The Commoner.
WILLIAM J. BRYANf EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
VOL. 11, NO. 17
Lincoln, Nebraska, May 5, 1911
Whole Number 537
"Shall Democratic Party be Aldrichized?"
The fight is on! Shall the democratic national convention of 1912 he controlled by an Aldrich democracy or shall it represent real
democratic sentiment?
By reason of its democratic platforms the party now occupies advanced ground. Shall it retreat to the lowlands?
Although the democratic party has not controlled administrations in recent years its democratic platforms have given it power
possessed by no other party in history the power to compel opposing parties to recognize the righteousness of its platforms.
Never in all its history has the democratic party so well represented the hopes and aspirations of the progressive patriotic men of all
parties as it does today.
This advantage has been won by the party's persistent fight for the people during the past sixteen years.
Today the American people are looking to the democratic party as the leader in real reforms. The peoplo have lost confidence in the
republican party. Can the democratic party be trusted?
The democratic national convention for 1912 will provide the answer.
The special interests that have wrecked the republican party are seeking to gain control of the democratic party. They hope to
nominate for president a "reactionary" who will be satisfactory to the Wall Street interests.
If they find that the progressive sentiment is too strong to be entirely ignored they will take someone who has been progressive enough
to furnish them something to talk about but not progressive enough to fight the interests.
The democratic party seems ready to come into its own. After a long fight the progressive policies which aroused the opposition of all
the predatory interests in 1896 are becoming the accepted policies of the country, but the interests will do their best to nominate a candi
date who is not in sympathy with them and who tried to retard their progress.
Let not the democrats be deceived. The work of a democratic president will be no easy work. The cleaning out of the stables will bo
a Herculean task. It will require strength of body, strength of mind and unflinching moral purpose. It is no time for compromise. Th
times require a stalwart, fearless, progressive leader.
Congress will largely shape the issues and may develop the man but whether he comes from the senate or the house or from a state
"position or from private life, he must measure up to the requirements of the occasion and be able to summon the progressive hosts to his
banner. He must be positive and progressive if he is to win the confidence of those, who are seeking remedial legislation.
Do you Tjelieve that the democratic party should be kept free from entanglements with special interests? Do you believe that its
representatives should mean to redeem the spirit as well as the letter of its platform pledges?
If you believe the democratic party should be true to its name you may help win the fight to protect its national convention from the
invading forces of those who would make the party the laughing stock of real democrats.
Mr. Bryan will do his part in the effort to protect the democratic party from "Aldrichism." On the stump and through The Com
moner he will insist that the progress made by the party during the past sixteen years shall not be thrown away; that the special interests
shall not control the convention; that its platform shall be honest and unequivocal and its candidates devoted to genuine democratic
doctrine.
In order to place his views before a larger number of people Mr. Bryan has given instructions that his papei, The Commoner, be sent
to every new subscriber for a period of two years for the sum of $1.00 the regular price for one year.
You are invited to join Mr. Bryan in this great fight. Every Commoner reader can aid greatly if he will secure one or more two
year subscribers at this special rate. This will carry the subscription beyond the presidential campaign.
Will you assist in this effort to prevent the Aldrichization of the democratic party?
General Sam Houston
Mr. Bryan delivered an address on General
Sam Houston, at Huntsville, Texas.
The following dispatch to the Houston
Chronicle tells the story: Huntsville, Texas,
April 21. In the presence of a crowd of several
thousand people in a' corner of the cemetery of
the quiet little town of Huntsville, Nettie Hous
ton Bringhurst, granddaughter of General Sam
Houston, pulled the cord that drew back the
twin flags of the republic of Texas and the re
public of the United States and revealed tho
gray granite monument to the hero of San
Jacinto.
High above the monument on a cord stretched
between two tall flag poles, there hung banner
fashion two huge tattered silk flags of the two
republics.
Amid tho Inspiring strains of patriotic music
the monument was revealed and cheers came
that were hushed to silence when William Jen
nings Bryan began an eulogy of the first citizen
of Texas.
The first governor of Texas, Pinckney Hender
son, is represented by his granddaughter, Mrs.
Julia Henderson GeisBler of Oklahoma. Mrs.
Perry of Bay City is a daughter of the late Guy
M. Bryan; Mrs. Roach, president of the San
Antonio chapter, is Deaf Smith's granddaughter.
Of the Houston family, there were present, Mrs.
Nettie Houston Bringhurst and her daughter,
Miss Nettie Houston Bringhurst of San Antonio
(who unveiled the monument to her grand
father), Mrs. McDonald, of Stanford, Mrs.
Nanino Morgan of Georgetown, Mr. and Mrs.
Robert John of Houston (tho latter being
Houston's granddaughter), William Houston
of Childress and Mr. Isabelle Taylor of
Crockett, a niece of Sam Houston, whose per
sonal likeness to her uncle is very striking. Mrs.
John H. Reagan and daughter, of Palestine, and
Miss Emma Burleson are representatives of
noted pioneer nameg.
Among the prominent daughters who were
present are: Mesdames R. J. Fisher and B. B.
Throop of Austin, C. B. Stoen, Walter Gresham
of Galveston; J. J. McKeever, R. G. Ashe, C. H.
Milby, Miss Fenn, M. B. Urwitz, Miss Bennett of
Houston; Mrs. Roach of San Antonio, Miss
Emma Burleson of Austin, Mrs. Smith of Vic
toria, Mrs. Perry of Bay City, Miss Mary Jane
Lane of Marshall, Mrs. Geisler of Oklahoma' and
Mrs. Nettle Houston Bringhurst of San An
tonio. Guy M. Bryan, jr., son of William Joel Bian,
Lewis R. Bryan, jr., son of Moses Austin Bryan;
Guy M. Bryan, son of Col. Guy M. Bryan.
William Joel and Mosea Austin Bryan, wero
in General Houston's army in the San Jacinto
campaign, Moses Austin acting as Spanish in
terpreter for General Houston, when he interro
gated Santa Anna.
The Bryans attending the unveiling are also
grandnephews and nieces of Stephen F. Austin.
Orators for the occasion included Senator
McDonald Meachum, who offered tho resolution
CONTENTS
SHALL DEMOCRATIC PARTY BE
ALDRICHIZED
GENERAL SAM HOUSTON MR. BRYAN'S
SPEECH AT HUNTSVILLE
DEMOCRATS ARE ACTIVE
MARTIN'S HONEST "ANTIPATHY"
SNOBBERY
KEEP YOUR EYE ON THIS SCHEME
STEEL TRUST TRIES TO SCARE
UNDERWOOD
FRIENDLY AND UNFRIENDLY
PRACTICAL TARIFF TALKS
HOME DEPARTMENT
WHETHER COMMON OR NOT
NEWS OF THE WEEK
WASHINGTON NEWS
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