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The Gommoiier ,
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In response to a recent request made by The
CommonoV for democrats to suggest upon what
Issuoa the next national campaign should be
fought and to also make suggestions as to
available democratic presidents candidates, wo
reproduce bolow as many of the letters received
as spaco In this Issue will permit.
Boycc House, Arkansas. I am taking the
liberty as one who has at heart the In
terests of his party and his country, to address
you on ii matter of the greatest importance.
Thero is a strong se-ntiment in this part of
the country in favor of placing the party stand
ard In the next presidential campaign in your
hands. Your name has the potency and magic
which it first aroused in the days of '9 6 and
thoro are many Democrats who consider that
you are the logical choice of the party for the
presidency next year.
The reasons are manifold. You are the fore
most advocate In America of the prohibition
cause which has been crowned with victory.
You are ono of the ablest and most active pro
tagonists of woman's suffrage which is on the
eve of national triumph. Your stand on' the
Loaguo of Nations is broad-visioned and patri
otic and tho arbitration treaties wlrch you
as secrotary of stato negotiated make you a
leading figure in tho effort to establish -world
peaco.
Tho nation has not forgotten that it was you
who brought about tho nomination of Woodrow
Wilson in 1912 when victory for the democrats
was inevitable and that it wap you who turned
tho tido in his favor in 1916 by your offorts in
tho middlewest. For the great achievements
of tho present administration apart from those
which you yourself as secretary of state accom
plished your friends may rightly claim for you
a largo share of .the glory.
You havo always stood for the rights of all
the pooplo as opposed to the selfish interests of
any class and in all the long period that you
havo boen a national figure there has been noth
ing which the most malignant foe of the party
could bring forward to assail your character. As
Governor Brough characterized you in a recent
address hero, you probably are the greatest
moral force in the United States today. "
Added to all these splendid qualifications is
your ability as an orator and reasoner which
would onablo you to cope with any man that
the Republican party might name.
B. B. Krammes, Ohio. I am glad to note that
Mr. Bryan will again be himself, in that he will
feel free to express himself on the great ques
tions of tho day. It will be a great day when
we will once more have free" speech in this
country, when we will not be cowed down as
we have been for tho past two or more years.
1 havo voted' for Mr. Bryan every time he was
nominated, and, I would deem it a high privilege
to vote for him again. Personally I would like
to see him nominated.
J. A Alexander, Illinois. The Commoner for
October contains a good platform for the demo
cratic party f6r the campaign of 1920, adding
a few additional touches that can be gained
from recent experiences and local elections I
would particularly mention the initiative and
referendum. Wo have had an election on this
proposition in Illinois, whether or not it was to
become a fundamental law of this state and it
won out by a big margaln. Then, I think the
democratic party should go on record in clear
torms relative to law and order, so that both
tho big monled men, the profiteering gang, and
the lawless end of the labor element will both
understand that the institutions of this country
are not formulated for the benefit of any par
ticular class. Mr. Bryan would know exactlv
how to write this so that it could not be con
strued as a double-header, and since party lines
are broken down I want to emphasize the fact
that a good democratic platform will brine a
big vote from both the republican and labor
parties. But it necessarily must be a positive
platform. Then we should havo a plank in the
platform relative to the guarantee of bank de
posits. Considering all of these matters and tho
forms that havo been brought about through
the leadership of William Jennings Bryan I wfl
go on record as indorsing his candidacy for nVo
presidency of the United States on the next nf
tional democratic platform formulated on purely
democratic linos. Mr. Bryan is tho logical can
didate, considering the great national issues at
stake, including the League of Nations, which
is a peaco proposition, national prohibition,
equal suffrage, reduction of taxes on the masses
and placing ft on the profiteering class that has
milked the government and the people during
tho war period. And the democratic national
platform should make it clear to the people that
we want stable industrial conditions. I would
like to say much more, but again I mention
the October Commoner and other editions of
The Commoner, from which a splendid national
democratic platform could be extracted.
P. A. Lovelock, New York. I have been read
ing and listening to public speakers for about
twenty years about the trusts and corporations
exploiting the people. Is it possible that the
trusts and corporations are bigger than our gov
ernment? You will find small grocerymen prose
cuted for getting one cent a pound more than
he should, but you do not find the big business
man being prosecuted for stealing millions.
Surely our laws read the same for all. I be
lieve that trusts and corporations, through
profiteering, are responsible for all the unrest
there is in the country. If profiteering is stopped
prices will go down and the people of the United
States will find it easier to live, and by finding
it easier to live," will be more satisfied. Dis
satisfaction is bolshevism, and when the people
of any country become dissatisfied- they rebel,
especially if they find a law where the big fel
low is immune and the little fellow is sent to
jail. Why can not a government that can take
my boy away from mo, send him 5,000 miles
away and perhaps be killed, stop the trusts from
doing to the people what they have been doing
for twenty years? Stop the trusts and unrest
and bolshevism, which means the same, will
stop. I have been reading The Commoner for
about fifteen years, and beyond a doubt.it has
done a lot for the people.
C. E. Sugg, Kentucky. I note that in dis
cussion of who is to be chosen as democratic
leader in the senate the names o Underwopd
and Hitchcock arc the only ones mentioned.
May I ask, does the democratic senate leader
necessarily havo to be a wet? If so, why? I
should like to see this discussed by The Com
moner. When Stanley, a wet, was the democratic
nominee for senator from Kentucky the most
active assistance was rendered him by the presi
dent, but this fall, when Black, a .dry, was a
candidate for governor, there was never a sign
that the president knew that an election was to
be held in Kentucky. Democrats, thousands of
them in Kentucky, notice these things. Is the
president an ultra wet? I was an original Wil
son supporter in the convention and in the elec
tion of 1912, and every time there was a chance
to support him to this good day, but I have
always been a dry and many things have hap
pened to make me wonder if I have been a fol
lower of the wet leader.
?,' iC e"dnckson, Indiana. In reply to the
article, "Attention, Democrats," in the October
Commoner, as county chairman will say, taking
all things in consideration, I believe we favor
S0VSn,0nV Smith of New York as "r leader for
the 1920 campaign, and I look on the labor ques
tion as being the paramount issue.
ul'-U Misenneimer, Texas. In spite of all
that has been said and done, I still consider
Mr Bryan by far the ablest and straightet
statesman in America and the entire world to
day and will support him for the democratic
nomination in preference to any 6ther man And
taking into consideration the entire mess in the
middle of which we now find ourselves and
looking the situation squarely in the face luat
as It is, my candid opinion is that Mr Bryan
is the only man in the party who hi n w
of a show of leading theP party to anythlnl ex
cept an ignominious defeat. ' Of course idor?t
ffrrrnE him to t$z
that you are today the only m wi,
Plac perfectly, and who can poll Wtt ts th
vote of any man in the United StlU , hr
reasons. First, you have alwavfhi?' r Wod
man's mend; second, you aro , p00r
more rofnrmc i , i"", ar the author nr
all other public men; th rd, your l?, SSCS than
clean as a" sheet; fourth you Tor rccord ls
bore the bnrd; . 'u, 0I. one who
jeers, slurs and epUhets that could i?" Si
have been heaped on a human beL PSSlbIy
ing the liquor traffic, and SdVo V'gard'
person to carry national prohibition' then fl "7
ly, you have the united support of' th w na '
of prohibition and woman suffrage Thn ?d'
.the laboring man and his organization '
will support you, and your All d " S
tlonably correct on the great interests K
and combines in restraint of t?ad i c3
write all day and tell why you are the logical
man and the strongest man, but let this sufflc
for the present More than all, your inteS
is supremely above all question. y
' T.'E. .Elgin, M. A., Alabama. My prayer is
that you may be our next president. It seem
to me that this should be tho prayer of all pray.
ng people; I truly believe that this would be
the world's greatest blessing at this time. For
years, as a .Baptist nreacher and school worker
I have followed your career and learned to love
you, considering you tho greatest champion of
human rights that the world has known for
years. I trust and pray that you have many
years in which to carry out your noble ideals,
and that, strength may .ever be yours in your
fight for humanity and for God on earth.
M. G. Oakley, Oregon. If ever this country
and the world needed a big, broad-minded and
unselfish leader it needs' one today. We should
have w a man, who is 'absolutely free from "en
tangling alliances" with any political party. He
should bo as far above "party loyalty" as a
mountain is above a mole hill. Not that I would
in any way condemn President Wilson or his
administration, I believe him the greatest man
in the world today, the greatest and best presi
dent since Lincoln, and that he will be spoken
of in history as the first great world leader of
modern jLim.es. No one will deny that he has
made mistakes. We need a man who will profit
by his mistakes without trying to destroy the
great good he has done. In my opinion, we
have such a man in Herbert Hoover. Before
half the world knew that there was such a man
as Mr. Hoover he was neck-deep in the work of
succoring humanity and helping to win the war.
Although a republican in politics, he supported
the president in every way he could. He sup
ported the president in his request for a demo
cratic congress. This request was a mistake on
the part of the president; he should have asked
for a congress that would work in harmony with
tho administration. Mr, Hoover doubtless saw
this mistake, but did what ho could to rectify
it instead of all he could to magnify it like
many of the party politicians did. Let us have
Hoover nominated on an independent ticket;
and if the" democrats show good sense they will
indorse him.
W. E. Moodjr, California. In answer to vonr -
nTi7nS t0 Ch0iCQ, for PWsWent, Til say I
am of the same opinion I was in 1896 onlv
more confirmed in my judgment and opinion
H. G. Hill, Texas. I havo never taken any
real active part in political campaigns, but have
always been a follower of William Jennings
Bryan and expect to see him elected president
next year. I am certain that there is no man
in public life who could get as many votes as
he, and none who could serve the people more
faithfully. I am for Brother Bryan against the
field, first, last, and all the time. May Goa
bles3 him and continue to give him health ana
strength to fight , the. people's battles in tne
future as he has in the past.
L. F. Weidenbacher, Illinois. There are J
great many good democrats, but I believe iw
one that should be nominated in 1920 is a wan
that has expounded democracy, manhood anu
Christianity one year after another since nw
boyhood days, and the fifteen million women
voters which will be the deciding factor in u
( I say, and sevoral millions will think that w. "
Bryan is the logical candidate.
John M. O'Brien, Iowa. In the approaching
national campaign the issue should be Jci J
People rule." All our officials should be eieu
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