The following
BRYAN ON BOLTING.
extracts are from
a letter written by William Jennings
Bryan to Hon. Geo. A. Garden of Dallas ,
Texas , on February 18 , 1890. They
were published in the Chatham , N. Y. ,
"Republican" in September , 1890 :
"In June , 1895 , I was discussing the
silver question at Jackson , Miss. , when
a gentleman in the audience asked me
if I would support a gold-standard can
didate on a gold-standard platform if
the democratic convention would nom
inate such a candidate. I answered
that , while I did not believe the demo
cratic party would take such action , I
would refuse to support the nominee in
the that it did select
event a gold-stan
dard candidate on a gold-standard plat
form. * * * I never retracted what
I said at Jackson , and I do not intend to.
No convention can rob me of my con
victions , nor can any party organization
drive me to conspire against the pros
perity and liberty of my country.
"I deny the right of a convention to
depart from the principles as taught by
the party in the past and then attempt
to bind those who shall participate in
the hope of holding the party to its
ancient position.
"Men who agree upon a principle can
submit their personal preferences to the
arbitrament of a convention , but men
who honestly differ upon the paramount
public questions cannot afford to be
harmonized by a national convention.
"Mr. Cleveland would not support a
free-silver candidate for the presidency ,
and he should not do so if he really
believes that free coinage would ruin
the country , because a man's duty to
his country is higher than his duty to
his party. "
THE CONSERVATIVE avers , without
fear of successful disproval , that Col.
Bryan , in 1892 , did not vote for Cleve
land electors , but voted for Weaver elec
tors.
FROM A PARTICULAR -
LAR TO A GENERAL. * * *
Croker and the
looting legions of Tammany Hall ,
raised his corn-husking and calloused
hands and related the report of his own
prosperity as a farmer and proceeded to
show that the report was a gross ex
. "If" he said "I
aggeration. , am a sam
ple of what is going on on the farm I
have some idea of what is taking place
there. "
The farmers who "farm the farmers"
are well represented by the fake farmer
Bryan. He plows with his tongue , fer
tilizes with oratory and reaps with self-
contradictory prophecy. His "First
Battle" was the fruit of 1890 and he
garnered his dollars from the fools who
followed his fallacies. THE CONSERVA
TIVE agrees with Col. Bryan when he
remarks : "If I am a sample of what is
going on on the farm , I have some idea
of what is taking place there. " And he
might have added that also the photo
graphic artist must have the same "idea"
and the yield of bucolic boots , patched
breeches and dilapidated felt hats in
rural-life photography , will be enormous
for the autumn of 1900. Reasoning
from a particular to a general , Bryan
can forecast a platoon of photographers
at work on every other twenty-acre
farm like his in the United States.
Bryan posing as a farmer is absurd. He
is no more a farmer than he is a states
man ; oratory cannot plow , plant or har
vest a crop any more than it can build
up and administer a republic.
Tne New York
imvAN _ . . _ , .
Evening Post , in
its leading editorial , October 18 , said :
"Before Bryan came to New York it
had been made plain that the dominat
ing issue of the campaign for the over
whelming majority of voters was not
Imperialism , or Trusts , or Silver , but
Bryanism as a whole Bryanism aa they
had already learned it. Since the visit
of the democratic-populist candidate to
this city , Bryanism itself has become a
more comprehensive thing than it was
before , including as it now does an open
alliance with Tammany and a personal
endorsement by the candidate of the
Tammany boss. Bryan's tribute night
before lost , "Great is Tammany , and
Croker is its prophet , " became at once a
part of his personal platform. His open
companionship with the most detested
politician in the country , and his appar
ent insensibility to the disgrace of such
an alliance , illuminate his own charac
ter. That the incident is bound to have
a powerful effect , in turning away from
Bryan voters who have been hesitating
hereto , is already clear. "
Not here. The elements of Bryanic
society in Nebraska , which are wildly
enthusiastic , are akin to the whooping-
up Oroker elements in New York. The
chum-like intimacy between Bryan and
boodle , represented by Oroker in New
York , will only intensify the admiration
of the personal following which Bryan
has in Nebraska for with here and
there an honorable exception they are
as alike as two herds of sheep , swine or
donkeys. They bloat , squeal or bray in
accord with their "boss. "
Addressing the
LIBERTY AND
assembled convicts
MONEY.
of the Sing Sing
penitentiary , during his New York tour ,
Col. could "lam not
Bryan say : op
posed to liberty for men who do not
steal , murder and ravish. " with the
same propriety that he said to Dick Cro
ker and his howling boodlers : "I am
not opposed to honestly acquired
wealth. "
Oroker got his wealth out of the
blackmail , levied upon criminality in
New York by Tammany hall , so did
every yelper at Bryan's heels in that
great procession of burglars , blacklegs ,
and vagabonds. Vote for Oroker and
you vote for Bryan for Bryan and you
endorse Oroker.
William L. Wilson -
.
son , former post
master-general of the United States ,
and more recently president of the
Washington and Lee University at Lex
ington , Virginia , died suddenly on
October 17 , 1900. His career was bril
liant and blameless. He became a dili
gent student in his earlier years and a
ripe scholar in middle life. His neigh
bors and friends sent him to congress ,
taking him from a professorship in the
University of West Virginia with
spontaneity and without asking him
whether they might do so or not. In
congress he soon made his mark as a
man of sincere convictions , profound
research and absolute honesty of pur
pose. He was lovable as a friend and
admirable as a teacher. In all the re
lations of life , public and private , he did
his duty with cheerfulness and always
conscientiously. It is impossible to
brief his career in the small space al-
loted to his memory in the present num
ber of THE CONSERVATIVE.
He was our guest here at Arbor Lodge
from April 29 , 1900 , until his return on
the 1st of May to his home in Lexington.
Since his departure we have received
two or three letters from him , all of
them cheerful , although each one indi
cated his conviction that he was grad
ually declining in life. Hereafter from
time to time THE CONSERVATIVE will
endeavor to do justice to the memory of
this great , good and faithful man.
At
A REFORM GUESS. _ _
Maryland , on Sept.
19 , 1890 , Mr. William J. Bryan said :
"If we win this fight now reform will
begin at once ; if we are defeated in
this campaign , there is nothing before
the people but four years more of harder
times and greater agitation , and then
the victory will come. Our opponents
say that they want to restore confidence ,
but the republican party cannot restore
prosperity in this country so long as
that prosperity is doled out to us by
foreigners who profit by our distress. "
NOTABLES. ° ? Saturday the
20th of October ,
1900 , a great crowd gathered at Ne
braska Oity to greet Senator Hauna , of
Ohio. He addressed the people briefly
at the court house. He talked plain
business in a straight-from-the-shoulder
style. He made a favorable impression.
In the evening the distinguished and
eloquent Stewart L. Woodford , spoke at
_ _ _ . the "Overland. "
Gen. Woodford.
His remarks .were
logical , in good taste and without abuse.
He made many friends by his instruc
tive and captivating oratory.