The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1909-08-05
Stealing Bryan's Policies.

Stealing Bryan's Policies.
You can not blame the esteemed
New York Times for feeling a bit
discouraged, says the Omaha World
Herald. It has been fighting Mr.
Bryan and his ideas, tooth andtoe-
nail, for these many years. And the
harder it fights, the oftener Bryan
loses, the more triumphant do his
ideas prove! He has not had tie
pleasure of fighting for them in Of
fetal position. But he has had tE"
rare satisfaction offorcing them up
on his successful opponents; of see
ing those who have lampooned and
berated his policies take them up,
one after the other. driven by the
stern logic of events.
1t is this that leads the Times to
comment dolefully on Mr.. Bryan's
suggestion that Mr.. Taft and the
congress give the people chance to
vote on the direct election of sena-
tors at the same time they are Vot-
ing on the income tax. why not?'
asks the Times, and it goes on to
say:
That seems to be the fate of Mr..
Bryans principles-the Republicans
take them for their own. He once
said that. although the people had
not burdened him with the cares OF
office, his life was not without lts
anxietjes. He could not leave his
principles out over night without
losing some of them, and the MISS
ing ones he generally found at the
White House. So, in succession.
have gone his issues of railroad
regulation, of the federal licenses
for corporations, of a reduction OF
import duties, of postal savings
banks, of limiting the power to is
sue injunctions, and now his tax
'on individual and corporate IN
comes has been snatched from him
by a Republican president and a Re
publican congress.
"Not one of these is of RepuDll-
can origination. Not one is rooted
in old-fashioned Republican belief
They are all alien to the policies and
the professions of the Republican
party from Lincoln to Mckinley.
Had they not been exploited and
made widely popular by Mr.. Bryan
not one of them would have been
appropriated by the Republicans.
The Times goes on lugubriously to
suggest that Mr.. Bryan still has
few policies left, among them IL
to l." the guaranty of bank deposits
and the independence of the Philip
pines. Shall the Republicans take
these also? If we might venture to
answer, the probabilities are strong
that Philippine independence and
guaranteed deposits will either have
to be taken up by the Republican
party, or that party will lose power.
And sooner than do that it will
adopt these, too, and Mr.. Bryan's s
vindication will be complete-the
most remarkable in the history OF
American politics.
But when all of Mr.. Bryan's poll
cies have been appropriated by the
Republicans - what then? The
Times answer is worth pondering
over. 1t says:
would that leave Mr.. Bryan
without an issue, stripped bare of
principles, without a platform to
stand on, without consideration,
finished, done for? Hardly. 1t
would make him a very safe and
acceptable candidate, for men of all
parties who are, or soon will be,
disgusted with the Republican party
because of the shameless breaking
of it's pledge to reduce the tariff
duties. The argument that Bryan
is ambitious, unsteady, unsafe,
would fall fat, since the adoption
by the Republicans of such an array
Of mis- principles and policies would
furnish convincing proof that he is
as safe as any member of that party,
as safe as Mr.. Taft, far safer than
Mr.. Roosevelt He was bit ahead
of the times, that is all, and he was
unlucky. His enemies have profited
by his inventions. But certainly
they have done their utmost to pre-
pare the way for Mr.. Bryan to come
into his OWE whenever they lose the