Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-06-02
Still the Sting of InRratitude.


When, in 1899. William ]. Bryan
threw the balance against Gilbert NJ.
Hitchcock, then trying to force Gov
ernor Poynter. to commission him to
the vacant United States senatorship,
Mr. Hitchcock in an open letter thank
ing his friends who had endorsed him
declared that he would not forget
"the sting of ingratitude" that had
prevented him from grasping the
prize. Since then, although using Mr..
Bryan and the Bryan following when
ever they could be made to bring grist
to his mill, MIR. Hitchcock, like the
Indian who neither forgets nor for
gives, has never omitted to give Mr..
Bryan the worst of It whenever he
thought he could safely do so.
In the recent campaign in Nebraska
MIR. Hitchcock put himself at the head
of the forces that Inundated Mr..
Bryan In the Grand Island convention
and personally proposed the unprece-
denied rule to limit debate and thus
gag Mr.. Bryan's champions. He man
ifested particular resentment because
Mr.. Bryan permitted his associate,
Richard l.. Metcalfe, to become a
candidate for the nomination for
United States senator, which Mr..
Hitchcock coveted.
Mr.. Bryan proved more generous
than Mr.. Hitchcock showed himself
magnanimous, for subsequently he
overlooked the affront he had suffered
and gave Mr.. Hitchcock his unquali-
fed endorsement. How potent this
endorsement by Mr.. Bryan was, of
course, cannot be definitely ascer-
tanned, but it is safe to say that it de-
cided many wavering democrats and
populists, who concluded that if Mr..
Bryan, the preacher of honesty and
morality, could shut his eyes to the
dark record of a confessed beneficiary
of the BARLEY embeszlement and say
that Mr.. Hitchcock was good enough
to sit in the United States senate, they
could do so. too.
But having climbed the ladder held
up by the steadying hand of Mr..
] Bryan, Senator Hitchcock now turns
and kicks 1t down upon him. This is
the explanation of the present brutal
assault upon Mr.. Bryan in Mr.. Hitch
cocks newspaper. MIR. Bryan uses
the LASH" it says. He reminds dem
ocratic leaders In Washington that
he is still alive and kicking" And
again, "Mr. Bryan is an advocate Of
peace only on an international scale.
He believes that differences between
nations should be settled by arbttra-
tion-that is, by compromise, but he
is ferociously and everlastingly OPP
posed to settlement on the same Chris
ton plan of any differences that may
arise within his own party household.
In party affairs his voice is for war
and radical extremes, and NO one
within the party disaEreeing with him
can expect at his hands the courteous
treatment due one honorable adver-
sary from another when an honest
difference of opinion arises"
And further, to rub the salt deeper
into the wound, Senator Hitchcock's
paper continues: "In a word, Mr..
Bryan's is the tempestuous, headlong,
intolerant spirit of the inspired cru
sader. He will brook no opposition
or differences, consider mo compro-
mise, but must rush straight forward,
sublimely Indifferent to all rules of
tactics and strategy. eitherto glorious
victory or glorious defeat. Generally
1t is glorious defeat"
OF course, II necessary later to seek
the help of Bryan's friends, Senator
Hitchcock will endeavoF to prove an
abb to the authorship of this diatribe
by hiding behind the irresponsible
editor he has left in charge of his
newspaper. But everyone knows that,
in this, his editor is voicing the inner
sentiments of his senatorial employer,
and has either received his inspiration
by wire direct from Washington or
had sufficiently definite general direc-
lions to attack Mr.. Bryan at every
good opening. The question is, how
much longer will Mr. Bryan permit
his friends 70 be fooled by the mas
Querader who has by false pretenses
acquired a seat high in the party coun.
ellis, but has not a drop of democratic
blood in him?