4 Conservative
COL. JOHN P. IKISII ON COL. BRYAN.
The secoiid campaign of Mr. Bryan is
arranged with artfulness and design
that were absent from that of 1890 ,
which was made in the honeymoon of
his ambition. He is now attempting to
accomplish what he then threatened ,
and has the advantage of the most ex
traordinary situation disclosed by the
history of American politics. He is at
liberty , if elected , to reduce to working
plans the whole Chicago platform , effect
the overthrow of the gold standard , turn
backward the progress of financial
reform , introduce Calamity Weller's
"more and fitteuor currency , " embark
the country in government ownership
and operation of railways and all the
instruments of commerce , and to revo
lutionize the government itself by intro
ducing direct legislation through the
initiative and referendum , which will
abolish representative institutions ,
transfer the veto from the executive to
the ballot box , and obsolete the judicial
courts. He is pledged to all this in the
several platforms upon which he has
accepted his second nomination , and
proposes to secure power to effect it , by
to the anti- sentiment
an appeal antiexpansion
ment of the country which regrets the
unsolved problems left by the Spanish
war. I affirm and pass over his respon
sibility for those problems , assumed
when he successfully lobbied the ratifi
cation of the treaty of Paris. His ex
cuse for that is unworthy a leader of
men , for he declares that he favored the
treaty lest holding it up to amend out of
it the Philippine purchase , would have
caused "public agitation" . His fear of
agitation is like a fish pleading fear
of the water.
You will indulge mo in a brief ex
amination of the merits and sincerity of
his auti-expansion views. lu the first
place he relies upon the South for 120 elec
toral votes , and in that section the senti
ment in favor of holding the Philippines
is practically unanimous. The opposition
is in the Middle states , New England
and the mediterranean region of the
upper Mississippi valley. His present
most active supporters were the first
advocates of taking and holding the
Philippines. In August , 1898 , Senator
Morgan of Alabama , in a speech in Son
Francisco , said : "Our flag is hoisted in
the Philippines and the American people
will never consent to haul it down.
That flag will remain. The hand of
God planted it there. "
Hearst's Hypocrisy.
His chief newspaper support is from
W. E. Hearst's triplets , the New York-
Journal , Chicago American and San
Francisco Examiner. On June 27th ,
1898 , Hearst hoisted over his papers in
big type , "An American policy for an
American people. Nail the flag to the
Philippines. " He is now president of
the national association of Bryan clubs ,
and is talking about the constitution.
Aug. Oth , 1898 , he denounced as "little
Americans , Terries and Copperheads , "
all who opposed holding the Philippines ,
and said wo should hold them with an
army "the cost of which will be paid
out of the island revenues , on which it
will be a proper charge. " In the same
year and mouth , in the Examiner , he
said we must hold them because they
are treasure islands and it will pay ; that
being there "by right of conquest , the
American flag must be nailed to the
Philippine flagstaff , " and if Aguinaldo
resisted he would have to answer for it
to an American army.
In an editorial bitterly abusive of Mr.
Cleveland , he said : "It is in the right
and power of congress to devise any
sort of system that may apply to such
dependencies , and this power is in no
wise limited by the national constitu
tion , nor does its application involve
any modification of our domestic sys
tem. " Again he said : "We can rule
in the Philippines unhampered by the
provisions of the constitution. "
Constitution and tlio Flag.
Passing now to Mr. Bryan's platform ,
what does it propose ? It declares that
the constitution follows the flag , and
that the Philippines are to be alienated
if he get the power. But the constitu
tion is not to be treated like the resolu
tions of a debating society. No one
questions that the treaty of Paris put
the flag in the Philippines , and Senator
J. K. Jones says : "The constitution is
there with all its blessings , immunities
and privileges. "
Now , the primary issue settled by our
civil war was that territory once under
the constitution cannot be alienated , for
that is a dissolution of the Union. Ac
cepting Mr. Bryan's theory and reduc
ing it to practice , if he be president and
let the Philippines go from under the
constitution , how can he stop South
Carolina from following ? Under his
theory anti-expansion becomes secession
and the settlement of the civil war is
reversed. Reaction as to the results of
the Spanish war is reasonably sure. If
the people have been deceived it is self-
deception , and they must extricate
themselves by enlightenment , but Mr.
Bryan's plan bars their extrication by a
constitutional question of the gravest
nature. It will be observed that the
Philadelphia platform is tentative iu its
declaration on the Philippines , while the
Kansas City platform professes to be
conclusive as to the flag and constitution
being there , and proposes a remedy that
then becomes impossible.
All this seems to have been known to
the men who made that platform , for a
vast majority of their constituency , be
ing iu the South , favors holding the
Philippines. If the indissolubility of
the union holds , they can hold the
Philippines. If the islands are alien
ated the constitutional theory held by-
Jefferson Davis is vindicated , the decree
of our civil war is vacated and the south
ern confederacy moves for a now trial.
With this scheme in view Mr. Bryan
asks the of the
support anti-expan
sionists in the North , joined to that of
the expansionists in the South to make
him president , If elected , he is bound ,
as an honest man , to not only abolish
our representative democracy , upset our
public credit , destroy Jefferson's doc
trine of inalienable right , but to dissolve
the union.
Brynn Lobbied The Treaty.
Surely cool headed anti-expansionists
will rather trust to that sober second
thought of the people to remedy any
evils inherent in the Paris treaty , lob
bied to ratification by Mr. Bryan , than
plunge into that chaos and black night
which he is pledged to bring about
unless he is as false to his professions as
Mokanna.
As for my own position as a sound
money democrat , I do not propose to
risk what has been gained and lose all
financial reform in prospect by permit
ting the election of Mr. Bryan , if I can
do anything to prevent it.
As the case stands , with Mr. Bryan
for president , the auti expansionists can
get what they want only at the cost of a
dissolution of the union , but the
Southern expansionists who support Mr.
Bryan will get the Philippines , substi
tute silver for gold as our standard , and
the populists will get greenbacks , gov
ernment ownership , the initiative and
referendum.
Mr. Bryan's anti-expansion kite is too
light for the tail it carries.
JNO. P. IRISH.
THE GERMAN-AMERICAN VOTERS.
Dr. Preetorius , editor of the West-
liche Post , one of the most influential
German papers in the United States ,
has given THE CONSERVATIVE the follow
ing authorized statement as published
in the St. Louis Censor , of the reasons
impelling him to oppose Mr. Bryan. It
is addressed more particularly to Ger
man-American voters :
"Yes , the Westliohe Post will continue
as heretofore to support the republican
party and candidates. I have not aban
doned my views nor do I consider it
necessary or possible for any man to
shape his principles to full conformity
in order to support a candidate or plat
form. The republican platform more
nearly fills the measure of my belief
than does the democratic , and it is nat
ural to give your own party the benefit
of any compromise that any man is
compelled to make who becomes an
integer of any party. Every man in
becoming so is compelled to concede
something , because the views or
opinions of no two men who were ever
created were in exact accord.
"The plank on expansion in the repub-