Omaha daily bee., 1909-10-03

Bryan Is giving his friends an oppor-
tunity, which they are already seizlng.
to %endeavor 20 square him up with the
Cleveland wing OF the party, with
which he has never been in good
standing, and to try to make out that
II Grover Cleveland we're still alive he
would be acclaiming MIR. bryan as his
party's leader.
1t is true that Mr.. Bryan Is again
throwing tariff dust, but there is no
foundation for the claim that by so
doing he is proving himself rightful
titled to the confidence Of Mr.. Cleve-
lands friends. Although Mr.. Bryan's
campaign managers last year failed to
make the forgery case against Brandon
ing the Brandenburg article. although
II was conceded to reflect the zeal views
OF Mr.. Cleveland. What Mr.. Cleve-
land thought of Mr.. Bryan is now
whose reliability will not be ques-
toned. In the current Century mag
azine, containing Richard Watson
elders "reminiscences Of his personal
association with Mr.. Cleveland, we
have this with reference to the cam
paign of 1900:
Long talks about the campaign in prog
ress. Constant attempts are being made
to force an expression Of opinion that would
assist Bryan. This will be unsuccessful. He
said he had written about four confidential
letters; read one of the most explicit to
me. He said: There are three horns TO
this dilemma, McKinleyism. Organism and
the Organization Of the democratic party"
As a democrat he thought this last as great
an evil as any; he cannot think that the
party will keep on it's present road; be-
lieves that the time will come when It will
turn on It's present leaders who ave led
1t astrsy from sound democratic principles.
Later In the same connection
throwing a backlight on the old tariff
contest is this note:
1 asked about his relations with Bryan. 1
said, you were making a fight for good
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS OF any political
doctrine or program-did you feel that
Bryan was one of the men in congress on
whom you could count on in that fight2"
He answered: mot the slightest. / remem-
Der his coming to me to get men into office
whom I generally found to be populists. 1
didn't even look upon him as a genuine
democrat"
That Mr.. Cleveland never placed
any reliance in Mr.. Bryan, we have
the further testimony Of George f.
Parker, one of his confidential secre-
%taries, n~arrating Mr.. Cleveland's esti-
mate Of his contemporaries in Nc
Clure's a few months ago, in which he
repeats conversations in which Mr.,
Cleveland classed Mr.. Bryan as a pop
ulist, and brings the estimate down
to March IL, 1908, but a few weeks
before his death. repeating a last con-
~versatlon on the then approaching
presidential campaign, in which Mr.,
Cleveland declares:
This year gives us our chance. The re-
publicans are torn by faction in a way we
have never before seen, while the country
seems ready to return to us il we will only
be true to ourselves. In spite Of these ia
voring influences. we shall throw away ouI
chances for the present, and put them In
peril for the future. II Bryan is nominated,
The experience OF the last twelve years har
demonstrated this. In two OF the presi-
Dental elections held during this period,
not less than a million solid, old-fashioned
democrats have felt that they could not
support the national ticket, and have either
~abstained from voting or have opposed the
candidate. This policy has not only driven
our own people away, but has repealed the
young men upon whom, throughout all the
history OF our party, we have depended for
support and success. Within this period
we have lost control of every state in the
north; we have. I fear, made some Of the
southern states republican,; we have prRc-
tically lost our northern representation in
tho United States senate, and we no longer
have effective recruiting stations for public
life in state legislatures and other public
, bodies.
1t Is clearly established that Mr.
Cleveland never changed his adverse
/ opinion of Mr.. Bryan, and hat Mr.
5 Cleveland's measurement Of Mr.. Bryar
| marked the latter deficient according
to his democratic standards. Mr.
Cleveland did not put great stress or
: Mr.. Bryan's part in congress in the
| tariff fight which produced the Wilso-
! bill, and would hardly pick him K
lead the democrats in another fight FOL
tariff reform.
,
The Water Power Peril.