Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 February 1915 — Secretary Bryan Did Not Suit General Assembly Democrats. [ARTICLE]

Secretary Bryan Did Not Suit General Assembly Democrats.

•Secretary Bryan did not meet the unqualified endorsement of democratic members of the legislature when he urged woman suffrage, direct primaries, the initiative, referendum and recall and a constitutional convention. In fact, the general assembly democrats seemed to think that the secretary was somewhat out of place when he tried to dictate legislation in Indiana. A Washington dispatch suggests Mr. Bryan threw a monkey wrench into the machinery which caused a little jar but did no particular damage. The Indianapolis Star, advocate for the past two years of the progressive platform plank that declared for the initiative, referendum and recall, prints an editorial headed: “The Same Old William J. Bryan.” He points out some of the things Bryan has advocated during his nineteen years of prominence and says: “In theory he is an idealist, but like most theorists, he is impractical. He has performed a great service to the nation in awakening the public conscience, but with all his experience he has not developed into a constructive statesman. He is still the cross- of-gold-and-crown-of - thorns type of leader. Evidently the Star is not so strong for "the Initiative, referendum and recall” as it was last year. The Star has little confidence in Bryan and apparently is sidestepping some of the issues of the antiTaft party.