst of them have already been
wiped out, and the work Of Mr.. Tafts admin
istration will be to continue that of the present
one. If the responsibility for the evils can be
fairly fixed in the way in which Mr.. Bryan
seeks TO fix (which we admit only for the
sake of the argument-it must be divided be-
tween the two parties, while the credit for
remedying them belongs to the Republican
party alone
The issue is whether the Republican party
shall be permitted TO go on with the work
which it is doing well or whether that task
shall be intrusted to the Democratic party.
which has shown no capacity to do more than
to talk about the evils. Shall it be left to a
careful and able administrator like Mr.. Taft
or To an inexperienced visionary like Mr..
Bryan? Both declare the same purpose though
their methods are far apart as the poles.
In equipment for il there is no room for COM
parison And we will stake the conscience of
Mr. Taft against Mr.. Bryan's much paraded
moral apparatus any day of the three hundred
and sixty-fve.