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The Commoner.
JULY 10, 1912
When the Bosses Fell Down at Baltimore
tholr tricks and ill of tholr money had resulted
In naught. Ono man with gumption and sand
had whipped the ontlro gang. And that man
laughed ut them!
Special dispatch to tho Cincinnati Enquirer:
Columbus, Ohio, July 5. If any person pre-,
tending to the possession of knowledge gives It
out oracularly that In tho late fracas at Balti
more, Md., William Jennings Bryan was run
over by a steam roller, and his tail foathprs
pulled out or lost his hold on the party, bet him
ono million dollars in pennies that ho is full
brother to the monkey of the jungles. It" is
true, possibly, that William lost the considera
tion and respect of certain politicians whose
little game he blocked most beautifully, but it
is not true that ho lost anything else. And do
not let- any one, however high his brow may
be, get away with the story that the bosses ran
the convention. That is one of Hon. Theodore
Roosevelt's hallucinations.
The politicians were like the celebrated pack;
of fox-hounds that a misguided man imported
into a country infested with wolves. He took
them out for a trial run and they disappeared in
the timber. Whipping up, ho followed the trail
until he came to a cabin by tho roadside in
front of which sat a man. with sandy chin
whiskers, who was meditatively smoking a
corncob pipe.
"Neighbor," said the foxhunter, "Did you soo
anything of a pack of dogs around here?"
The smoker nodded.
"How were they doing?" asked the owner,
with pardonablo pride.
"Wa-al, it appeared to me they were a leetle
bit ahead of tho wolf," was tho answer. And
that's the way the bosses won at Baltimore.
They nominated Governor Woodrow Wilson
after Bryan was through with tho job. Tho
houn' dawgs, the Tammany tiger and all tho
other forelooping animals of politics were tho
foxrhounds, and the Nebraskan was tho wolf of
the story.
Tho .gentleman from Lincoln outmaneuvered
tho whole crowd of them. Like a first-class
checker player, every time he lost a "man" ho
jumped two of their pieces and landed in the
king row. When they started they had a
majority of tho convention, thoy had tho ma
chinery, the money, the crowds and tho claque.
When they finished he had everything they be
gan with except the money. So deftly did ho
work his plays that all the money outside the
United States treasury couldn't have bought tho
nomination for one of the twelve apostles. Tho
convention was clean in that respect, and ho
mae it so. The gathering may have been noisy
and rough at times, but it was on tho level. His
opponents fought hard, but he fought harder,
and while they may be sore over his triumph,
they certainly were impressed with his prowess.
His winning was simple enough in its
methods. He appealed to tho great mass of tho
democratic voters outside the convention, while
the . leaders of the opposition were operating
upon the thousand delegates within tho hall.
Reduced to ordinary arithmetic, he offset tho
thousand with tho six million and a half voters.
His tactics were bound to win In the end If ho
could get sufficient time. Enmeshed in their
own foolish devices, they gave him moro timo
than ho needed. They seemed to forget that
there was such a thing, as the magnetic tele
graph or the dally newspaper in existence. Tho
limit of their field of operation was the city of
Baltimore. His extended from ocean .to ocean
and from Canada to Mexico. Like the muscular
party at Donnybrook Fair, with tho blackthorn
shillalagh, his work was "beeyoutiful." It
showed what one plucky man with sense could
do with a clutch of fat-headed politicians who
were playing the game under the rules of 1860.
It wasn't until tho avalanche of indignant tele
grams descended upon them, propelled by
aroused sentiment at home, that they began to
discern how skillfully he had trapped them.
To begin with, he knew every card they held
In their hands when tho game began, and they
weren't aware of what he was holding. They
thought he was a candidate for president and
ho let them think so! To smoke him out they
put up Judge Alton B. Parker for chairman
and chuckled. The Nebraskan sought out a
private room and did a Highland fling in exceed
ing great joy. He had them. Reappearing with
a face that resembled that of an undertaker at
a $500 funeral, he appeared to be very much
concerned for the safety of the republic. In the
language of tho sporting world, thoy fell for it,
and foil hard.
"Here's where wo hang the blngor on Bill,"
they chortled as thoy proceeded to push Parker
over tho line. Right thon and there ho won tho
game.
Inside of an hour tho country was ringing
with his declaration that tho predatory interests
were endeavoring to seize tho high parliament
of the democracy and sell It Into bondage to
Wall street. Daringly enough, ho singled out
those two shocked persons, Thomas Fortuno
Ryan and August Belmont .and used thorn as
Exhibits A and B, respectively, to prove that
the money devil and his imps wore thero in their
proper persons. They were merely modest dele
gates, but William had them on exhibition In an
entirely different guise. Insldo of 12 hours tho
telegraph companies began to reap a golden har
vest from the frightened democrats "back
home," who sent messages to their chosen repre
sentatives to resist with all tholr power this
fiendish attempt to throttle liberty. If thoy
couldn't see their way clear to do this, tho
messages said, they wero requested to remain
in Baltimore the rest of their days or run tho
risk of being tarred and feathered and carried
on a rail if they dared to show their faces in
Cohosh or wheresoevor they hailed from.
Just as they wero breathing easier after tho
first batch of telegraphed Indignation and per
emptory orders, William delivered tho second
installment by offering his now momorablo reso
lution; inviting Messrs. Ryan and Belmont to go
away from thero and pledging tho party not to
nominate any ono who owed them monoy,
marbles or chalk or who bolioved that thoy wero
otherwise than direct descendants of the Ac
cuser of the Brethren. That finished them for
all offensive purposes and then he landed tho
knockout or bacon-producing punch by leaving
Hon. Champ Clark for having accepted tho sup
port of Now York. They couldn't get away from
his blows. Like the more or less punk pugilist
who was receiver-general for a fine fusillade of
wallops, "their feet stuttered." Hon. Champ
fell exactly 1,000 feet and 6 Inches straight
down into oblivion, emitting loud cries as ho
whizzed bottomward. Now, Bryan was on to
Clark's game for months and months. He was
awaro that there was a deal on right hero In
Ohio with the Harmon outfit which kept the
speaker's name off the preference primary bal
lot. Tho proof came when Clark came rushing
over from Washington and in his rage demanded
to know "why Ohio had not kept that agree
ment." What agreement? For an answer
please address a postal card to tho now closed
Harmon headquarters here. Clark's action was
water on his wheel. So was the blistering attack
of John B. Stanchfield, of New York, referring
to him as a lot of things that were extremely
"un-nice." William simply smiled inscrutably.
Inside tho convention hall John B. was hailed as
a hero. Outside of it he was regarded by tho
now raging rank and file as a demon with
pronged horns, a cloven hoof and a long and
prehensile tail. General result: Moro tele
grams in bunches, baskets and bales.
After that it was a cakewalk. The bosses
whose heads wero not completely swathed in
adipose tissue began to take counsel with them
selves. They were hearing the thunder and
seeing the lightning. If there is anything tho
politician despises and fears it Is getting caught
out in a shower of popular indignation. Up
went tho umbrellas ono by one, and one by ono
tho bosses began scooting for shelter.
Like the penitent' thief on tho cross they sent
word to Bryan to remember them when he carao
"into his kingdom." On the exterior they pre
tended to be brave, but on the interior tholr
cowardly natures wero at work. "Bryan or
Wilson" was tho ultimatum that tho people were
sending, 'and their teeth were chattering lest tho
chance to act would get away. They saw to it
that it did not. There was a fine "bunk" play
over "releasing" delegates from their "obliga
tions." That was tho slapstick number on the
program. Tho fact was that the delegates were
releasing themselves, and doing it, doing it,
doing it. Each boss, bosslet and bosslkin wag
watching tho other so that there shouldn't be
any advantage gained in hopping .across the
line. So all at once, on tho forty-sixth ballot,
Mr. Bryan, calmly fanning himself with an even
ing newspaper, watched with twinkling eyes the
whole herd bolting through the gap in the fence
ho had opened. All the power of the bosses, all
WHEN CLARK MISSED HIS CHANCE
San Francisco Star: Bryan "camo back"
next day, while tho band played "Annlo Laurlo,"
and thenceforth, to tho very end, ho wan the
acknowledged leader and guiding spirit of tho
convention.
He could not bo cajoled, nor flattered, nor
betrayed, by tho onomy. Ho defied all threats
and resistod nil blandishments.
Ho did not deny tho charge that ho was work
ing to secure tho presidential nomination for
himself a charge made by scheming cowards
who never did, novor will, and novor can under
stand tho truo groatness of his character. Ha
simply rammed and jammed tho lie down their
throats by doing tho vory things no man would
havo thought of doing If ho only wished to
gratify vaulting ambition.
For Instance, tho famous resolution, which
will become historical, denouncing by name, and
in their presence, the arch-conspirators who
pose as democrats, and all members of the
"privilege-hunting and favor-seeking class," was
not calculated to glvo Bryan a two-thirds vote
for president In a convention which had failed
to give him a majority voto for temporary
chairman I No, It was meant to make the
democratic convention democratic. And it did so.
When Bryan styled tho New York delegation,
Murphy's "ninety wax figuros," or puppets
moved about by Wall street wires; and when he
withdrew his support from Chnmp Clark bo
causo tho latter and most of his friends In the
convention had been too "yielding" to tho cor
rupt combination thero, did this in Bryan "seem
ambition?"
Bryan's fight throughout was that of a
patriot. It was for principle, for genuine de
mocracy, and for tho plain people, of whom
Lincoln said: "God must have loved them
pretty much, or ho would not havo mado so
many of thorn."
If Champ Clark had not mado William Ran
dolph Hearst his chief advisor, wo do not believe
ho would have been so non-committal when
aBked on which side ho stood as to Parker for
temporary chairman. Ono blast from his buglo
horn would havo prevented Parker's selection,
and mado Clark tho democratic nominee for
president.
"Once to every man and nation comes tho mo
ment to decide,
In tho strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the
good or evil side;
Some great cause, God's new Messiah offering
each the bloom or blight,
Parts tho goats upon tho left hand, and the
sheep upon tho right."
Wilson's greatest asset when ho entered the
convention, was the fact that ho had come out
strongly against Parker for temporary chair
man. That, with tho splendid record ho has
mado as an uncompromising progressive during
tho past few years, together with Bryan's sup
port and Hearst's vicious opposition, made him
tho democratic nominee for president, to which
high offlce wo confidently believe ho will be
elected in November next.
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Portland (Oregon) Journal: It was
almost national acknowledgement that,
through all these years, Mr. Bryan has
been right and his opponents wrong. It
was thunderous indorsement, after 20
years, of that for which Mr. Bryan has
striven, and a thunderous clamor from
tho rank and file of an opposing party
for tho application at Washington of tho
policies that Mr. Bryan had never aban
doned, never compromised and never
failed to defend.
If Mr. Bryan fought for progresslve
ness when it was friendless, why should
ho not fight for it in its triumph? If he
fought for it when it was jeered at, why
should he not fight for it when tho whole
country wants it?
When tho things ho has battled for
throughout his political career are on
the evo of triumph, why should Mr.
Bryan permit thimblerigging politicians
at Baltimore to cheat him, and tho coun
try, out of tho fruits of his struggle?
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