Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 121, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 October 1904 — WHAT BRYAN SAID [ARTICLE]

WHAT BRYAN SAID

When He Was Free to Speak Plainly Concerning Parker. Fr'ENDG CF FINANCIAL INTERESTS In Europe and America Dictated His Nomination—The Parker Candidacy Found Its Origin in Wall Street — The Integrity of the Supreme Court Would Be Menaced by His Election. Mr. Bryan's participation in the present campaign is occasioned simply and solely by a desire to preserve his party regularity. Mr. Bryan knows the truth of what Mr. John B. Stoll, chief among the Indiana reorganizers, has declared in a public statement, namely, that a victory for Parker is a defeat for Bryan and a defeat for Parker is a victory for Bryan. In the speeches Mr. Bryan has delivered in Indiana he has said enough to give the impression that he is supporting the ticket, and not enough to c avince any follower of his that he ought to do so. As.evidence of Mr. Frys '••> r 'al attitude toward the Parker ticket t'.e following extract from Mr. 8.-;-t'.'.'a- piper. “The Commoner,'’ is p: •

John Brksbi.ue Walker, t.1.,'. aiiiL je. ’ pricwrlof-Ttn.: < .win p .i.uui; ■ ■ u.i.i ■■ -4 a halt in New lua> „uu m.,.i ■-a -.t.v ■-* wllita Ue discussed 1 >-m .c....-v ,•■■■■• . polic.es ana calm. Gate... in lue emu. •>., ol his remarks lie paal .ms I'espvcls u tae I’arker b< . saying; "1 have n good authority that seven mou.us ay . .u Lvuduu, tile mends of g reat liuanem levestsm England.,-and. Amen ca were announcing coulidentiy that u man had been found who would beat Theoilme Roosevelt—a man by the name of Darker, a protege and friend of David B. ll.ll—and that sufficient money would be spent" to corrupt the Democratic politicians and control tile Democratic convention. 1 heard of this almost at the time, but like many another at sea, look.ng at the sky and beholding this tiny cloud, no greater than a man s hand in the political skies, 1 could not believe that it meant more than an idle boast given forth by the disgruntled merger organizers. If 1 had reflected on the power of money, if I had retlected upon the vast organization which Wall street has throughout the United States, if I had reflected upon the unscrupulous determination which these men showed in< the campaigns of 1896 and 1900, if I had reflected upon the endless ramifications through Which money can - exerciseriru—influence, If I had reflected upon the unstinted liberality permitted to those, who gobble their tens of millions through government privilege, I could have predicted with certainty just what has come to pass. “But I could not believe that the effrontery of these men would be so great; that they could regard the American people as so asinine; that they could hope to stand up and simply by asserverating through their powerful press connection that white Is black and black is white, and white is black and black is white, repeated ad Infinitum, they could hope to make the American people color bliud. But it Is one of the peculiarities of the sharp politician,.the greedy politician, the unscrupulous politician, the astute politician—to sum up in English as it is spoken in New York, the “peanut politician"—that his views can never in the nature of things extend very far beyond his nose. He has no idea of the breadth of the American continent, he has an utter contempt for the Intelligence of the American people, and he thinks that cunning and manipulation can do it all." Upon this statement Mr. Bryan commented as follows: “When the Republicans e’ect a Wall street man. the Democrats can denounce him and gain recruits by so doing. When the Democrats are unfortunate enough to have a Wall street president, they have to either denounce him or apologize for him, and no matter which they do. they have to bear the odium of his administration. No wonder Mr. Cleveland speaks highly of Judge Parker. He is on the inside, and knows that Mr. Parker is satisfactory to the financial magnates who ran the Cleveland administration and yet. while It ts as plain as day that the Parker boom finds its source in Wail street, there are many Democrats who are trying to argue themselves Into believing that Judge Parker would lie a good man to harmonize on. He has the same environment that Mr. Cleveland had, and it can lie set down as a certainty that Wall street always finds out a man's views before it supports him. however nmelßth-we views may be concealed from the public generally.”

Parker National League. In January, 1904, a circular letter advocating the nomination of Parker for president made its appearance under the letterhead of the Parker National League with headquarters at Suite No. G, Folsom building. 525 Broadway, New York city. The circular was signed by A. Henry Browne, secretary of the Parker National League, and is written under the letterhead of the league. Printed on the letterhead is a picture of the New York jurist, who is styled “our next president,” and below it the following: “List of some prominent indorsers: August Belmont, Esq., of August Belmont & Co., bankers, New York; the Hon. David B. Hill, ex-governor of New York and ex-senator of the United States; the Hon. P. N. McCarren, state senator, Brooklyn, New York; the Hon. Thomas Taggart, proprietor of the Sentinel, Indianapolis; Joseph Pulitzer, editor and proprietor of the New York World; St. Clair McKelway, editor of the Brooklyn Eagle; Norman E. Mack, editor of the Times, Buffalo, N. Y.; etc.” All the editors named in these circulars were either secretly conniving against or openly fighting the Democratic party in 1896 and 1900. Mr. Bryan’i Prophecy. The following Was printed in Mr. Bryan’s “Commoner some weeks before the St Louis convention: “Mr. Cleveland, Mr. Belmont and the financiers and politicians back of the Parker boom are the men who have in t" > campaigns contributed to the defeat of the Democratic party, and they threaten to defeat It acain If they are not allowed to control Its policy. If the members Of the Democratic party desfrr to revolutionize the poller of the party and make It the tool of Wall street, they have a right to do to. but the reorganisers hare no thought of submitting this question to the voters. They will not go before primaries and county conventions with a platform of principles. They rely upon ‘boases’ and -leaders' to hoodwink the people and secure d'legates without, any open avowal of the principles for which they stand.” Parker and Belmont, From Mr. Bryan's speech at ,an antiParker convention In Cooper Union, New York, June 20, 1904: “What Is Mr. Belmont's consideration In ths Parker candidacy? He is too shrewd a financier to Invest uls money without being sure of the goods. If Mr. Parker dealt kOMStly he would say to Mr. Belruout what

he says to others, that his lips are sealed and If he did so he would not be Mr. Beimont'a candidate. . "Parker la traveling as a negative quantity. He stands for nothing positive. He reminds one of the story of the man in praise of a child who said that It looked and breathed. So Parker looks at the great financial Rights uud breathes.” Supreme Court Jeopardized. The following appeared in Mr. Bryan’s paper, “The Commoner,” on April Bth: . "There is no doubt that the corporation intervals aave an understanding with Judge Parker, for without such au understanding ' theywould not think—of—supportlHg—him.The dec.slon iu the merger case shows how important it is tnat the president should be in sympathy with tlie people rather than In sympathy with the corporations. The three judges appointed by Mr. Cleveland dissented from tiie opinion of the court, and as Judge Holmes stood with them, it would only require one more Judge to change the decision. e ven if J mice Brewer's separate Opinion does not al.e.idy indicate the possibility of all adverse decision * an diier ease. "if Judg - !’i l.'r were n imlnnted by the influence of - Tiro - corporations and vh’C’od witli the nld of t licit- corttribut lons, is there any doubt that his appointees would lie corporation non? Can the Democratic party afford to lend itself to a movement to so make up the supreme court as to nullify, the efforts- of the people at reform? To secure remedial legislation the people must have not only the house, the senate, the president, but the supreme court also, and as the members of the supreme court hold office for life, that department of the government Is hardest to change. As president Judge Parker might appoint one. two or even three supreme justices, and his appointments might bar the way to relief for ten or fifteen years. Can the party afford to take such a chance? "If Mr. Parker is nominated, It must not bo as a ‘harmony’ candidate—it must be with the kn.wlodge that he represents the same element, the same Influence and the same method? which during Mr. Cleveland's second administration led th'* D-moerntio party through ‘the valley of the shad >w of death.' ”