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"Cbc Conservative.
Herald , covering the story of the
national election on Wednesday morn
ing , shocked the readers of that news
paper. In bold and glaring letters were
the words the mob used 2,000 years ago :
"Not this man , but Barabbas. "
The inference was plain. The com
parison was between Jesus , the Christ ,
and W. J. Bryan ; between William
McKinley and Barabbas , the bandit ;
between the sovereign voters of America
and the frenzied mob. Taken clear out
side of its religious bearing , the head
line was an insult to the minds and
consciences of the American people.
What wild devotee penned those lines ,
The Examiner does not know , neither
does it care. They were there , blazoned
to the thousands who read , and they
read a condemnation by the people
whose sentence cannot lightly ' * be
evaded.
The Examiner protests against mak
ing a Christ out of William Jennings
Bryan. It protests against making n.
bandit and law breaker out of Willitu-i
McKinley. It protests against making
a mob out of the law-abiding , peace-
loving and intelligent American citizen
ship. It protests against any attempt to
refuse consideration of the truth and
reasonableness of defeat , and the evasion
of admission that honesty and ad
herence to principle are the forceful
facts which the American people
demand.
Bryan a Christ ! What blasphemy
and unutterable sacrilege ! He who
pandered to the prejudices of the mob ,
who sought to array rich against poor
and poor against rich , who went among
the harlots , publicans and sinners of
Tammany led by Oroker , not for in
fluencing to higher , better life , but for
gaining their assistance to make him a
political ascendant. Yet it is only fair
to say that no one would condemn such
a mad comparison so quickly as Bryan
himself. His personal piety and purity
of life must rebel against such sacrilege.
Whatever fault he may have executed
in recognizing Croker does not militate
against our belief in his honest religious
belief. That he made men mad with
enthusiasm cannot be accounted against
him , however unwise his words and
actions leading , to such worship may
have boon.
Neither can the editor or the publisher
of the World-Herald be censured.
Doubtless they were ignorant of , the
publication. Yet why should it have
been permitted to appear a second time ?
The World-Herald owes an apology to
the decent citizenship of this country
for those lines. For Bryan's sake , for
the sake of honest admiration that
thousands hold for Mr. MoKinley as
pure a-man as Bryan , and as good for
the sake of its own self-respect , this
apology should not bo delayed. The
Examiner.
EXPLAINS MORTON INCIDENT.
Senator Jones said that one of the un
fortunate incidents of the campaign had
been a misunderstanding , through
which he had severely criticised J. Ster
ling Morton. The senator made the fol
lowing statement with regard to the af
fair :
"A telegram from Nebraska City ,
published in the Chicago newspapers ,
stated that the Hon. J. Sterling Morton
would publish a letter of Mr. Bryan ,
using the words , 'The letter is as fol
lows : ' Then followed a letter which I
supposed was complete. I did not see
the letter published in THE CONSERVA
TIVE , Mr. Morton's paper.
"Within a few days the letter was
again published , and it then appeared
that a material part had been left out in
the former publication. Supposing that
the dispatch was accurate , I believed
that Mr. Morton had published a muti
lated letter as a complete letter , and I
used harsh language toward Mr. Morton
as a consequence of this conviction.
"A copy of THE CONSERVATIVE has
been sent me since , and I see by it that
in the first publication Mr. Morton pub
lished the entire letter without mutila
tion , that my criticisms of him were
therefore unjust and not well founded.
I regret this exceedingly , as I dislike to
do any man injustice , and I make this
statement in justice to him as well as to
myself , and give it out in the same way
that I gave out the criticism of him ,
hoping that if I have done him any in
jury by the former publication that this
will correct it. " Chicago Daily News.
WOULD NOT HEAK ADVICE.
A certain well-known member of the
democratic state central committee of
Nebraska duplicates the charge that
was first sprung by members of the
national committee that the knife of
treachery was thrust into William Jen
nings Bryan in this state and was twist
ed around several times.
This charge is not surprising , in view
of the fact that Bryan ran several thous
and votes behind Poynter , and also ran
behind pretty nearly everybody else on
the whole gamut of the fusion ticket
from governor to assessor. But it pos
sesses increased interest from the fact
that the individual managers in this
state viewed this treachery with
equanimity.
Would Hun Campaign Himself.
This feeling toward Bryan on the part
of some of the fusion management dates
back to the Kansas City convention and
has grown because of the stubborn in
sistence of Bryan to run the campaign
as it suited himself , and not as his com
mittees advised. Because of this some
of the managers of the fusion party in
this state have been almost hostile to
Bryan. They but represented the feel
ing of a portion of the rank and file a
fact indicated by the election returns.
Among the many democratic poli
ticians who visited Bryan in Lincoln just
prior to the Kansas City convention for
no other purpose than to persuade him
to drop the money question as an issue
were many prominent fusion Ne-
braskans. Chairman Hall of the state
central committee was one of these.
Bryan refused to listen to them , as he
did to the others , and that started the
resentment against him that developed
later in the campaign.
Would Not Stop Talking.
Later a number of democratic man
agers were just as unsuccessful in an
attempt to dissuade Bryan from making
his eastern tour of the country. They
advised him to speak but four or five
times during the campaign , and to de
liver then as carefully prepared addresses
as that which he delivered at Indian
apolis.
But Bryan would make the stumping
trip. Some of these advisers are now
saying : "I told you so , " and point out
some of Bryan's utterances which have
been generally regarded as having been
decidedly iujuiious to his cause.
This criticism is in decided contrast to
the feeling among fusionists four years
ago. Bryan emerged from the battle of
1896 a somewhat dilapidated idol , but
still an idol as far as this state was con
cerned. Today the managers of his
parties in this state are blaming Bryan
himself for his overwhelming defeat.
Omaha News.
A CORIMECTION.
A friend of Mr. Morton calls the at
tention of the News to the fact , as he
states it , that the Bryan letters recently
printed in various newspapers were not
letters written by Mr. Bryan to Mr.
Morton , but were letters to various pop
ulists and others. In commenting upon
the matter the News took occasion , act
ing on the belief that Mr. Morton had
given them out , to animadvert upon the
man whose political rancor would allow
him to violate the seal of confidence
placed on all correspondence between
gentlemen. The fact that the letters
were printed in Chicago newspapers as
coming from Nebraska City led the
News into the error of believing they
were given out by Mr. Morton , espe
cially as he had previously given out
one letter from Mr. Bryan to himself.
His friend says they were not , and that
they had previously been printed in
state papers , having been secured by a
special correspondent who had been
digging around the state. Lincoln
Evening News.
QUESTIONS FOR _
Binf ANARCHISTS. pl aRecord , ( Ind.
dem. ) suggests the
pertinent interrogation , "What one of
the republican leaders contributed HO
much to republican victory as did Rich
ard Oroker ? " THE CONSERVATIVE
makes another query : "What republi
can contributed so much to the success
of that party as did William Jennings
Bryan ? "
