7T jg"
FEBRUARY 5, 1909
The Commoner.
7
titteemen assured us they were before wo ar
rived there. The police would be on hand, so
re were told, to keep a way open through
rtiich we could pass. But on arriving In the
mrg, there would be the same old crowd to
Pfit. Being sonicthng of a heavyweight in
stature, I would get in front of Mr. Bryan and
v"hit the crowd" much as a football player
"bucks the line." Every member of the au-
;dien-e would attempt to shake Mr. Bryan's
thand, and the concerted rrsh on us was at times
nearly impossible to fight off." Toward tho last
of tlie campaign, Mr. Bryan's right hand was
bruised and swollen from the hearty squeezes
;of his admirers. "Go easy; his hand is sore,"
I ropeated with the frequency of a poll parrot
trained to the "polly wants a cracker" stage
"of conversation. For a time my poor shins
were black and blue and as sore as boils from
two frequent contact with the boots of wild
eyed democrats, and even now I can in imagina
tion feel the excruciating pain I experienced
when a new wound would be inflicted. These
are a few of the disadvantages one encounters
in a strenuous campaign like the one just
concluded.
The struggles of the amateur stenographers
in some of the smaller places who attempted to
report Mr. Bryan's speeches were frequently of
a character that would have been amusing were
it not for the fact that their failure to "get
him" produced a despair which reflected on their
faces. Of course there were many who could
and did report him, and ordinarily he is one
of the easiest men imaginable for the shorthand
writer. In an Ohio town a', young lady essayed
to report Mr. Bryan for the committee' of the
opposition. It was somewhat amusing for me
when she told how easy he had been forher,
when I knew from glancing at her .while work
ing that she had gotten about one word in six.
Another fell down ingloriously, then wrote up
what she had and sent her transcript to me with
a request that "I fix it up." Her knowledge of
the campaign issues was nil. "Trust magnate"
had been transcribed ''trust magnet," while
"publication of campaign, contributions" came
out "abolition of campaign .tribulations' And
there were others just as bad. Surely the
"average" stenographer is little better informed
than the average of any other business or
profession., ;-j ,yu ',' ' :.
No man Jsmore prolific with pat stories, with
which to illustrate his arguments than 'is' Mr.
Bryan. Many of them are composed on the spur
of the moment, while he is making a speech.
They are generally short and to the point, and
after he has used them, other stump speakers
frequently adopt them. One of these he em
ployed tp show that the people vould not be
so scared of a panic this year as they had
been in the past. "You can't scare a man who
is sleoping on the floor by telling him he Will
fall out of bed," he said; and immediately this
illustration was heralded throughout the' coun
try. At Marietta, Ohio,, we found Mr.' C: ' J.
Smyth, of Omaha, addressing the crowd" when
we arrived there. In order that he would not
take up the same lines of argument, Mr. Bryan
asked Mr. Smyth what subjects he had better
discuss.
"Anything at all," answered Smyth, "but 'do
not tell the story of the fellow falling out of
bed. It has been used here three times tonight
by three different speakers."
Several valuable suggestions were received by
mail, and there is one, fellow down in St. Louis
who will swear that he gave' Mr. Bryan a point
on his speech before the. deep waterways con
vention in Chicago. It was impossible to open
and answer all the mail before Mr. Bryan made
his speech. I reported his address, nnd ho was
the first to bring out the point that "Man made
the railways, but God the waterways." After
transcribing the speech, I resumed my work 'of
answering the letters, and among the first I
opened was one from St., Louis suggesting that
in his speech before the convention Mr. Uryan
could well refer to the fact that "Man made
the railways, but God the .waterways." This
was one of, tho p coincidences of the campaign.
If you are. of. a different political belief than
the speaker, never interrupt him or vote against
him.. Frequently Mr. Bryan voted his audiences
on various subjects mentioned in the democratic
platform, pe would take the position that in
turning down the. plari , ojb publicity In the-republican
cqnyention, the republican leaders mis
represented athe wishes, of the-rank and file -of
the republican party. Then he would ask -those
present wfto believed in fpubliclty of campaign
contrpuonsj jtp, jraise th,ejr hands. Immediately;
theemo.cratands ?ftQ,uld.be raised t: (Then
he -flroul4 askr any republican.. present, t who-idld
not tieT&yg inhe publication of- uampaigncoifj
tributious, to raise his hand. Once in a while
some of tho moro daring would respond, and
Mr. Bryan would ask him if It were true that
he did not believe in the publicity of campaign
contributions, so that the people would know
from what sources; tho money to run tho cam
paign was received. If tho man said ho endorsed
the action of the convention Mr. Bryan would
reply:
"My friend, you have no chanco in tho world
to get the postofflce in this town, for In his
notification spoech Mr. Taft turned down (ho
action of his convention and said that ho
believed in the publication of campaign con
tributions himself."
On the question of election of senators by
the people ho also voted hiB audiences, and when
a member of his audience voted against tho
proposition ho would remind him that' five dif
ferent houses of representatives had endorsed
the direct election of senators and would give
him a chance to change his vote. If he still
persisted, ho would toll him that he was going
into joint debate with the republican nominee,
for In his notification speech Mr. Taft had said
that "personally" he was Inclined to favor It.
Then the discomfited over-zealous hearer would
be the butt of the jokes of his fellow-townsmen
for nil time to come.
But the election Is over and the campaign
is finished. The man with whom I traveled and
tho one whom I loved did not succeed. How
ever groat the personal disappointment may be,
however much we believe in his policies and
condemn those of his opponent, wo must rele
gate our personal preference to tho background
and devoutly hope that we were mistaken and
that our country will be bigger, better and
stronger under the one whom the American
people have selected.
Letters From the People
Charles N. Davis, Kansas City, Kan. Con
tinue to educate the people and await results.
M. J.-Edgeworth, Kankakee, 111. Set election
day forward about four months, The democratic
party can not win until either winter or want is
farther moved from the voter on election day.
George B. Padget,. Spickard, Mo. When I
went to the polls I was handed seven tickets,
representing as many political parties. Each of
the six parties not in power were endeavoring
to overthrpw the other party, now and for a
long time in full control, and each had Its rem
edies at hand to cure tho abuses growing out
of republican rule, but neither of these six
parties had sufficient strength to administer one
small dose of their remedy. The physician may
properly diagnose the case, and have at hand
the remedy, but if he lacks the means of apply
ing the remedy, ho can do nothing for the
patient. I believe the, democratic party called
an able physician, who had a correct knowledge
of our country's disease, but ho had not sufficient
help at hand to apply the cure, and before it
ever can be done we must get these six parties,
or a large portion of them to unite upon some
one platform, and some one man to represent
them In their common cause against this great
overfed and overgrown giant, the republican
party. "In union there is strength." How shall
it be done? I leave that question yet' to be
answered, but it has been said, "where there is
a will, there is a way." I hope and trust tho
way may be found.
R. C. Byrde, Ashton, S. D. In northern South
Dakota there are about six democratic weeklies
and no dailies, therefore every voter is reading
from one to six republican papers; ignorant
prejudice against Mr. Bryan fostered by- repub
lican papers; utter disbelief that our govern
ment can ever drift Into oligarchy as all former
republics have, and utter rejection of every sign
pointing. that way; and lastly, the national epi
demic, "Rooseveltphobia." - These I believe to
be the reasons for northern South' Dakota's re
publican majority in 1908.
George. H. Hammond, Wilbur, Neb. Does not
the old proverb say, "Doubly armed is ho whose1
cause is just." Then let us courageously re
new the fight, realizing that the democratic
party never was better organized and united
than now and never had a more solid backfrono
'than it has got today.
A. A. Layton, Denver, Colo. Mr. Taft was
endorsed xby Roosevelt; Mr Taft showed fa
voritism; jto the Catholic 'church;. Mr. Bryan was
known as a Protestant; Mr.. Taft was somewhat
. more favorable to the saloon business thanis'
Mr. Bryan,: therefore Taft was electdd. May I
suggest, one thing that might, before rriahy more
campaigns "are fought, bring: "victory td the dem
ocratic party? The south is democratic, and tho
south is largely prohibition territory. Much of
the north Is prohibition sentiment. If the dem
ocratic party can find tho moral courage to come
out squarely on this question, they wllj win
the scattering prohibition vote, which lo no small
thing, and they will win tho whole temperance
vote in and out of the churches.
J. J. Russell, Charleston, Mo. First, The
prices of farm products were good, and some'
farmers were led to the mistaken belief that
tho party In power had something to do with
fixing theso prices, and therofcro In some coun
ties of this district there was not a full vote
cast. In the one county of Pemiscot there was
cast last year for tho democratic and republi
can tickets combined 539 votes loss than were
cast for tho same parties in tho off-year election
two years ago, and no Increase of the votes of
other parties. Of this vote tho republicans lost
115 and the democrats 424 Second, The labor
ing mon, especially those working in mills and
factories that profit largely by tho present high
tariff taxes, wore influenced, if not coerced, into
voting the republican ticket by promises of
steady employment and better wages in case
of Taft's election, and by predictions of certain
disaster to employers, and consequently Idleness
and starvation to omployes In caso of Bryan'B
election. Third, Tho use of money in making
an aggressive campaign, and in gotting the re
publican vote to tho polls on election day. I
believe tho principles of tho democratic party
for which Mr. Bryan has so ably contended aro
sound, and that in their ultimate triumph Is the
best hope of the common people. I confidently
believe that the democratic party will continue
to HVe and that these principles will yet prevail.
I was defeated for re-election to congress by a
majority of about GOO for the reasons above
stated, and because of the further fact that for
the first time in this district tho socialists had
a candidate for congress, and he received about
1,800 votes, about throe-fourths of which I esti
mate formerly voted the democratic ticket.
J. B. McCrary, Lake City, la. Wo lost many
votes because of the want of democratic news
papers and the scarecrow that Bryaniam meant
panic. However the immediate cause that ideals
grow slowly, that wealth is more concentrated,
quicker organized, therefore, obtains the quick
est results, the other side are divided and un
organized. LaFollette, Cummins and others
who claim to be reformers, still adhere to the
republican party and thus hold many that en
dorse the measures of the democratic party.
John R. Groth, St. Louis, Mo. I live in an
interior town of some six thousand population.
I gathered from various sources In the begin
ning of the campaign that there would be some
loss of labor votes to tho republican party, pos
sibly enough to bring defeat. Then I began to
Inquire If there would be accessions from other
sources to make good this loss. I soon discov
ered some twenty-five business men In my town
who "had not previously voted the republican
ticket, would this year vote for Taft, Their
reason simply being that they feared the pos-
sible unsettling of business that a' change of
administration might bring about. This out;
weighed all other considerations. The fact that
these men contemplated voting as they did, was
not generally known. Tho labor fellows are
more noisy and their change of party generally
known. It is evident, therefore, that any pos
sible losses of labor votes were more than made
good from the. source I have mentioned. This
is confirmed by the vote in southern cities and
states, the republican vote being greatly in
creased over former elections.
D. Deneen, Hammond, Wis. The future suc
cess of the democratic party depends upon the
education of the masses, but a few months' time
previous to election Is not sufficient to do the
educating. I am pleased to state that you have
more friends and admirers in this county today
than you ever had before.
GOVERNOR HASKELL'S STATEMENT
(Continued from Page 5)
position to turn tho power of tho federal govern
ment upon mo, and Hearst, with his millions;
making a united. effort to discredit me with the
people of tho state, whose Interests I am sworn
to protect Was it ever. heard of before in tho
history of tho United States, when tho federal
government would join its power and influence
with tho likes of W, R. Hearst and tho special
interests of a, state to destroy a public officer?
I am abloto keep up the fight, but I am en
titled to tho support of. people, regardless of
party, such men as yourself included;
Sincerely yours, "
C.'N. HASKELL.
i.
ft .