Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1912-07-05
"Bry an, The DestruCtionist

II
Under the caption Of "Bryan. the
Destru ctionist," Henry Wstterson
said in the Courier-Journal OF July z.
One need not ascribe to the sinister
part played by Mr.. Bryan at Balti-
more any purpose or even conscious
disloyalty, but assuming it the native
and honest emanaiion of his charac-
ter and Intellect, the conclusion can
not be escaped that he is a man OF
malevolent disposition and of ludg-
ment radically infirm.
This, indeed, is borne out by
judici al review OF his career and es-
pecially of his more recent antece-
dents. That he should grow richer rs
his party grew poorer may Lot be laid
wholly to the account of selfish greed
He is captivating pubic speaker,
and the Chatalqua circuits were
made to his hand. Personal expl. liza
ton is the most effectual form OF ad
vertising, and advertising is the soul
of the lecture business. No Democrat
has Just occasion, therefore, to COM |
plain that Mr.. Bryan improved to the
fullest his opportunities to secure
pecuniary independence for his fam
lily and: himself. getting on in years
and having measurably failed at all
else. That which every Democrat has
the right to challenge is that he has
shaped his exploitati on in every
instance where he could find or coin
q pretext to the disruption and defeat
of the party which had so honored and
trusted him.
We need not go back of the i'm
mediate case in point for proof. AS
Stunning that Tammany be all Mr..
Bryan says it is, and following him
in reading Murphy out of the con-
vention, who profits by that act?
The Republicans, of course. Tam
many is not the only political ma
chine IN New York. Mr.. Taft has
his machine and Mr.. Roosevelt has
his machine. BY eliminating our
machine on the eve of taking the field
to fight the Taft and Roosevelt ma
chimes, we cut ourselves off from the
support of a State necessary to carry
the election, and achieye no reform
whatever.
After, not before, the battle, we're
the time, if any, to discipline Tam
many. Meanwhile, there are Demo-
Gratis in New York besides the Tam
many Democrats. Mr.. Bryan goes
out of his way particularly to men
ton Mr.. Belmont. How can he justify
himself in this? What has Mr.. Bel
mont done-either of the Belmonts,
for there are two of them, Perry aud
August-to forfeit his claim upon the
recognition of Democrats or his right
to seat in a Democratic National
Convention? Both are Democrats
dyed in the wool. Perry Belmont has
been the head OF the movement to force
the publicity of campaign expenses
upon Congress and the country. Their
distinguished father was an honored
leader of Democracy before Mr.. Bryan
was born. Neither is trust magnate.
Neither has any connection with any
interest Mr.. Bryan can cite preju.
dicial to Democracy or the public
| welfare. But Mr.. August Belmont
was active in the Parker nomination
| and campaign of 1904, which late and
e arly Mr.. Bryan did what he could
to blight. That would seem now to
be the milk in Mr.. Bryan's cocoanut.
Indeed, Mr.. Bryan, in his speech
| opposing Judge Parker for temporary
chairman of the convention, sought to
profit by his own treason when he re-
ferred to the falling off in the Demo-
cratic vote of 1904 Judge Parker
might have replied: "You gave me
no show from the start. You came
back from Europe with great flourish
OF trunpets. William r. Hearst hired
Madison Square Garden for you. You
made a speech there arousing Demo-
cratic factionism and invoking every
manner of disa lfection; then you went
stalking through the land sowing
dragons teeth across the pathway of
Democracy. Having done all you
could do to make my election i'm
possible, you put up 'pretense of
supporting me whilst your file leaders
knitted me from start to fnish.'
Not word of this indictment could
Mr.. Bryan truthfully deny. Hay ing
by false issue brought defeat upon
his party and his lifelong friend,
Dahlman, in Nebraska two years ago,
he is now seeking by another false
to bring defeat upon his party and his
lifelong friend, Champ Clark, at
Baltimore. There are those who be.
lieve, and are loudly urging, that be
has been playing an artful but per.
idious game to secure the nomination
for himself by the attempt to hold a
balance between Clark and Wilson
u1til, worn out by the deadlock, the
convention turns to Bryan. Every
inference would point to such a pur-
pose. In case we say it is not true,
what shall we say Of the ungenerous
temper and the grotesque figure he has
presented to his party associates: the
rule-or-ruin spirit; the dog-in-the-
manger attitude; the exaggerated ego
and shameless self-assertion--in short,
the insensibility to the obligations
alike OF private friendship and public
duty, OF personal affection and politi-
cal fidelity, eliminating in an igno-
minious stage-play?
The Courier-J odrnal is not a
searcher OF hearts. 1t would blacken
no mans motives. It can in fancy
realize a person wholly upright but
selfish and perverse, much spoiled by
adulation, yet of mediocre talents,