a
Conservative.
th °
TWO LEADERS.
est and fearless
leadership of Grover Cleveland , the
democratic party obtained control of the
executive and both branches of the
legislative department of the national
government and in addition elected gov
ernors in nearly every one of the mid
dle states. In 1896 the party repudiat
ed the administration of Mr. Cleveland
and the policies for which he stood , ac
cepted Mr. Bryan as the party leader
and endorsed his cheap money vagaries.
Mr. Bryan's popnlistio pandering has
lost to democracy all the prestige secur
ed for it , in national and state administration -
* " tration , by Mr. Cleveland. The demo
cratic party today is without a gover
nor in a single middle or eastern state
ana Is a hopeless minority in both
houses of congress. In 1896 Mr. McKinley -
ley , standing upon a platform endorsing
the financial policy of Grover Cleveland ,
was elected president. * In 1900 , upon
the issue of sound money , he is again
victorious. The republican party is
now in control of both houses of con
gress and is in charge of the state gov
ernment of every northern state save
three small silver states in the Rookies.
All , this the republican party has at
tained merely by following democratic
precedent. The position the democratic
party would now occupy in public con
fidence , if it had only adhered to its
principles and remained true to former
leadership , is apparent.
Yet misguided followers enthusiasti
cally refer -to Mr. Bryan as a "peerless
leader. " Mrv Bryan is now grooming
himself for a "third" battle. Mr. Cro-
ker appears to be willing. Immediately
following the announcement of Mr.
McKinley's re-election , Mr. Oroker sent
to Mr. Bryan the following significant
telegram , ' -defeated but not dismayed. "
Will the democrats of. "the nation
acquiesce in another campaign under
a twin leadership" of Bryan and
Choker ?
For many years
STEELE.For
HON. W. B. STEELE.
the editor of THE
CONSERVATIVE has known and admired
the learned , eloquent and very able law
yer and publicist whose name heads
this notice. He is the foremost citizen
of South Dakota and without an equal at
the bar of that state. In a recent
speech at Deadwood , Colonel Steel
said :
"The greatest objection that I have to
Mr. Bryan , the greatest objection that I
have to his teaching is that he goes out
into the country and preaches disquiet
and unrest and discontent. He attempts
to array class against class ; the laborer
against the employer ; nationality
against nationality.
"Why , four years ago for the first
time in the history of this country a
candidate for the
Ho Commends LI lira. . , . . ,
presidency tried
to array class against class , and even got
so near the ward politician that he eaid :
'I will tell MoKin-
you boys , you wear -
.ey buttons and vote for me. " ( Laugh
ter. ) Thank God , no man in this coun
try has to wear any man's button unless
10 wants to , but the idea of a man aim
ing at the highest office in the world ,
the presidency of the United States ,
being guilty of advising his fellow citi
zens to do what ? To do an unnecessary
piece of lying. He is doing the same
thing this time.
"The grand old democratic party that
used to stand for and mean something ;
, that stood for the
The Democracy. . , . . . , . , . .
right of the indivi
dual against all sumptuary laws ; that
stood for the rights of the states against
the aggression of the federal govern
ment ; that stood for the maintenance
of the rights of the states of individual
liberty everywhere ; has reached at last
so poor an estate that it wants men to
wear the other fellow's button and vote
for it. And I say that more danger ,
more damage , has been wrought in this
country since William Jennings Bryan
was nominated in Chicago than has
ever been done to it in all its political
history. ( Applause. ) The declarations
of the platform of 1896 , which taught
the people , or attempted to teach the
people , disrespect for their chief magis
trate for performing his sworn duty or
undertaking to teach them disrespect for
their supreme court , has done more to
bring on discontent , disquiet and un
rest than anything that has ever oc
curred in this country before ; and
these outrages against free speech which
have occurred in different parts of the
country , are , in my judgment , plainly
traceable to that kind of pernicious and
damnable teaching. "
Colonel Steel was formerly a member
of congress and as an influential and re
spected democrat commanded universal
respect.
THE
THE FUTURE OF
DEMOCRACY.TIVE publishes elsewhere -
where in this issue
the opinions of prominent democratic
papers and well-known democrats upon
the significance of Mr. Bryan's defeat.
There seems to be a general feeling
throughout the East and South in favor
of the elimination of the free-silver
heresy from future platforms of the
party and breaking away from the de
moralizing association of populism.
That such a regeneration may take place
THE CONSERVATIVE fondly hopes.
FAMILIARITY. . .
place their daugh
ters under the guardianship of procur
esses in order to protect their virtue ,
democrats will allow men like Morton ,
Dickinson and Whitney to reorganize
the democratic party. Omaha World-
Herald.
Man draws his metaphors , similes ,
comparisons from those things with
which he is on the most intimate and
familiar terms.
The rumor floats
A SCHOOL OF
PROPHECY. through the air
that instead of be
coming a Presbyterian preacher to ex
pound the doctrine of foreordinatiou and
election , or transmuting himself into an
editor of a yellow journal at Denver ,
Colonel Bryan may establish a School
of Prophecy at Lincoln. This being ac
complished he will himself take the
chair of Economic and Financial Predic
tions while Constantine J. Sm-y-th ,
James Dahlmau , Gen. Vifquain and
other past grand forecasters of election
returns will lecture upon the Theories
and Practice of Prophecy. For terms of
tuition , address Gilbert Monell Hitch
cock , World-Herald office , Omaha ,
Nebraska.
The conscience
SINGULAR.
which declares it
perfectly right and proper for a silver
democrat to vote for a populist nominee
for the presidency and wicked , to the
last degree , for a gold democrat to sup
port a republican nominee for the presi
dency , is a singular function in ethics.
It is meet for a sixteen-to one demo
crat to vote for Towne or Bryan or any
other populist , but vile and disgraceful
for a believer in the gold standard to
vote for a republican of the same finan
cial faith. It is comely and decent for
silver to fuse with nickel , lead , pewter
or mud ; but for gold to fuse with gold
is an unpardonable political crime.
George Fred
THE PASSING OF
WILLIAMS. Williams , who by
accident in 1896 ,
became the leader of the democratic
party in Massachusetts , has received a
severe set-back which will terminate his
career as a leader of democratic politics
in the New England States. Of this
erstwhile political "boss" the Boston
Evening Record , ( Rep. ) says :
"J. R. Thayer , the democratic nomi
nee for congress in the Worcester
( Mass. ) district , who was condemned
because of his sound money views by
Williams , the present leader of the
Massachusetts democrats , won over
Washburn by about 100 votes , although
the district gave McKinley a majority
of 9,000.
GOLD DEMOCRATS. The old guard
of Democracy , the
honor-bright adherents ' to the gold
standard , the disciples of the financial
theories and policies of Andrew Jackson ,
Thomas H. Benton , Samuel J. Tilden and
Grover Cleveland are not arraying them
selves in ashes and sack-cloth for the
purpose of attending the inauguration
of Colonel Bryan next March , notwith
standing he prescribed for them that
style of dress suits upon their attempt
to enter the 16 to 1 household.