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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 1902)
f The Commoner. WILLIAH J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR, es I. K . 1 -- " Vol. 3. No. 43. Lincoln, Nebraska, Nov. 14, 190a. Whole No. 95. DAVID B. BILL'S BOOM Tho editors are now construing tho returns, and each one is able to Bhow that his views have been vindicated at the polls. For instance, the Evening Post of New York says that "David B. Hill has been demolished as a presidential candidate and that he will no longer be an important personage in politics." Other pa perstake an opposite view. The Kansas City Journal says in a special dispatch that the election makes Hill the logical candidate of the democratic party. The Commoner insists that the late elec tion neither helps no'r hinders Mr. Hill. He had no chance of nomination before and has none now. Those who talk of availability, as if the carrying of a state or the losing of it would decide a presi dential nomination, reflect on the good sense of tho democratic voters. They assume that the demo crats of the south will vote for any man on any platform and'that their wishes need not, therefore, be considered, and they also assume that the demo crats of the rest of the country would favor' the nomination of any one calling himself a demo crat who had a reasonable prospect of carrying Tew York. Those assumptions question the hon esty of the democracy of the south and west. The democrats of the east do-not vote the ticket unless . both tho platform and the-nominations suit them; they boast of their convictions and of their wlll--ingness to follow their convictions oven if they are thereby led to vote tho republican ticket, but they talte it for granted that the democrats in the rest of the country have no political convictions- and are indifferent as to platform and men, pro vided the democratic tag is attached by a conven tion calling itself democratic. Mr. Hill Is not an available candidate, not be cause his state-failed to go democratic this year, but because Mr. Hiil himself has not gone demo cratic for several years. He Is credited with the authorship of the phrase, "I am a democrat," but he borrowed it from Mr. Cleveland and neither one of them, could -prove title to it before an impartial jury. There is not a single issue upon which the party could make a fight under Mr. Hill's leader ship. He made a record in the senate which would be a millstone about his neck in any race before the people. If he were a new man he might steal a march on the voters, but he has been before the public so long that his words and acts are fa miliar to all. His failure to support the ticket In 1896 (for . his vote made known two years later after he had conceived tho notion of being a candldato himself cannot bo called support) Is not his greatest fault; his greatest fault Is found in the fact that ho, is controlled by influences which kept him aloQf from a contest between the money power and the com mon people. His very silence, coming after Jala fight in the convention, gave most eloquent sup port to the republican ticket The republican party Is dominated today by the .same corporate interests that dominated it in 1896, and as Mr. Hill 'has undergone no change of beart or change of environment he can be silenced again by the influences that silenced him six ,jears ago. He now talks tariff revision, but in 1894 he Tefused to support tho only tariff reform bill passed, since the civil war and he re fused, he said, because it contained an incomt tax. He talks against trusts and yet he dares not say a word against the money trust the worst trust of all. He has never yet shown real devotion to a principle, a cause or a person and such a candi date could not inspire enthusiasm among those with whom democracy is a sort of religion i-o brotherhood of man stated in governmental terms. The editor of The Commonor can discuss Mr. Hill's candidacy frankly because he is not a can didate himself and has no choice as between men who can bo trusted to stand with the masses against tho encroachments of organized wealth. If democratic principles are worth holding, thoy are worth fighting for, and if they aro worth fighting for they aro too sacred to.be entrusted to the keeping of one who instead of making a con sistent and continuous fight for democratic doc trines seizes upon any circumstanco that promises temporary advantage, like tho spasmodic trader who buys a bankrupt stock at half price, soils it at auction and then waits until he can run across another bargain. More than two years ago one of tho great financial magnates suggested Mr. Hill as a suitable man to lead the democracy whenever tho corpora tions decided to have a change of administration. He would be entirely satisfactory to tho capital that Is accumulated through governmental favor itism and that supports- the candidates secretly pledged to obey the orders issued from Wall street, but ho would not be acceptable to those who de sire to make tho party an effective instrument In the hands of tho people for tho enforcement of the Jefforsonlan maxim of equal rights to all and spe cial privileges to none. ' JJJ THE WINTER VACATION. If any of the readers of The Commoner are contemplating a winter vacation the editor sugr gosts that they consider the wisdom of a trip to Mexico. He took that trip five years ago and the memory of it lingers yet The City of Mexico, the capital of the second largest republic on the west ern hemisphere, was once tho home of the Aztec rulers "and now presents an interesting com mingling of tho ancient Indian and the modern Spanish. The visitor will not find in Mexico the wealth and magnificence displayed in the European capitals, but from the time he crosses the Rio Grande until he again sets foot upon tho soil of his native land he will be Instructed as well as enter tained. There are so many Americans in Mexico that one ha3 no difficulty in travelling there, al though it Is convenient to know a few of tho more common Spanish words. Those who are anticipat ing a trip will find It' a great help to read Prescott's "Conquest of Mexico" and the late Senor Romero's book on Mexico. These will enable the visitor to better understand what he gees and will also point out. the places of rarest interest Those who have already been to Europe will find in the land of the Montezumas .a pleasing change of scene; those who have never traveled 'abroad will be the better prepared to cross the ' ocean after they have acquainted themselves with their own continent - THE ELECTIONS OF 1902. Those domocrat whose enthusiasm ebbs and flows with the political tides will not be made jubilant by reading the election roturns of last wcok. Later roturns not only fall to strengthen democratic claims, but give furthor evidence of republican gains. In the south tho usual majori ties have boon polled, but In tho northern states Rhode Island and Nevada a.ro tho only ones that olected democratic govornors. Senator Toller will probably bo re-elected, but it is duo to hold-over senators, tho house boing republican. Tho demo crats lose Harris of Kansas, Tumor of Washing ton, Rawllngs of Utah and Holtfeld of Idaho, and gain Lattlmer In place of McLaurin In South Caro lina and Nowlands in placo of Jones in Novada. Tho democrats have gained a few congressmen and lost some, leaving tho republicans In control. Gonorally speaking, tho democrats made gains in the cities and lost in tho country, the explana tion being, first, that the city organization is more comploto, and, second, that prosont prices have brought more advantage to tho farmers tham to tho wage-earners. The result has been the same, too, whether he .national platform of the party was Indorsed or rejected. While .the Kansas City platform was indorsed J- Rhode Island and Nevada the states that wo carried it was ignored in Now York and California states in which we maao gains. On the other nand, wo wore defeated in Wis consin, Indiana, Massachusetts, Illinois, Iowa, Connnecticut, Now Jersey and Michigan, where they turned down tho Kansas City platform as well as In Ohio, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Minneso ta, Washington, and Idaho, where it was indorsed. Noithor tho regular democrats nor tho rcorganizors can point to tho election as an evidence that their plan of dealing with the issues will Insure succors, but tho Kansas City platform democrats can con sole themselves with the fact that thoy were fight ing for principle and that they still have that while those who fought only for victory have nothing left The gain in California-is doubtless due to the activity of tho labor organizations and to tho fact that the democratic party joined with them. la the support of candidates especially satisfactory to the wage-earners. In New York the gains were almost entirely In the city of New York where all factions were pull ing together for Color. It Is difficult to locate the credit for all the gains made in the city or to locate the blame for tho failure to mako gains in the up-state counties. Coler was a very strong can didate and it Is an open question whether ho was aided or weakened by the fact that Mr. Hill con trolled the convention which nominated him. In Massachusetts tho reorganizes had control and they nominated a man more acceptable to the corporations than the republican candidate, but he was beaten badly enough to show that even from tho low standpoint of expediency nothing is to be gained by an attempt to republicanlze the demo cratic party. Possibly It was just as well to make the experiment at this time rather than later. Mr, Williams said a year ago that he would remain out of politics as long as the party stood by its prln- x.&ilw,w.w b. "Mftntmreftifofi ifiiiriMJf"'"-"--