"T'
v
The Commoner.
MAY 29, 1903..
-
a
MB. BRYAN'S POLITICAL POSITION
What Mr. Bryan most needs may
bo described as a sano opportunism.
His stubborn insistence upon the free
silver policy, at this lato day, may bo
heroic; it is undoubtedly sincere, and
in' harmony with tho character of the
man. But as was said of a famous
charge in a desperate battle "It is
not war."
Mr. Bryan probably has thought out
his courso in tho immediate, future. It
may be even that his attacks upon
Mr. Cleveland have been deliberately
designed to prevent tho democratic
party, in the present reaction of which
lie is fully cognizant, from swinging
too far toward the polo opposite the
one at which he stands. It may be
possible, too, that he would now wel
come a Cleveland candidacy as the
one most conducive to his purpose of
opposing the wave of conservatism
which mounts higher and higher in
the democracy. It is not difficult' to
conceive of a plan whose main object
was to provoke, out of sheer irrita
tion, a Cleveland candidacy, and thuj
prevent a gathering of the hosts in
the same camp under a new leader,
whose claim upon tho fealty of all
party men Mr. Bryan' himself could
not repudiate. That tho recent talk
of Mr. Cleveland as a presidential can
didate has been due, in part at least,
to Mr. Bryan's own personal attacks
upon the ex-president, must be be
lieved by all who appreciate the work
ing of. tho human psychology. But
whilo all this. may be true, what can
sit profit the democratic party and how
can it improve Mr. Bryan's political
position in future years?
For the Nebraskan holds to the
cadaver of free silver with all his
might This means that either in suc
cess "or defeat at the next national
convention of his party, Mr. Bryan will
continue to be bound to that issue. If
successful in dominating the conven
tion, he would make free silver a
body of- death in the democratic pol
icy. If thrown out. by tho final au
thority of the convention, from party
leadership, Mr. Bryan would find him
self In a desperate position in Ameri
can politics, which has never yet
Wonderful Resources of
the West
If you are looking for a home and
want to visit the west you can do so
with very little expense as the
UNION PACIFIC will sell one-way
colonist tickets EVERY DAY at the
following rates from Lincoln:
UNTIL JUNE 15.
$25.00 to San Francisco, Los Angeles
and many other California points.
$20.00 to Ogden, Salt Lake City,
Butte, Anacojda and Helena.
$22.50 to Spokane and Wanatchee.
S25.00 to Portland, Tacoma, Seattle,
and many othor Oregon and Washing
tor, points.
ROUND TRIPS JULY 1 TO 10, IN
CLUSIVE. $15.00 to Denver, Colorado Springs
and Pueblo.
JUNE 1 TO SEPTEMBER 30, INCLU
SIVE. $16.75 to Denver.
$17.35 to Colorado Springs.
$17.50 -to Pueblo.
$28.75 to Glenwood Springs.
MAX 12 TO 18, INCLUSIVE.
$45.00 to San Francisco and Los An
geles. Final return limit July 15.
For full information call on or ad
dress, E. B. SLOSSON.
. - General Agent
shown tenderness to dead issues or to
leaders who have demanded tho im
possible. By every testimony which
the world affords, the rehabilitation of
.silver is out of tho question, for at
least a generation. Much depends,
upon tho future history of tho prec
ious metals, in determining whether
tho silver question may not oventually
reappear in politics; but it is safe to
say that in our own time and that of
Mr. Bryan, tho gold mines themselves
have settled the issue beyond further
controversy by reasonable men. In
clinging, therefore, to this cause Mr.
Bryan is rapidly entombing himself
as a political force; and equally cer
tain Is It that any political party or
group that adheres to his leadership
under these conditions must stare po
litical death in the very eyes.
The only vital political radicalism
of our time has aspirations and pro
grams In which the bimetallic question
has no place. Search Europe, and
where Is thero a popular leader who
gives a moment's thought to free sil
ver? There are men of brains among
the social democrats of Germany an J
France. Bebel and Jaurcs aro men
of large intellect and wide reading.
bilverism forms no part of their pol
icy. It is well known, too, that the
free silver cause in America has never
made headway among the wage-earners
of our cities; and they are the
men who give strength to labor union
ism and must be reached by any party
of political radicalism that craves a
future In America. It is a fact whoso
significance George Fred Williams, at
least, must appreciate, even if Mr.
Bryan cannot, that downright social
Ism has shown more capacity for
growth in Massachusetts than over
free silver did. Now political radical
ism In this country, If it Is to make
progress, must be able to enlist tho
support of those wage-earners who
throng the cities and towns of that
great northern belt, stretching from
luassachusetts bay to the Mississippi
iiver. Tho south, which is becoming
more and more aristocratic and domi
nated by casto ideas on account of the1
race question, must be left largely out
of the equation. The radical democ
racy of the future, as a political force,
must find its proper field in the pop
ulous north, and it must be less
agrarian and more purely industrialist
ra its appeal to tho voters.
Mr. Bryan is strangely blind to this
development Well adapted by his
gifts to be an influential and popular
leader of a radical party, ho persists
in clinging to sllverlsm as a cardinal
tenet He might study the life of Jef
ferson to advantage, for thero hn
would discover that Jefferson had the
talent of being Inconsistent, and of
shedding policies whenever conditions
required the sacrifice. A sane oppor
tunism would lead Mr. Bryan to say
candidly to his followers and to his
party that he was ready to recognize
the fact that the free silver nolicV haa
become impossible as a political Issue,
and that consequently he had elimi
nated it from his political program.
Such an act, while It would be de
nounced as shiftiness, would be no
more than common sense; and A
would place the Nebraskan more in
the current of the future development
of politics. Should he stubbornly hold
to his old course, what possible fate
can there be for him but to be en
tombed with the Impossible issue
with which his name thus far has
beer chiefly associated? When Mr.
Gladstone was older than Mr. Bryan
now Is. he passed from the torv to
tho liberal party. If Gladstone could
do that,. Mr. Bryan might, without anv
real disadvantage to himself, to the
democratic party or to the country,
recognize facts as they are, and leave
the silver cause to be buried alone
Tather than follow it to the crrave.
Springfield (Mass.) Republican.
Less Talk of Cleveland.
A Chicago paper made an effort a
few days ago to get a statement from
democratic national committeemen re
garding tho desirability of making
Mr. Cleveland tho democratic nominee
for tho presidency again. '
Several committeemen refused to
express themselves at otitis time, less
than half a dozen favored nominating
Mr. Cleveland, and all the rest wore
emphatic in the assertion that an at
tempt to nominate Mr. Cleveland
would disrupt the party and that, if
nominated, he could not be elected.
While tho New York World nnd
Brooklyn Eagletwo newspapers
which have been urging that Mr
Cleveland is the man of tho hour
will not be pleased with the result of
tho canvass which has been made, it
must be regarded as representative of
democratic sentiment In the matter.
National committeemen arc in close
touch with democratic voters in thy
various states and their opinions aro
founded upon what reliable informa
tion suggests.
Democrats who, in reality, bellevo
in the financial principles enunciated
by tho republican party, and the at
titude of that party toward prodatory
wealth, are for Mr. Cleveland, bovon.I
a doubt
However, they represent a small
portion of the democratic party, and
tho only way they can make Mr.
Cleveland a nominee is to make him
the nominee of the faction which the
represent
There has been Icbs talk In favor of
Mr. Cleveland Bince the result of the
poll taken among national commit
teemen has been announced, and it Is
likely that tho "Cleveland boom" ban
seen its best days.
Thero is every reason to bellevo
that Mr. Cleveland, who is alert anu
watchful, will tako note of tho trend
of events and will state plainly that
he Is not a candidate.
In making his replies ambiguous as
long as the outlook continued to bo
promising Mr. Cleveland simply
played tho game of politics for all
there was in it
Since ho has every reason to be
lieve that the opposition to his nomi
nation will be so formidable that it
cannot be overcome, he will be play
ing tho game in the same skillful
fashion if he decides to withdraw from
tho race and content himself with the
honors which were bestowed upon
him some years ago.
He has forfeited any claim he might
have had on the democratic party by
deserting it and party disloyalty Is
particularly reprehensible when the
guilty person has been hcmnrtA w
tho party he betrays. St Joseph Gazette.
The Spirit of Commercialism.
Through all the warp and woof of
the dedication days the sentiment of
expansion ran as a scarlet thread. It
was territorial, commercial, military
expansion. It was tho apotheosis of
the spirit of trade, tho glorification of
expansion for the sake of gold and
treasure. Only Mr. Cleveland, in so
ber, elephantine way, suggested that
there was something nobler than
buildings and bonds and the conquer
ing of alien peoples for dividend-paying
purposes. Even the official pray
ers, particularly and with appropri
ateness that of the president of Mr.
John D. Rockefeller's university, had
undercurrent of commercialism.
mcrcial celebration, made so rioabiton
y tho very nccasslllcu of the occa
sion. Ynf. linw nrC . .1 i ...- i .
alo:.g tho higher llnui of liberty, con
science and the spiritual life, made
posslblo by Thomas JcfTcruon's extra
constitutional deed, have rung out
through all tho world. Expansion
which pays reasonable dividend In
cash Is not to be dwplicd, but suten
are not made and Have 1 nor llfo maJe
worth living for us and other peoples
by the mere possession cf pro ".table
trade and lehure-permliting, luxury
compelling treasure.
When Thomas Jefferson, whom
Theodore Roosevelt, reek loss with
words, called "a Bhlfty dortrlnalr
constitutionally unable to tell tho
truth, came to write his own epi
taph, he DUt Miornnn na Ht f. ...i.ii.
he desired the world's remembrance,
that ho wns tho founder of the Uni
versity of Virginia, the father or the
statute of Virginia for religious free
dom and tho autLor of the Declara
tion of Independence. If the pre
vailing sentiment of the dedication
speeches rightly expresses the wlslns
of thi groat men of this generation
they will wish to be remembered 'or
haying added a billion unequally dla-
..., uuutiiB iu u nauons wealth
and brought feudal slavery under
gu se of law. Walter Williams, in
Columbia (Mo.) Herald.
Mr, Bryan Will Not be Silent.'
A controversy between William J.
Bryan and the Boston Herald has
brought from Mr. Bryan one of the
most significant statements he has
made since the campaign of 1900. In
tho general discussion of political
topics tho controversy has beep over
looked, but the reply of the Nebras
ka democrat to his eastern critic will
bear careful reading. The paper,
echoing the cry of gold men and pa
pers Who fear Bryan's Influence, took
hJm to task for his stand on the ques
tion of reorganization, criticised him
for preventing "harmony" and de
scribed him OH II T1 Am1il(fnrA,1 .l
soured young man, ruined by the two
defeats that were his lot The paper
thought Mr. Bryan should Join in the
harmony" movement, throw up his
hat for Cleveland and cease interfer
ing with the plans of tho reorgan
izes. Mr. Bryan's reply was a long
and careful statement of his position,
and so completely demolished the Her
ald's arguments arid Justified his own
position that the paper found It dlffi-'
"it to mqkp any rejoinder. Mr. Bry
an showed that f:e fact that he has
twice been a candidate should not
"impose a silence upon him," and that
a right to bo heard as a citizen is ono
that cannot bo denied him. Denver
News.
Good as New.
There was opportunity for a great
protest against the deification of the
material but it went unused. There
was time for splendid sayings untar
nished with the dross of expansion for
selfishness. No one saw, at least no
one said what might have been said
by some of tho exeat men on tho nrn-
gram with magnificent appropriate
ness. It was a physical, financial, com-
The republican party will not be
bothered for platform pledges in 1904.
Its' old pledges. are still as good as
new. The Atlanta Constitution.
Can Not Dictate.
We aro glad to see Mr. Cleveland
and his admirers come back Into tho
democratic party, but we are not will
ing for the price of their coming to
be tho absolute control of the party
and dictation of Its policies. Thero
are something like six million stead
fast and loyal democrats -who would
like to have a say-so about these
things. Nashville News.
Can't Sleep?
Its' your nerves. Dr. Miles' Nervine
will strengthen thqm and bring sweet
sleep and health. Delay is dangerous.
All druggists sell i nd guarantee. Bend postal
Cor book on nervous tlfoea es.
Da. UlLxa MEDICAL Co., Elkhart. lad.
II
,iT
ihjtjM Jto.ka3