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The Commoner
VOL. 21, NO. 1
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Hearing from the People
Bolow will bo found extracts from a few of the
many Iottors received from Commoner readem
commenting on current ovonts:
J. F. Buchhoit, Pennsylvania. When I was
a young man, In tho campaign of 1896, I cast
my first presidential vote for you. I had tho
good fortune to hear you once during that cam
puign. I also road ovory Bpeech you made to
which I could gain access. Tho sound political
philosophy contained In your addresses and tho
genuine Democratic doctrine which you preached
did much to help mo find my proper place as
a cltlzon of tho republic and to givo me tho
point of viow that I bollevo evory citizen should
have if ho would oo true to the ideals for which
our country stands.
My interest in you and In tho things for which
you stand did not' not t .a 'o with that election.
I wjis ono of tho first subscribers to Tre Com
moner and have continued a subscriber to thib
day. Just a fow minutes ago I finished read
ing tho Docembor number. Tn past years, when
my duties woro not quite so exacting, I used to
sond you a number of subscriptions every year.
Since thon I have frequently paid for a number
of subscriptions and had tho magazine sent to
persons Who, I felt, were susceptible to the truth.
I havo bought all tho book you have published
and I havo followed your career closely during
all theso years. During tho campaigns of 1900
and 1908 I not only voted for you but I made
a dumber of speeches for you and tho cause. I
don't think this is tho only reason you did not
carry Pennsylvania.
I havo said tho foregoing in order that I may
the moro properly say what follows and that it
may bo clear that what I say is not merely the
outburst of a sudden or temporary enthusiasm
but a firm conviction ' that has been steadily
growing upon mo for twenty years, namely, that
you are the cleanest politician, the sincerest
friend of the common people, and the wisest and
most far-sooing statesman, irrespective of party,
In tho entire country, and furthermore, that you
are right now tho only hope of the Democratic
party. In saying those things I believe I am
.voicing the sentiment of millions of the best
Democrats throughout tho nation.
While it is true that you failed to attain tho
presidency in each of tho three campaigns in
which you were our standard bearer, it is also
true that you were RIGHT in every one of those
campaigns and no other candidate could have
polled as many votes as you did. Moreover,
everybody knows that in 1912 it was you who
put Woodrow Wilson into tho White House and,
again, that it was YOU who put him back into
office in 1916 when ho was hopelessly defeated
in the eftst. This you did in spite of tho fact
that tho adoption of policies to which you could
not subscribe (and which later carried us into
the war) had made it necessary to quit Wilson's
cabinet.
?uAtConsIstentIy PPSQd our entering the war
until tho last. If your advice had been taken
and your policies pursued it would not have been
necessary for us to go into It, and, even as it
was, if the matter had been submitted to the
people in a "solemn referendum" before the
congress, at tho request of the president, de
clared war, the result would have been a more
decided negative than the vote on the second
of November when the people were asked to
decide whether Wilsonism, under Cox leader
ship, should have a new lease of life. When
however, tho die was cast and we entered the
conflict, your personal opinions were immediate
ly suspended, and you did more than any other
private citizen for the success of our arms
Again, when the war was finally over and the
victory won, no other man, in or out of office,
did as much as you did to secure ratification
of the treaty and the league of nations cove-,
nant without reservations as long as there was
any hope of success.
When this became clearly impossible, invok
ing tho fundamental principle of majority rule
you adovqated a compromise with an adverse
majority, but an obstinate and infallible m
president, committing the most fatal blunder of
his life, insisted upon throwing this momentous
international question into the presidents? cam?
paign where it became the football of parSn
discussion. Not only that, the several amend
ments you offered to the party platform at the
even at that late hour, havo taken the league
question out of the campaign and prevented the
nomination of a "wet," were ruthlessly voted
down by a body of delegates who did jot rep
resent tho rank and file of the Democratic party.
In doing so they placed you in a position where
you could not, without stultifying yourself, take
an active part in the campaign, even if there had
been a chance of winning, which there was not.
. And what was the result? A defeat infinitely
worse than Parker's in 1904, when the party
was temporarily turned over to reactionary
leadership.
And now, what is the situation? The Demo
cratic party is not dead but it IS demoralized.
What it noeds is real, sane, progressive leader
ship, a leadership that will enable it to get back
to tho true Democratic- position on all the great
political, social, and economic questions that
press for solution. Where is this leadership to
be found? It would be an unpardonable libel
upon tho Democratic party to say that we do
not have a number of men who can qualify, but
why should we not have the BEST man? There
is only one BEST man, and that is William Jen
nings Bryan, the man who for twenty years has
stood without a peer in this country, the man
who, out of office, has been instrumental in put
ting upon our statute books, everl through the
medium of the opposition party, more progres
sive and remedial legislation than any other man
ever secured in office. It is YOU, Mr. Bryan,
that the Democratic party needs to lead us to
victory in the next campaign. As a humble
Democrat I appeal to you to assume your right
ful place again as the leader of the party and we
shall follow you.
Theo. E. Slinkard, Indiana.Accepting your
invitation to say something which might help
the democracy, and restore the confidence of the
people in it, we suggest, as to Indiana:
1. Election of the public service commission
by the people instead of appointment, as now
provided by law.
2. Change the constitution so that: (a). All
state and county officers be elected each four
years instead of part of them each two years
and some each six years; (b) So that registra
tion of voters apply only to cities of 4,000 and
over; (c) Increase the number of judges in the
supreme court to nine, and make three judges
of circuit courts,, intermediate courts of appeal,
requiring them to write and publish opinions
in civil cases.
-There is just one thing" needed in order to
again acquire public confidence for the democ
racy and that is to get back to Bryan and prin
ciples, forwarding the interests of the whole
people: " (a) Opposition to high tariffs, or tariffs
for protection; (b) Stringent laws against prof
iteering; (c) Stringent and effective laws against
grain gambling; (d) Federal taxes collected from
incomes, and luxuries; (e) Opposition to the
regulation of the people in their business affairs
in the matter of price fixing by laws and commissions.
J. H. Ketner, Texas.I think The Commoner
contains more good to the square inch4han any
other paper I know of. It is the biggest little
paper in the country, but when we stop for a
moment and think who its owner and editor is
we are not surprised in the least at such a won
derful little paper. Mr. Bryan is a man that
stands for everything that is right and against
everything that is wrong, and right will surely
win out in the end. Mr. Bryan is loved more
today by the good people of our land than ever
i0!?' ??w that we have stronS drink damped
out the thing that was the cause of nine-tenths
of all the meanness that was committed all
over the country, all other good things are sure
to follow for the good and the bad will not go
togetherthey are as far apart as the east from
the west. I hope and trust to the good Lord
above us all that some time yet in the future
Mr. Bryan will be elected to the high office of
President of the United States; then with all
the purity and goodness that he possesses he
will cause this land of ours to be a Heaven ou
earth so to speak. n ou
Mr. Bryan has won two victories since the
Democrat went down in defeat. First one is
that it shows to the people of the country that
by the Democrats getting defeated was because
they turned Mr. Bryan down at the San Fmncisco
convention and they could not accomplish any
thing without his help, and support. What? you
sow you must reap. The secorid victory is that
after the Republicans elected their man ' Mr",
Harding for President he sent for Mr. Bryan to
come and see him he wanted to confer with
him and get his' ideals of how he thought would
be the best way to run the affairs of our gov
ernment. Now I bolieve this is proof enough
to the people that Mr. Bryan is today more pop
ular than" ever before. I think thai a wan like
Williams Jqnnings Bryan, who has had the great
honor bestowed upon him three different times
to run for the high office of President, and to
never have anything brougtit up 'agaihst him
by either side that he ever did one dishonest
act, sure deserves creat praise from his fellow
man, .s
I am a Bryan Pemocrat, and I am for Mr.
Bryan first, last and all the time. I voted for
him three different times for President andnot,
sorry for it, and I am waiting patiently for the
opportunity to vote for him the fourth "time. If
Mr. Bryan . is nominated gain for President,
which I believe ho will be, he will be elected by
the biggest majority any President ever was be
fore, for he will get all the prohibition votes
of both women and men of the entire country
and their strength will be felt in the presidential
elections in the future.
J. F. Clark,r Illinois. As a ' cfommercjal
traveler we boast of being one, of the strongest
Bryan men that ever traveled the road foV nearly
twenty-five years. In inany a. hotel lobby -'have
we, to speak roughly, gone to the carpet In de
fense of the principles enunciated bythe Great
Commoner.
When one thinks back over those twenty
yeas of trials and struggles we 'cannot help but
ponder how the people could be so unappreoia
tive of the things political that Bryan has pre
sistently endeavored to" make jilear to them fit
is inconceivable that the masses could be so
indifferent.
In 1904 I attended the St. Louis convention,
where we were all treated to Mr. Pulitzer's Post
Dispatch and New York World, ante-mortem
obituary editorials of how Bryan had .fallen.
"Wonderful" and oh, 'how considerate were their
analyses on the Bryan corpse. And Walter
Wellman's Chicago Herald's aticles, too; how he
too had poor Bryan relegated to the ranks of
"Exploded phenoms" and the "Mighties fallen."
It was rich while it lasted. But, oh, what a rude
awakening was there. What a beautiful sur
prise was in store for these famous and truly
wise publicists.
It 'took less than fifteen minutes from- the
time that the oragnization of that convention
was well under way for these would-be grave
diggers of Bryan's to get one of the most laugh
able jolts that was ever meted out to a conceited
bunch of politicians in any political organiza
tion. It is needless jto go into details as to what
took place in that convention except to state
that those who came under the wrath of Bryan
never recovered from the wounds olf"the lash
ing received. They went there bent on burying
Bryan, and when the clouds had cleared they,
all of them, Belmont, Hill, Sullivan, Hopkins,
Senator Daniels and, later, their candidate Park
er, were in due time eliminated as factors in
the party. Baltimore eight years later was only
practice when one considers what Bryan did at
St. Louis. Any one with a grain of sense -would
havo known that Parker's chances of election
were too ridiculous to even consider seriously.
The same was true of "jx.
The funniest thing of this whole political sit
uation is that even after getting such' over
whelming bumps these same political leaders,
or their proteges, still seem to think that they
can name a .winner without a passport from
paXs thGr6 ta r0m fr-tW0 SIS
- If any business man, retailer or commercial
traveler should display so little judgment of
human nature, how long would they continue hi
the business? Of all men, political leaders seVm
to learn the least from experience.
In the years to come and the battles to be
fought to again put the party in right with
the voters, now at sea, it -will no doubt be the
same old story, we will all sit back and le?
Scthat "' and tW? "Withstanding
year. now rounding out his 60th
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Will E. Purrlv 1aa,?- t tl .
StfLd0Bfld your 8ta p0!
J tical. problems up to and including the conven
tion at San Francisco, where I s a deUgaU
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