The silver state news. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1907-1909, 1908-11-24
WILL BRYAN AGAIN
Be CANDIDATE?

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20.-There !
one leading question for discussion
among the advance guard of Democrat
ic Congressman who have arrived il
Washington for the opening of the sea
SON mex month. "Wiu Bryan eve
again be q candidate for PRESIDENT
is the query they PROFOUND, and endeav
or to nsw The consensus Of opin
ion is that he will not, though there ar,
not lacking Democrats whose faith i
the ultimate triumph of the Peerles.
Leader is not shaken.
There is, properly speaking, no sucf
thing now as an anti-Bryan Democrat
though there were plenty of them be.
fore the Denver convention placed Mr.
Bryan at the head of the Democratic
ticket. But Mr.. Bryan is no longer an
issue dividing the party, SO there may
be discussion of his future and the par
tvs future without any bitterness en-
tering. Even Mr.. Bryan s most ardent
personal admirers are able to consider
the matter calmly, and not a few OF
them are of the present opinion that
the Nebraskan cannot hope again to Lc
his party's choice for President. OF
course, three years from now, when the
1912 nomination becomes a live issue,
they may line up with Bryan, and there
is no personal disloyalty in their pres
ent tendency to critical analysis.
There il no attempt by Mr.. Bryan
friends to minimize the significance of
the fact hat the candidate for Presi
dent ran SO far behind 30 many Of the
state and local tickets, both North and
South. The election of Democratic gov
ernors in a number of Northern states,
the remarkable disparity between the
votes of Bryan and Chanltr in New
York, and the fact of Democratic losses
and Republican gains in the South on
the presidential tickets, is accepted by
Democrats as meaning that Bryan was
weaker in November than his party.
No one can demonstrate, of course, that
any other Democrat could have polled
a larger vote for President, but the
fact was established that Mr.. Bryan as
the presidential nominee was not able
to poll the full Democratic vote. No
other candidate for president, it is
asserted, ever fall SO far behind the to
tai vote cast for other candidates of his
party. A critical examination of other
PRESIDENTIAL elections might show this
assumption to be wrong, but Democrat
ic members of Congress are generally
accepting it as true.
Already there is discussion of posi-
BILE 1912 candidates, and it is only nat
ural that the Democrats who have been
elected governors of Northern states
should come in for consideration. 1t is
recalled that the only Democrat elected
to the presidency since the civil war
came into prominence from having won
the governorship of New York, and a
~governorship has in other instances
proved a stepping stone to the presi-
dency.
Gov. johnson of Minnesota, Of course,
is to be reckoned with, as he had the
largest following this year aside from
that of Mr.. Bryan. Judson Harmon,
who won the Ohio governorship, already
is being doomed, and Indiana Demo
Gratis are telling their party colleagues
to keep an eye ON Thomas X. Marshall,
who defeated "Jim' Watson for the
g~overnorship of the Hoosier State.
Marshall's nomination four years hence
it is declared, would make Indiana safe
ly a Democratic state, and that would
assure a comfortable start towrd . plu-
rahty of electoral votes.
1t must not be assumed, however,
that there 10 any disposition to read
Mr.. Bryan out of the Democratic party
or out of its councils. 1t is recognized
that he will continue to be an aggres-
sive and influential leader, and it IS
recognized also that any action in 1912
which would tend to humiliate Bryan
would invite certain disaster. No
Democrat would have the slightest
chance of success in 1912 who was OBJ
jectionable to the great mass Of Demo
cratic voters who have followed Nj.
Bryan so enthusiastically to three
defeats.
1t is believed MI. Bryan will recog-
nize the fact that, however unwarrant-
ed it may seem, there is SO great an
amount of prejudice against him within
the Democratic party that he never eau