"wjwflwyj '-
JULY 5, 1912
The Commoner.
15
shown themselves recreant to their
trust. "What the country wants to
know is that tho candidate repre
sents the people.
A , president can hot servo two
masters. Every hf nest man knows
this, and the honest man ought to
learn it. It does matter a great deal
whether, when he takes tho oath of
office, he can take it without reser
vation. We have any number of
men, entirely qualified for tho posi
tion; men -whose sympathies are
with the ipeople, If this convention
will select any one of them and give
him. a cleans committee, made up of
honest and earnest men, the progres-sivet-republicans
will not need to talk
of starting a third party..
jhetfrjsis , is at hand, and those
who": read this report' tomorrow
morning may at the same time learn
the ham'e bf,our candidate. A multi
tude of democrats are praying that
he m.ay .measure up to the require
ments. of the situation and that a
sij&iessful fight may be madJ to,
.rescue the government from 'the
hands of the exploiters. W. J. B.
MR. BRYAN EXPLAINS HIS
is. .
STAND
"'Baltiitiore, Md., June 30. If I
be permitted to speak on my own
part "I shall devote a few sentences
to. th'e. .explanation which 1 gave of
the change of. thirteen of the Nef
braska delegates from Clark, 'to
Wilson. "1 ,was riot in' the hall -Fri-daynight
when New York, cast! her
ninety; votes, for Clark, but weh't'-fh
latere during the demonstration,
After having a night to reflect over
the matter I deoided upon a course
of - action in case an attempt? was
made to use the New York vote to
elect Mr. Clarki On the action one
must always consider the condi
tions tor & met, 'for candidates are
usually the measure of exertion. At
the Chicago convention I saw how
unfairly a 'holdover political ma
chine had .made, up the temporary,
roll of the, convention and then used
the votes '6t4 those put upon the rdll
to, seat 'ea.ch. 'other, thus giving .''($.
the committee1 control of the conven
tion: I was in- a good position tO-
watcn tne roner as lp movea.nojsijy.,
along overcoming every obstruction,
and when; ;i Its -work was completed
thwarting, thfej yill of a large rija-
jority of. the 'republican partyw To
add aggravation' to wrong, the 'fc'oin?
mittee, was,,, made -up of representa
tives from the southern states jwhere
there is rpractic.Hy no republican!
sauting merely a paper organisation
id held, jjtq the republican party
largely ay we power oi patronage,
were used to outvote the represen
tatives from states that cast a large
republican vote And to add further.!
cause for indignation, this unfairly
proportioned .committee seated -delegates!
upon the same congressional
proportion as, 'ih the north. TJ4o
congressional . .district in whiclii I
live, for Instance, has a republican
vote of, ,spme 25,000 and has two
district: delegates. The state of
Louisiana casts' some 5,000 republi
can votes arid has twenty delegates
in the republican convention, or
nearly a Imiidred times as -much in
fluence in tne" (invention in propor
tion to voting population.
About' the, '-time this outra'ge on
popular government had had time to
soak in' I .canto, to Baltiraor.e, and
here r find the, democratic national
- committee acting upon the same
plan, using holdover committeemen
to misrepretee th'e delegations, and
intending to ppen a progressive con
vention "with tn reactionary, keynote.
I ,ooh ,;irnedujthat the sameJri
fluences (.which'; at Chicago... defied
popdlar BehWent in the republican'
party were' ''here"' in force, x round
that, 'having, defeated the progres-;
it pregrim at 'Chicago, they were.
bent upon defeating It hero. Cun
ning was substituted for boldness,
and tho progressive brand was be
ing used to mask tho real character
of tho work outlined.
I have already described tho first
contest in which I was defeated for
temporary chairman, a position
which I did not desire, and for which
I was a candidate only because I
felt that somo one ought to repre
sent the progressive cause. I have
also chronicled tho second contest,
which resulted in tho passage of the
Morgan - Ryan - Belmont resolution.
It was the passage of that resolution
and the pledge that it gave to the
public that made it imperative, ac
cording to my judgment, that I re
fuse to enter into partnership with
Mr. Murphy in nominating a demo
cratic candidate.
I felt sure, from telegrams re
ceived and news reports read, that
the. people were aroused as they had
seldom, been before, to the impor
tance of presenting a candidate upon
isvhose .nomination there could bo no
suspicion of connection with the in
terests which we had denounced. It
iijstressed.me to have to do anything
that might result in injury to the
political fortunes of Mr. Clark. I have
known him for 18 years, rejoiced in
his selection as minority leader,
and a year, and a half ago regarded
him as more likely than anyone else
to fight into the conditions as I could
estimate them. If he had made
good use o the opportunity ho had,
he would have been nominated by
ac.clamatio.n, but instead of leading
the prpgrQssive element of the party,
f;he -element with which he had al
ways b,een identified, ho became Im
pressed with' tho idea that his
snecial duty was to harmonize the
tw"6 .elements of the parly Aand pre-
tahVeakihthe ranks'." W
eado'r andj the harmonizer arc two
entirely atirerent persons, ana Mr.
Cla;rtt chose to be the latter. There
ar timos. when the harmonizer is
jthej'hiQst available candidate, but the
station is. different just now. The
(country " js ,aliyeJ with progressive
Jdeas, antl prbgressivlsm has been de
feased, .at CMeagCK Twq or three
in,illion femibHcans are followlpg the
pr.oce.edi$gf;of this convention and
waiting b' 6c whether they pan use
the .democratic party for the rebuk
ing bfSaildat republicanism or be
if or'ced U , br&anize a hew party,
i i Mr, , Clark's first mistake was in
attempting 'to overlook the radical
difference which existed in the demo
cratic paty between the progress
ives, an,d,the reactionaries,. His
'second, .mistake .was in selecting
managers .who sought to advance his
cause by manipulation rather than
by that candid appeal which brought
the present, hour. After nermitting
a considerable number of reaction
aries to come into the convention
under instructions, these managers
endeavored to win votes by tying up
with reactionary votes of the con
vention. While Mr- Clark himself
remained neutral in tho fight be
tween Judge Parker and myself for
temporary 'chairman, his managers
were working like beavers for Judge
Parker. They were not even will
ing for me to take Mr. James, their
own candidate for temporary chair
manship, before the sub-committee
and put him' against Judge Parker.
The public 'is not particularly in
terested 4a Judge Parker or myself,
but it Is vitally interested In the
acute issuo between those who de
sire to continue the old regime
wherein the privileged classes con
troT the government in their own in
terest thrqugh machine politics. Mr.
Clark aroused much hostile criticism
when he reused, to take sides, and
.this criticism. hecame more emphatic
iwith a grteat demonstration. When
one reads-Vtiie resolution .pa. which
Morgan, 'Belmont, and Ryan were
she.citfally nam.e.d as the men who
must not ho permitted to control tho
nomination, when it enumerates the
predatory Interests represented by
agents or its attorneys in tho New
York delegations, when ho sees Mr.
Murphy in charge and tho unit rulo
throwing this largo body of tho con
vention, nearly one-twelfth of tho
entire membership, to whomsoever
he pleases, when one considers theso
facts and then looks out upon tho
anxious and expectant multitudo
who await our action, he can under
stand, 1 hope, why I was not ready
to go into partnership with Mr.
Murphy and the Interests who speak
for him. There is too much at stake
to 'risk defeat, and we would risk
defeat if we had to spend the cam
paign explaining how a candidate
could owo his nomination to preda
tory interests without danger to his
administration.
Mr Clark's friends spurn tho
thought of his being Influenced by
such support, but they forget that
the mass' 6f the people can not know
Mr. Clark personally, as his Intimate
friends do. I know him well enough
to have confidence in his high pur
pose and in his good intent, as I
have 111 the purpose and Intent of
other candidates. I believe that ho
would try to carry out the people's
will. But few, if indeed any, can
entirely fortify themselves against
the unconscious influence exerted by
favors received. We do not allow
judges to accept favors from liti
gants and tho president continually
acts as an arhlter between organized
and tho unorganized hlassds. But
even if we1 cdUld feel certain that tho
Securing of a presidential nomina
tion by the1 aid of those directly con
nected with the exploiting class
would haVO no Influence whatever
upon Mr: Clark's official conduct, we
could -hot itoBBlbly hope' to impart
this cbrifl donee to million's 'of Voters
who, not enjoying the personal
acquaintance of Mr. Clark, would
have to rely upon newspaper reports,
and it must bo remembered that in
tho contested states the republicans
havo five to one, if not ten to one,
advantage of us. I announced that
We would withhold our vote from
Mr. Clark so long as New York sup
ported him, and that we apply the
same rule to other candidates; that
is, wo would not enter into partner
ship with Wall street. I shall dis
cuss tomorrow tho question of can
didates and attempt to estimate
their chances. W. J. B.
FORMING THE RESOLUTIONS
COMMITTEE
Following Is an Associated Press
dispatch:. t .Baltimore, June 26. W.
J. Bryan declined to accept the
chairmanship, of the committee on
resolutions,, nd Senator Kern, of In
diana was chosen for the place.
In refusing to accept tho, chair
manship Mr. Bryan said:
"I appreciate tho compliment but
I am not willing to act as chairman.
I am a believer in harmony, but I
think that the committee and Its
officers ought to he in harmony with
the convention, and I am not in har
mony with the organization of tho
convention nor of the national com
mittee which controls the organiza
tion of the convention,
"We used to have two kinds of
democrats, progressive and conserva
tives; we now have only one kind,
progressive! but we find there is a
wide difference in the 'definition of
the word "progressive," and X do not
define progressiveness as it is de
fined by a majority of this,. conven
tion, and believing In harmony I
want to be In harmony with jfye con
vention and I desire to he more free
to represent the minority sehtiment.
"I do not' aay that there, w'fll. be a
minority report, but it would not
loojk well, for the chairman.. of the
committee to. take in a niinorlty. re
port. It, might ho necessary, for me
to take in a minority report. I do
not know that 1 will, but I do not
want to place myself In that awk
ward position and for that reason I
decline."
By a vote of 22 to 1C tho rules
committee of the convention today
agreed to tho plan to defer the pre
sentation of the platform until after
the party's candidate for president
had been nominated. In tho absence
of any true indication as to whether
the conservative or tho progressive
wings of tho party would dominate
the convention it was considered
good policy to hold back tho plat
form in order to have it drawn so
as to bo acceptable to the conven
tion. Cautious advisers of the Nebraska
leader argued against his accept
ing the chairmanship of tho resolu
tions committee on tho ground that
an attempt to havo him draft the
platform is a poorly concealed plot
to commit him in advance to thts
subsequent act of tho conVentibn
and to any nominco willing to ac-'
copt what will ho known as the'
"Bryan platform."
Mr. Bryan himself, it was said,
was loath to have anything to do
with the platform, until he Is sure
who tho nominee will bo. For that
reason, It was declared, he would
advocate tho upsetting of prece
dent and the naming of a candidate
before the platform Is written and
adopted.
As" v soon as the committee or
ganlzcd', Mr. Bryan moved tho pre
sentation of tho platform be de
ferred until after tho convention had
nomjnated, a candidate for presi
dent. Senator Raynor seconded the
proposition. He spoke at some
length urging a progressive platform
and particularly In reference to the
tariff ;and direct election of senators
on which planks there was found to
he a division of sentiment. Tho pro
posal would havo to go to the con
vention if approved by the com-.,
mittco.
"We don't want, and must not
have, a perpetual debate botween
the candidate and the platform,"
said Mr. Bryan In advocacy of his
motion postponing action on the
platform until after the nomination
of the presidential candidate, "and,"
he continued, "the only way to pre
vent such a result is to. make the
nomination first."
"The candidate," he argued,,
"should have an opportunity to talk
about the platform in advance of
it's making rather than to feel 1m
patlentand talk against the platform
afterwards." .
Sonator Clarke of Arkansas op
posed the change as a reversal of all
precedents, but was antagonized by
Senator Raynor of Maryland, who,
taking sides emphatically, with Mr.
Bryan, said the time had com for,
overthrowing undesirable precedents.
Mr. Bryan had no statement to
make this morning either regarding
the platform or Judge Parker's apr
peal to the delegates to make Mr.
Bryan chairman of the resolutions
committee.
Returning ,to his hotel from a"
Visit to Mayor Preston, tho Nehras-
lean spent tho early morning hours
in correspondence and then went to
the convention hall to .attend the.
meeting of the resolutions com
mittee. ,
"The delegates are saying below
stairs that you will writp the plat
form' was suggested.
"But a- progressive platform would
he a rebuke to the convention, wouldl
it not?" was Mr. Bryan's feply. !
Mr. Bryan was told that many
delegates believed the vote .yesterday.
Indicated the convention vaa po-J
gressiyje ariid "that he would, be able
to name $, candidate for. the presl-
to name jp.e, canaia,
dential .npinination.
"I thmk" f have i
ift.- ?
given the' opinion
that the convention would have tho
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