The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1912-07-03
BY n. "A. RtckEY
( Special 20 The star.1

Asp0tfsf 70 the 1t@fsl
BALTIMORE, Md. July IA si,.
ussion ~i,hou, prceeden, In the his
terry Of American politics ~as Gre
ased nj the democratic national cor
ventlon BY the incorporating Dr.
termination Of William Jennings
Bryan 10 compel the party 70 De
honest with Itself ard honest with
the people of tire country. u 10
difficult. 10 close 10 tire event Itself,
10 snaiyxe crisis Of such epoch
making character. For this sisua-
ton 10 epoehai both In ts relation
to the democratic party and the
country.
As briefly a. possible ! shall give
my views of the events and the mo
lives. In the fret place " Is TIM
portant 20 remember that the per
sonality u the candidate for presi.
dent was a mere incident. The
question Of nominee vas the point
about which the battle ragged most
lierccly. but the lfrcconcilabie con.
flict is between The privilege hunt
INK favor-aeekinE interests and the
proxressiyea Tor control OF one ~
the great political parties Privilege.
through the Ryan Belmont Murphy
trinmviraie. battied 70 control The
party IN the interest ~ dollars. aud
the progrsxsiscs. under the leader.
ship OF Bryan and Wilson. batii~d
to control II In the Interests ~ mfE.
The tremendous growth Of pro
grcssiyc sentiment among The hon.
est men OF all parties. and the
knowledge that unless samcthin.
was done 10 prevent the expression
OF this sentiment through govern.
ment. the common people we're In q
fair way 10 come into their own.
struck terror to those men occupy
Ing the citadel 81 privilege.
Immediately after the presidon'
tiaI election Wall It,. through
Crane. Penroac and Barnes. and
Ryan. Belmont and Murphy. began
the campaign 20 throttle progress.
slvism by controlling the nomina.
tons aud writing the platforms OF
both In 1919 Wall A. soon diacos'
cred that Taft was putty. and that
his nomination would be saiisfar'
tory from n rcacti0uary standpoint,
That Taft was nominated by the
Wall ". crowd on a Wall II. plat
form al Chicago Is nov history.
The democratic situation present
cd more difficulties 10 the Wall VI.
piunderbund The obstacle II had
-. ..-.......... A.. .e.s....r.gtnh tta s.ur.
pose with the democracy was VII
liam Jennings Bryan and his great
progressive following. The rule re.
curing the twO-thirds vote to nom
inate a presidential candidate at n
democratic convention. and the fact
that Bryan. with the issue squarsly
drawn. could control over third
of the delegates. and thus prevent
the nomination Of an outand-out
Wall 81. candidate on n frankly re-
dictionary platform. was the prob.
lem which Wall ~. faced Bryan
could not put himself in the posi-
ton OF supporting a single candidate
for the nomination without subject
ing himself to the charge OF want.
INK tD uiStttt tie HpHth"hfN"-
He was known TO be more In fa-
vor OF Wilson than any other candl-
date, and Wilson was the one can
dldate which Wall 81. feared.
When the Clark candidacy was
announced. Bryan put upon II the
seal OF his approval. just as he did
IN the case OF Wilson. The strength
OF Clark In many of the most pro
gressive states at the primaries was
a surprise to. Bryan. and aroused
hig snapicions that Wall 81. had
something 20 do with ~ Yet he
continued to lend his Influence TO
both the Clark and Wilson can1i.
dacles. hoping that HIS suspicious
AZ 10 Clark we're not well founded.
When Bryan got 10 baltimore and
found that tho Clark delegations
were honeycombcd with men more
or less under Wall 81. Influence. and
that Clark, either with or without
his consent. was being used 10 help
the reactionaries 10 control the con
vention. the Nebraskan was In the
most awkward position OF his polit.
ical life. He had put the seal OF
approval on Clark. only to find that
the Clark managers were willing 10
trade with Wall ut. and accomplish
ciark'a nomination with the help OF
Wall st. influence. Bryan saw clear
ly that this meant disaster to the
progressive cause. lie determined
to expose the deal and attempt to
cruah II, even at the risk OF suffer
ing personal defeat and humiliation.
Bryan fully realized the tremen-
dous difficulty to be overcome, and
the man In politics never had his