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The Commoner.
Judging a Judge by His Friends
From the Literary digest: "Another Bryan
ldoa, many editors note with interest, won at
least a temporary victory when the house, by a
vote of 118 to 82, passed the Cullop amendment
to the Evans Judiciary bill. This amendment
provides that 'before the president shall ap
point any district, circuit, or supreme judge he
shall make public all indorsements made in be
half of any candidate.' Mr. Bryan, we are re
minded by the Springfield Republican (ind.),
began his agitation for this reform in connec
tion with the elevation of Justice Hughes to the
supreme court, and it was given fresh emphasis
by the outcry recently raised over the proposed
appointment of Judge Hook. In spite of the
fart that republican 'insurgents' voted with the
democrats to pasB this bill, the press seem to
regard it dubiously from many points of view.
It will never pass the senate, say some, or, if
It does, they predict it will receive the presi
dent's veto. It is unconstitutional as well as
absurd, say others, who seem prepared to laugh
It out of rourt. On the o'her hand, the Sioux
City Tribune (ind ) believes that the passage of
this bill through the lower house 'will be con
sidered by many thinking men as the moBt Im
portant thing that ha3 yet come from this ses
sion of congress.' This Iowa paper goes on to
say:
" 'The more the states work out and put into
action such practical reforms as the two-cent
passenger-rate law, the initiative and referen
dum and recall, and the more these measures
are held up and baffled at every turn by the
federal courts, the more the people grow into
the belief that the appointments of federal
judges are procured by influences that oppose
these reforms; that even the selection of su
preme judges are influenced by these same in
terests, and the people are wanting to ask the
president, 'Why don't yon cive out tbe names of
the men who solicit these judicial appoint
ments?' " 'Mr. Bryan asked the president this ques
tion, and he refused to answer it. By his silenre
the president said to Mr. Brvan and to the
people. 'It is none of your business who the
backers are of the men appointed to the federal
bench.'
.. .,., uiu BarA fn the lower house, if it
become, a law will say to the president, 'The
ira Court is tbe public's court, and as to
how mcr ffiices in that court is everybody's
bU"NoTtbe house, but the senate should move
in this matter, says the Columbus dispatch
(ind ) sin' e. as a matter of constitutional fact,
the house has nothing whatever to do with ap
pointment?.' After commenting on the house s
'indiscretion' th Dispatch continues:
" 'Nevertheless it would seem not amiss to
havealwavs a frink interchange between the
executive and tbe senate. There ought to be
nothing in th executive's motives which he
would care to hide, and equally there should be
nothing in f e senate's actions of which that
bodv need to be ashamed. Bach Is charged with
a public dutv. and they ought to work together
for the public pood. The house's action can he
considered as nothing more than an expression
of that ernMmont. unless, indeed, it was meant
as a vote of lack of confidence in the executive.
"The progressive republican Philadelphia
North American remarks that the Cullop amend
ment suggests 'a nice way to get up a corpora
tion direr torv.' and in the Charleston News and
Courier (dem ). we read:
" 'It is perfectly reasonable to suppose that,
if the Cullop provision is passed by congress,
the president will veto it, and if it is passed
over his veto he will ignore it There is no
reason why he should not, for it Is essentially
an Impeachment of his honesty of purpose, or
of his capacity. The proper thing, it seems, if
the people are dissatisfied with the mode of ap
pointment of the supreme court, is to amend
the constitution and make the justiceship elec
tive. Other devices are merely beating about
the bush. They stir up animosity and feeling,
but can not accomplish anything of real value.'
" 'Fantastic!' exclaims the New York Tribune
(rep ). in contemplation of this latest demon
stration of 'its wild-goose-chasing proclivities'
by the democratic majority in the house of
representatives."
Evidently publicity with respect to judicial
appointments is a sore spot with the represen
tatives of privilege.
"TUB STORY OF BRYAN"
George Creel, in the Denver News: Sometime,
somewhere, some writer will take his pen in
hand, and set down the story of Bryan. It is not
a task to be attempted by anv small-bore per
son, for in the tale to be told there must be pas
sages resonant with the whirring clang of
triumphal chariots and tbe shoutings of a na
tion, others keenly psychological, and still others
bubblingly alive with humor or gray with pathos.
It is. in truth, a mighty task, for, if well
done, the author will have written the "Great
American Novel" for which the world is wait
ing, because the story of Bryan and Bryanism
is typically American, and possible in no other
country or among any other people. He must
begin with the Bryan who practiced law in a
small way and dabbled in politics quite a bit
There comes, as a sort of prologue to his public
career, a term in congress, marked bv a flash
of greatness here and there, but chiefly notice
able for a certain flamboyant oratory.
Then, as scene shifters working in the dark,
i on"81 sbw the Chicago convention of
189G. With powerful strokes the death grapple
of warring factions must be painted, in which
the great political captains used states as chess
experts use pawns. And out of the smoke and
fury Bryan must burst upon the convention
head of the successfully contesting Nebraska
delegation a big, boyish grin on his rosy face
and ill-cut trousers flapping noisily about his
legs And there is the strategy of captains to be
cons dered the victory of the silver forces the
elimination of Bland, the humiliation of the
granite-faced Cleveland, and the sudden substi
tution of Bryan as saint and savior of his "cross
of gold and crown of thorns" speech
cn? thf n th, w,riter mUBt cal1 UDon the ancient
gods for inspiration, for his task grows increas-
ngly difficult. Not only does the path of Brvaii
lead him along dizzy heights, all the valleys "be
low white with the upturned faces of worship
ping thousands, but the story commences to
gather in psychological interest.
LlxTG8i tha,1 meanB things come into the face of
-.- . .,. uwuci lines, ana In his eves
there dawns a new light. Much the same
VOLUME 12, NUMBER
and path blazing we are come to see that b
Is not a visionary to be feared, but a prophet to
be followed. The dead hand of the past no
longer weights down the superstitions of tra
dition have lost their ancient power to affright
and on every hand there ia evidence of the
open mind, and general eagerness to accept the
new when it Is true.
And here is the pathos of it! By far and
away the greatest man in the democratic party
idol of the south and west and respected even
by those of the north and east that once held
him in abhorrence William J. Bryan is barred
from the nomination by his three defeats. He
himself feels it even those who most love him
feel it. With the exception of silver, everything
that he stood for "has been adopted, and what
ever advancements the nation has made are due
to his courage and vision, and yet he enters this
campaign of 1912 weighted down with the
memory of past failures. Had he not run in
1908, who knows?
In this bitter hour of "what might have been,"
he shows his essential bigness. Putting himself
to one side, he attacks the Underwoods and the
Baileys who were once bis supporters, and gives
himself enthusiastically to Wilson without
thought of the Joline letter, for he sees growing
honesty and increasing purpose in this college
professor who is unlearning from experience
what he learned in books.
change must have come to Joan of Arc as she
walked the on hard at Donremy, and .saw the
familiar landscape form into marvelous vistas
at the ends of which were kings and crowns
and adoring multitudes.
Tn tint campaign a new Brvan was born.
Opnortunitv clothed him in impressiveness, his
soul swelled with huger aspirations, and strange
new word5? burst from his lips, expressions of
strange, new thoughts. As he journeyed from
coaFt to coast, and caught the cry of the op
pressed, thne came to him exact and definite
comnreens'on of the terrible inequalities and
injures in this sunny world of ours, and
realization of the fact that election meant more
than the mere question of which party was to
have the distribution of offices. In that wonder
ful campaign of 1S9G the non-essentials of him
were sloughed, and he came close to greatness.
He lost- not bv reason of votes, but through
the corrupting and befuddling thousands poured
Into every state by the financiers back of Mc
Kinley. Out of defeat and its sordid cause come years
less splendid -the months of political bargain
ing and planning that culminate in the nomina
tion of 1900. Another defeat, but this time no
emergence of disheartened figure trying to
SCTho rLX aSheS' hUt the rlse of a Penix
i Jn ,alT, yan vame out of lhe disaster of
i!l T tbe Bryan who saw causes and remedies
S unsn,rinkinK eye- and who vowed him
self to the work of betterment without thought
of self or future. He faltered in 1904 listen
ing to the advice of friends rather than his own
SPlnfdrvodn.SrOWlng ta -StSK
He thought 1908 the psychological time but
,, "i" .1- ,f,VLlc" L,lltl- e great mass of
cau-
the people move slowlv , n 'JV?
-i?fa,yelS
Tvhile he is still ahead of us-tm Peering
WHY OPPOSED TO BRYAN?
To the Editor of the New York 'World: Why
is it that many of the patrons of the World are
so opposed to William Jennings Bryan? Do they
want a democratic leader tinctured with the
current republican graft principles a kind of
democracy diluted like the watered stocks so
common on the market? If graft, or "boodle,"
is what they are after, and it is what they are
bound to have, then I say, "Lay on, Macduff,
and damned be he who first cries 'Hold,
enough!'" until the people nave had a surfeit
of spurious democracy.
I once heard a blatant politician proclaim that
he was "a democrat with republican principles."
That expression comes pretty near describing
the characteristics of some of the present-day
democrats (?) in or out of congress. Their
propensity to hover dangerously near the politi
cal maelstrom of the old federal-whig-republican
oligarchy reminds one of the exhortation of the
old darky at a camp-meeting, where he called
on the Lord to "shake de sinners rite ober de
jaws of hell, but be keerful, O Lord, not to let
them drap in!" JUNIUS.
Stonington, Conn., Feb. 15.
SENATOR LAFOLLETTE IN THE RACE
Senator La Follette has issued the following
statement to the progressive republicans: "I
take this means of answering many inquiries
and misrepresentations. The statement that ray
health is broken is false. A brief rest will put
me back as of old on the firing line. I shall
continue in the contest as a candidate for well
defined principles and for a definite program
of legislation which, once enacted into law, will
break the hold of privilege on the industrial
life of the people and free them from the bur
den imposed by thousands of millions of fic
titious capitalization. In twenty years of fight
ing for the progressive cause, r have not halted
or turned aside to find the easy way. I have
steadfastly refused to make combinations which
would in any way involve the issues in uncer
tainty. I want the support of such delegates
only as are willing to win or to lose, if, need be,
on this basis."
THE STOCK EXCHANGE POLL
New York, Feb. 27. The New York Globe
has now received a total of 375 votes in its
btock Exchange presidential poll, twenty-four
naying been registered since yesterday. The
vote now stands:
Tat 219
Harmon 91
Roosevelt ....'.'.'! 41
Wilson ".'.".'. 10
Underwood .... "
Clark !.'.!.!"!!"! 6
inin,g up the Taft and Harmon adherents on
SSnw reDrsenting the conservative vote,
SSflS co?blned vote for the oher candi
dates, the result shows:
Conservative 310
Radical !!!!!!! G5
thnf mt0tal.V0t0 of 1057 we to be cast and
hl JSSf Taii0 ntained, the result would
no pffSrv?t,VB 8G5; ratUcaJ' 182- TllIs Bh0WB
no change from yesterday's computation,
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