Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 September 1908 — BRYAN AS PROPHET FAILS TO QUALIFY [ARTICLE]

BRYAN AS PROPHET FAILS TO QUALIFY

Disasters He Foretold Never Come to Pass.

OPPOSITE IS ALWAYS TRUE.

Gold Standard Does Not Slay, Nor Does It Write Future In Blood.

As a prophet William Jennings Bryan has never been a success. The calamities which he has foretold woufd have brought unlimited disaster to the country if they had ever j>een realized. But they never came to pass. The harrowing pictures which he painted were merely figments of hie imagination, based on absolutely no foundation whatever.

It is well to have Americans remember that prophecies uttered by the orator of the Platte must be discounted fully 100 per cent, for all signs indicate that he feels the fates once more and Is about to begin prophesying sgaln. A male Cassandra, Mr. Bryan might bj this time have learned that the forecast of evil will never be believed by those who have found that in the past his vaticinations have been but empty air.

■:■• - - : “Driving Country to Bujn.” For instance, when Mr. Bryan was a member of the House of Representatives In 1892 he was absolutely certain that protection was driving the country headlong to rack and ruin, and in his speech delivered March 16 of that year he drew the following agonizing pictures:

"Protection has been our cannibal tree, and as one after another of our farmers has been driven by the force of circumstances upon that tree and has been crushed within its folds bls companions have stood around and shouted, ‘Great is protection!’ ♦ ♦ • Thus in every State, so far as these statistics have been collected, the proportion of home owning farmers is decreasing and that of tenant farmers increasing. This means but one thing. It means a land of landlords and tenants, and, backed by the history of every nation that has gone down, I say to you that no people can continue a free people under a free government when the great majority of its citizens are tenants of a small minority. Your system (protective tariff) has driven tht farm owner from his land and substituted the farm tenant.” How far this picture portrays the America of to-day ,pr the America of any year since he made that speech any American can answer. Even in Mr. Bryan's own State he can find an answer right at his doors, for the farm laid& of Nebraska have doubled in value.

“Murderous Gold Standard.” But during the four years succeeding that speech Mr. Bryan’s agitation grew no less nor did the demon which be had raised in his own imagination hide with diminished head, for in 1896 he again saw destitution threatening the country. He had a remedy for it, a panacea, a fetich which be held up for worship—free silver. Here ate some of the things Mr. Bryan said would happen if the gold standard were continued: 1 "

“1 teply that If protection has slain Its thousands the gold standard has slain its tens of thousands.” —From speech at Democratic National Convention, July, 1896. ‘‘Do not let the Republicans beguile you about the future. The future Is written In blood crushed out of you by gold.”—rFrom speech at Erie, Pa., August, 1896. “Ah, my friends, there is another reason why people have gone Into the cities and left the farms. It is because your legislation has been causing the foreclosure of, mortgages upon the farms. ♦ * • Mark my words! If the gold standard goes on and people continue to complain, the gold standard advocates Instead of trying to improve the condition of the people will be recommending that you close your schools so that the people will not realize bow much they are suffering.”— From speech at Monmouth, 111., October, 1896. But whom has the gold standard slain? What future did it write In blood? What district schools did It close? Again the condition of the country makes a calm reply confuting the Impassioned orator. Campaigning again in 1900 Mr. Bryan decided that Imperialism was another danger to the country. If It were continued the Fourth of July would be forgotten by all Americans and the "spirit of ’76” would become a thing of the past. Speaking at Lincoln, Mr. Bryan said: Sees Death of Patriotism. “The fight this year will be to carry •ut the sentiment of that song we have so often repeated, ‘My Country, Tie of Thee.’ If we lose, our children and our children's children will not succeed to the spirit of that song, ribd celebrations of the Fourth of July will pass a way. for the spirit of the empire will be upon us." Is there any spot In - these United States where the spirit of 1776 Is dead

and. forgotten and the Fourth of July a meaningless date on the calender? One ot the most ridiculous of these prophecies was contained in a speech Mr. Bryan made in support of Judge Parker during the campaign of 1904, when he attacked President Roosevelt bitterly. This prophecy had it that military despotism wgs sure to follow the decrease in the size of the standing army. In this speech Mr. Bryan also emphasized the fact that he was then and always would be a firm believer in the principle of free silver. He summed up his position on this question in the following sentence: “I believe to-day in the principles set forth at Chicago and Kansas City (16 to 1) and shall continue to fight for those principles.”