Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1924-07-04

WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN.
getting the United States into the
League and the convention sustained
them
Then the convention got TO the
much-dreaded Ku Klux Kian issue on
the proposal by Mr.. Pattengall. OF
Maine, to take in a plank naming the
Ku Klux Klan specifically. Senator
Owen, Of Oklahoma, opened the dis
cussion. He was speaking for the
majority report, which does not name
the Klan.
Senator Owen was succeeded on the
rostrum by Mr.. Pattangall, who spoke
for naming the Ku Klux klan specific
ally.
Mrs. Carroll Miller, of Pittsburgh,
who seconded The nomination Of Gov
ernor Smith, also spoke for the minor
ity plank proposed by Mr. PattengalI
Then the other side of the question
came on again in an argument by Gov
ernor Morrison. of North Carolina.
cambridge Colby, former Secretary
of State, then took the platform to
speak for the adoption of the minority
substitute.
More cheers from the galleries greet
ed Mr.. Colby's closing and then SEN
ator Walsh, the chairman. introduced
Senator Walsh, Of Massachusetts,. He
spoke for the adoption of the minority
report also.
Andrew C. Erwin, of Athens. Ca,
said the X. X. X. was the most vital
element the party had to determine.
Erwin, who apparently was the only
delegate in the Georgia delegation to
favor the denunciation of the Klan,
stirred up a demonstration he didn't
expect and turned the convention into
an uproar
Then parade of the standards
from other States to the Georgia
space followed and soon the standards
OF Alabama, Wyoming, Arizona. Ken
lucky, Maryland, Iowa. Nevada. New
Hampshire. North Dakota. New York.
Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Louisiana.
Rhode Island, District of Columbia,
Maine, Minnesota, Wisconsin. Yer
mont. Illinois, South Dakota, Utah.
Massachusetts, and Delaware were
grouped around there.
Still the Georgia delegates remained
and stuck to their seats and refused
to rise. The men from other delega
tions hoisted Erwin TO their shoulders
and carried him around the hall. Then
the band played the Star Spangled
Banner" bringing everyone to atten-
tion and the convention went back
to business again.
William Jennings Bryan received a
standing demonstration from the cou-
vention floor and galleries He was
introduced as THAT revered Demo
crat." The great commoner and war
horse, nominee of three Democratic
conventions himself, wearing his hair
little shorter and looking little
older, looked over the audience with
that same old smile of confidence.
Mr.. Bryan said in part:
'The laws protect every one. The
Catholic Church does not need great
party to protect 1t from million
men. The Jews do not need this
resolution. They have Moses and
Elijah; they have Elisha, who was
able to draw back the curtain and
show on the mountain tops host
greater than the thousands of the Ku
Klux
"The Ku Klux Khan doesn't deserve
the advertising. Mr.. Colby tells you
this organization soon will die; if
that's true, the slogan of the minority
ought to be Hurry up if you would
see George. he's nearly gone One of
the reasons | oppose this minority re-
port is that l am not willing to lift
up the dying embers and start
prairie fire and carry this issue into
every Congressional district in the
United States.
I'VE have no right to permit them
to divert us from as great a mission
as party ever had. It requires more
courage to fight the Republican party
than it does to fight the Ku Klux Klan.
you may call me coward if you
will, but there's nothing in my life
to justify the charge But I'd rather
have the anathema of these misguided
Democrats than to have to answer en-
the Judgment Day for a trust disre-
garded Anybody can fight the Ku
Klux Klan. but only the Democratic
party can stand between the common
people and their oppressors in this
land. Besides that. I'm not willing to