Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-07-29
WATTERSON WRITES BRYAN
Kentucky Colonel Sees War in De-
meanor Of Peerless One.
NEBRAsKAN's DUTY TO AID PARTY
In Lengthy Editorial in the COURIER
journal Democratic warrior says
lie should Broaden Ris
Views of Politics.

with the proceedings OF the convention
of Nebraska democrats before It, the Cour-
ier-Journal need add nothing to what was
said in the columns Tuesday morning upon
the Interpolation or the liquor question pro-
posed by Mr.. Bryan 1t could only embrolf
and divide where union would seem indis-
pensable More than this, II could only
divert the public attention from prime and
real Issues to one OF comparative unim-
portance.
THE declaration of Mr.. Bryan that the
liquor interests are engaged in an organized
attempt to secure political control OF the
state falls TO the grounc when we reflect
that the liquor interests have no concern or
concert Of action in politics, except that
which relates 20 their own business; that,
this apart, they go their ways like other
men upon general issues, and that II they
got political possession of the state they
would not know what to do with it after
they had assured themselves against con-
fiscation.
1T was but the other day that Mr. Bryan
thought 1t his duty to put grievous and
irrelevant question to Governor Harmon OF
Ohio and to interpret a misleading sug-
gestion touching upon purely domestic mat
tiers into the councils Of the Buckeye dem
ocrats. This placed Mr.. Bryan in an at
tltude Of public hostility to a democrat who
is making a brave fight against odds for
the selfsame principles to which Mr..
Bryan processes allegiance. If Governor
Harmon carries Ohio this fall-the presi-
dents own state, where the resources of
the administration are arrayed-it will
surely place him in the front rank of dem
ocratic presidential possibilities for 1912.
Does bryan HnrIS Backf
Can 1t be possible, as has been alleged,
that Mr.. Bryan harks back to 1896, when
Mr.. Harmon was Mr.. Cleveland's attorney
general2 Would he equally oppose Mr.
Woodrow Wilson in case he is nominated
and elected governor of New Jersey, or
Mr.. Thomas M. Osborne, If he is nominated
and elected governor of New York?
'lMr. Bryan has to little purpose read the
history OF his own country and his own
party, or even history at large, II he adopts
any such six-inch rule as the measure Of
his relation to public affairs in the years
to come.
I'm 1860 the split among democrats was
wider and deeper than that of 1896 What
| would have been thought of a southern
| democrat of 1860 arising In national
democratic convention Of 1860 to talk about
our rights in the territoriesT What would
have been thought Of any democrat arising
in his place in the national democratic
convention of 1876 to protest against the
nomination OF Mr.. Tilden because Mr.. Til
den had been a Van Buren, man in 1S4S and
Douglas democrat in 1860?
For all their party spirit and discipline
| the republicans do not do business that
way In 1899 whltelaw Reid was their nom-
inee for vice president. He had been
Greeleys right hand bower In the campaign
of 1872 Failing to elect him vice president
they gave him the highest place next in
their gift and sent him as an Ambassador
to England. where he is today, doing emin-
emit and distinguished service. Mr.. Greeley s
left hand bower in the campaign Of 1872
was Chauncey M. Depew. He is serving
| his second term as a republican senator
from New York. having narrowly missed
the presidential nomination In 1888. not be-
cause he had been liberal supporting a
democratic presidential ticket sixteen years
BEFORE, but because he was railway presi-
| dent.
Bryan should Help Not Hinder.
IF Mr.. Bryan should seek in 1912 TO draw
the line back to 1885, he would not only
stlgmatize his wisdom but he would play
into the hands of his enemies. To be sure
he might defeat his party, but to what
end? Surely, not to the vindication of any
principle or to his own advantage. When
the democratic party goes to pieces, in case
it does. 1t is safe to predict that it will
never be got together, either by the leaders
or the ideas OF 1895. Presidential elections,
like tubs, stand on their own bottoms
Party leaders, no less than military lead
ers must at least once in while win a
L..
nationist enough to believe that IL 1t be the
will OF God to bring the democrats back to
power, they will come back and Mr.. Bryan
cannot stop them. But It should make
some difference to Mr.. Bryan and IT viii
make great difference to his reputation
whether ne Gant-ibutes to that result or
obstruots II. ND
''NeZ& TO e SraVe man. the world love,
a ge6arous mar. There is wisdom as wei
as gralse in ren8nciation. II sacrifices bt
Required they sk,uld come from Mr.. Bryan
Inc owes HIS party much; he owes something
to Ervth ana something to appearance
and wisGn does man show nobler than wher
sacrificing his resentment, his prejudice.
and his preferences to some common end.
''Mr. Bryans enemies would have him APP
pear as a dog in the Manager They would
represent HIM as a man with the crouch
HIS friends (and the Courier Journal Il
among them). would have him give the II,
to both accusations. We would have hin
rise above sectional and fractional into ma.
tlonal proportions. We would have hin
warm and broaden to the east, II occasion
requires and leadership there arises, no les,
: than to the west and south. We woult
} have him say, with the hero In the drama
Where democracy most needs a man, Their,
place me- We would not have him ever
seem to be one OF those who learn nothIn,
and forget nothing, but rather OF thos,
that turn their minds upon the past an,
their eyes to the future, with the good. Rla,
hope OF true faith and true courage. Ieav
ing the dead to bury its dead,
Calls for Help.
Mr.. Bryan comes Of Virginia stock. Tn,
south has a right, therefore. to claim hin
as partly her own. If he will but take
I lesson from the noblest page in Virginia
history we shall claim him as all our own
I No man in 1861 was more opposed to seces
sion than Robert E. Lee. When he bowe,
/ his head to the will of Virginia and bare,
, this breast to meet the storm of invasion
he knew. as a soldier, that he was to flgh
against incredible odds. When, In 1865, al
\ that he feared in 1861 had come true, h
did not say. / told you So He did not kic
against the pricks. He accepted the verde
Of events, the arbltrament Of arms, and lik
the godlike man he was. he addressed him
a. che xUopIr ~ satfinO = unna