Evening star., 1925-07-29
Politics at Large
By C.. Gould Lincoln


this country. First Robert NJ. La
Toilette of Wisconsin. who for years
was n thorn in the side of the con
| servatives In the Republican party
passed on. And now William Jen
ningS Bryan, for three decades at
times dominant and always "a power
full figure in the Democratic party and
leader of the progressive thought in
his party, is dead Mr. Bryan burst
into party leadership and progressiv-
ism in 1896. Three times he was the
Democratic nominee for President, so
strong was the grip he held on the
rank and file of the party, and once,
at least, he brought about the nom
lnation of another Democrat who be-
came President. Woodrow Wilson.
Bryan it was at the Baltimore con
Vent1on in 1912 who prevented the
nomination of Champ Clark of Mis-
souri,, and ultimately caused the selec-
ton of President Wilson. In the last
two presidential years, however, Mr..
Bryan was not so potent in Demo-
cratic national conventions. He fought
the nomination of Gov. Cox of Ohio
in 1920, and last year he bitterly op-
posed the selection of John w. Davis,
although he later supported the Davis
Bryan ticket, with his brother as the
running mate of Mr. Davis.
But Notwithstanding the Iessening
OF his power among the politicians,
Mr.. Bryan, through the force of his
personality and his oratory. still con-
| unued a masterful figure in the poll
| ucS of the Nation, retaining his in
| fuence with hundreds of thousands
| of voters. There will doubtless be
scramble to succeed to the liberal
leadership which was Bryan's, with
| William Gibbs McAdoo a leading con-
| testant. 1t was Mr.. McAdoo for whom
| Mr.. Bryan labored at the Democratic
| national convention in New York, as
| opposed to the more conservative con-
| tenders for the nomination. He him
self, many observers felt, was poten-
| tal candidate in the event of an un-
! breakable deadlock. But If he was he
| did not say so. More recently he de-
| clared for union Of the Democracy
I of the South with the liberal voters
| OF the West, turning his back upon
| the Democracy of the North and East,
which so strongly backed Gov. Al
| Smith and which really forced the
| nomination of Mr.. Davis. He was de-
| nounced by the Democrats OF the
| North and East and by the Demo-
| cratic press of those sections for seek
ing to make the Democratic party
| sectional"
1
! More recently stiu Mr.. Bryan, large
| y through his own efforts, turned the
| limelight on the anti-eVoIution trial of
| Scopes in Tennessee. He appeared as
| the defender of the Bible, and was
! hailed by the 'fundamentalists !"
FundamentalfSm, ii appeared, was des-
| tined to become a political as well as
a religious and educational issue in
| this country, with Bryan as it's chief
| exponent II still may enter the field
of politics, but with Mr. Bryan out of
/ the picture the chances do not seem
| so great.
Without disparaging in any way
! the sincerity of Mr.. Bryan in his
| battle for fundamentansm, it does
not seem possible he was blind TO
the political possibilities OF the issue.
he was potential candidate for the
| Senate, with Senator Fletcher of Flor
/ ida coming up for reelection next
year. 1t is very doubtful, perhaps
| improbable, that he would have de-
| feated Senator Fletcher for the sena-
torial nomination. which in Florida
| is equivalent to an election. But, had
he been elected to the Senate, he
! would have been an indefatigabIe
worker for a national anti-evolution
| law. and if the court held it uncon.
| stitutional, doubtless he would have
sought TO bring about an antf-evoIu-
| ton amendment TO the Constitution.
and with such an issue why not again
the Bryan banner entered in the pres
| idential lists?
x x x
In the twinkling of an eve all this
I has been changed. Those in the Dem
| ocratic party who have felt for years
that Mr.. Bryan was a kind of octopus
winding himself about the party, will
! look forward to new deal in the
Democratic leadership. What his
passing will mean to the Republicans
| is another matter still Not since the
days of free silver and 16 to l, when
Mr.. Bryan set the West on fire and
| frightened the conservatives half to
death, have the Republicans been
really frightened by the name of
| Bryan. They became accustomed 10
trouncing him at the polls. Even
| in his old home State, Nebra ska,
| Bryan was unable to gain headway.
| He seemed unable to unite the Democ-
racy of the country behind him. The
| loss of Bryan, on the other hand, may
| result in welding the Democrats more
closely together. He split them al
times almost as widely as did Roose-
welt and La Toilette the Republicans
| in their day.
| X X X
To get back a moment to the fun
| damentalism issue raised by the Ten
nessee law against the teaching of
evolution, in which Mr.. Bryan was so
vitally interested. Too much religion
in politics would be far worse for this
( country that too much government
in business" which has been in
weighed against so vigorously in re-
! cent years. Church and state in this
| country have been kept separate.
] Freedom to worship God in any way
he desires has been guaranteed the
| citizen of the United States. Now
| and then the question of religion has
| crept into politics, however, for ex-
ample, in the Know Nothing party of
! the last century, and more recently
in the political efforts of the Ku KIux
| Klan. When Congress reconvenes it
| is expected there will be a score or
| more of anti-evolution bills introduced
| by members seeking political capital
| or notoriety, or, in some cases, from
| earnest conviction. Constitutional
amendments seeking the same end
will be proposed. But that a law of
| that kind, or constitutional amend
| ment, will receive the necessary vote
| in either house, or even could be
brought to a vote in the Senate under
| the present rules of that body seems
entirely improbable at this writing.
Many churches and many preachers
have differed widely over the meaning
of various parts Of the Bible. The
| danger Of such legislation as that in
| Tennessee is that in the end it may
go so far as to prescribe what people
generally are to believe, a danger to
which the legislators are not blind.
| x X
4
to influence or affect the people OF
| America. has its political angle. not al.