! v
Jl
Conservative "
* I"
monopoly by a tariff law which prevents
any one else from rendering it to our
people , dictating the rates of duty in
that law as a reward for the assistance
of their wealth in electing the dominant
party. And in all the uncertainty about
other trusts , one thing is certain ; pull
the teeth of the Tariff Trusts by remov
ing the duties which protect them , and
those trusts , at least , will no longer bite
hard enough to hurt.
HENRY W LAMB.
THE GOLD DEMOCRATS.
In view of the near approach of the
democratic convention at Kansas City ,
and the probable nomination of Mr.
Bryan , most of the sound money demo
crats are undergoing much searching of
heart and much trouble of mind. What
is to be their attitude in the coming
campaign ?
Coming back from the Indianapolis
convention in September , 1806 , I re
member how much talk there was to the
effect that the importance of the
national democratic movement lay not
alone in the immediate campaign , but
that we were working for the future.
It is well to recall that sentiment now.
There are some people so curiously
constituted that no matter how often
they are deceived , they are always ready
to accept the name for the thing the
shadow for the substance. Just as there
were so many democrats four years ago
who were ready to accept the populistic
doctrines of the Chicago platform as
democracy , so there are now some sound
money democrats who are showing a
tendency to accept the Chicago candi
date provided the platform be altered.
If any one thing is certain in Ameri
can politics , it is that candidates are of
much more importance than platforms.
Who , for instance , looking back upon
the last four years , can claim that the
republican platform was of any serious
importance ? It subordinated the issue
that controlled the election ; and aboul
the momentous questions that have since
arisen it was as silent as its candidate
i tried to be as to the word "gold. "
1 Horace Greeley's plan of accepting the
candidate and "spitting upon the plat
form , " theoretically immoral as it was ,
had , after all , considerable basis in com
mon sense. The political platform is
less a stationary structure than a gar
ment fashioned of a substance which
shall , like changeable silk , appear ol
various colors according to the position
of the beholders when worn for the
campaign ; and which the candidate can
afterwards put on or off as it suits his
convenience or pleasure.
Such being the case , is it sensible to
regard Mr. Bryan with equanimity this
year when we rejected him four years
ago ? Can any one point to any change
in Mr. Bryan that makes him less
objectionable as a possible president
except renewed comparison with Mr.
McKinley ?
To mo the fact that Mr. Bryan did ac
cept the Chicago platform has always
seemed of far less importance than that
10 could accept it. Every man is liable
to make mistakes , but Mr. Bryan in
every word that ho said in his campaign
of 1896 showed himself a superficial
demagogue. Are we to suppose that in
the four years that have elapsed he has
so changed as to be a suitable candidate
for president ? Had he done anything
of value during that four years , made
any effort to learn wisdom or acquire
experience , we should bo inclined to
give him the benefit of the doubt , but
his career lias been that of the political
agitator ; and such a training is not
what is necessary to remedy Mr. Bryan's
faults. It is not only his adopting and
clinging to the wrong side of a bad issue ;
it is his dropping the tariff issue just as
it was about to reappear in its most
selfish and subtle form as the new im
perialism , his bringing about the ratifi
cation of the Spanish treaty which could
easily have been amended , his absolute
lack of training in any business , his
ignorance of affairs in short , his whole
make-up as a brilliant but shifty
rhetorician that makes Mr. Bryan the
undesirable candidate that the national
democrats declined to support in 1896
and that they should decline to support
in 1900.
What sense is there in agreeing to ac
cept Mr. Bryan as a candidate providing
only he will alter the cut of his coat , or
the platform on which he stands ? The
man himself is the question. Mr. Bryan
is his own platform.
But granted for a moment that this
picture I have drawn is untrue , can Mr.
Bryan unite the forces opposed to the
administration ? Obviously not. Whether
the picture above presented is true or
not , it is accepted by thousands of
earnest men , including many of those
whose presence in the democratic party
in the past has carried it to victory.
There could be no real union under Mr.
Bryan , even if there were no third
candidate in the field. The anti-im
perial republican , the sound money
democrat , the independent , could only
be silent , trying vainly to decide which
is the greater of two evils in this case
a hopeless task The moral fervor of the
campaign will be lost , and the issue will
not bo fairly mot.
The only honest and manly part , as it
seems to mo , for the national democrats
to play is this : endeavor , first of all , to
persuade the democrats at Kansas City
to place before the people a candidate
who could not only unite all democrats ,
but will attract all independents , all
waverers , all republicans who refuse to
follow their party along the now path.
Failing in that , to join forces with all
those who refuse to choose between two
evils , and place a third ticket in nouii-
nation. Thus , and only thus , can there
bo registered the full vote against the
brutal and selfish policy of the McKinley
loy administration.
There is a prejudice against third can
didates , which I share in common with
others ; but there are times when the
self-respecting voter cannot choose , and
unless ho wishes to disfranchise himself ,
he must vote a third ticket , and it is not
by any means the impracticable thing it
is often represented to be. Who were
the practical voters of fifty years ago ?
The men who were clinging to the
tottering ruins of their old parties , or
the free soil democrats , the conscience
whiga , and the Fremont republicans ?
THOMAS M. OSBOKNE.
Auburn , N. Y. , June 23 , 1900.
In New York Evening Post.
THE 1'AllIS EXPOSITION.
A friend , touring in Europe , writes
the following interesting letter to THE
CONSERVATIVE :
"I have so often thought of yon in my
wanderings , and wished you might have
been with us. For three months we
have seen the appleblossom. Leaving
here and hurrying on to Rome , and
thence to Naples and then I wont to
historic Pompeii. It is my fifth visit ,
and I was most fortunate while I was
there , or rather the day before , they had
discovered a wall garden , upon which
was frescoed the picture of the chase ;
the greyhound was perfect in color ,
beautiful in action , and the deer was all
that any artist of the last part of the
eighteenth century could paint. There
was not a crack upon the fresco on the
wall. Just think ; that had been
slumbering for almost 3,000 years. From
there I hurried on , and found the most
beautiful spot in the old world , or even
in the new , Aix-les-Bains. It is said
that the ancient Romans used to make
pilgrimages to that beautiful spot to
renew their youth. The baths are some
thing wonderful. I really felt ten years
younger after taking them. It is situ
ated upon the border of a beautiful lake ,
surrounded by snow-capped mountains.
The scenery is bold and grand. Being
on the border of Italy , the people's
voices blend the softness of the Italian
and the brightness of the French. From
there I hurried on , much to my disgust
afterwards , to gay Paris , to see the
Exposition , which probably will be
finished some time in August or first of
September. Our building is a disgrace
to our country , both in exterior and
interior. Japan , China , and even Ceylon
far exceed it in beauty of architecture.
I never saw anything more disgraceful
than our barren , cold building ; huddled
in between Italy and Germany. You
would never discover it were it not for
the flag that flies on the dome. Yet the
exposition is exceedingly interesting ;
much moro than I expected. The
pictures and statuary are something
* >