Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 October 1908 — PROMINENT DEFECTIONS FROM BRYAN CONTINUE [ARTICLE]

PROMINENT DEFECTIONS FROM BRYAN CONTINUE

Democratic Leaders from Coast to Coast Reject Vagaries off the Nebraska Weather Vane. William Prentlaa off Cklea*o Sara Bryaa aa PreaMoat Woald Be a Pailare Son there L<lf«lon* Democrat* Repudiate the Candidate Who Traiaplea on Ilia Ideal* to Cateh Vote*. The number of prominent Democrats all over the country who have announced their desertion of Bryan and have advised their friends to vote for Taft and Sherman is a matter of grave concern to Mr. Bryan’s managers. In Richmond, Va., always a rock-ribbed citadel of Democracy, a Taft business men’s club has been organised, with hundreds of members, and in Baltimore the defections of leading Democrats bas become the subject of a dally serial in the newspapers. These illustrations are given not because they are exceptional in this campaign, but because of their geographical location. In Chicago a sensation was caused by William Prentiss, who announced that he will support Taft Instead of

Bryan for President and Deneen instead of Stevenson for Governor. Mr. Prentiss has been a Democratic leader in Chicago for several years. He was Civil Service Commissioner under Mayor Dunne and has several times been Democratic candidate for judge. In 1898 he was chairman of the Democratic State convention. He was formerly an ardent Bryan partisan. In a letter made public recently Mr. Prentiss charges Bryan with betraying his followers and foreskin* the principles for which he stood prior to the present campaign. Mr. Prentiss says: “Bryan claims that he is the man to continue and extend Roosevelt’s work, claiming much of it as suggestions of his own. Less than three months ago I preferred Bryan as Roosevelt's successor. He was my party leader, in whom I then had full confidence. But, as before indicated, my faith in Bryan is a relic. Bryan, not the ideal Bryan of the past, but the real Bryan of today, surrounded by the Macks, Murphys, McGrawr, Taggarts, Sullivans and Joe Baileys et al. of the present.day Democratic, party, at the best could be bnt a dismal failure.”

California Demoerata for Taft.

John J. Barrett, for years one of the most brilliant orators of the Democratic party of California, registered this year a* a Republican. That registration has given the Democratic managers a shock only second to that which they felt when they learned that M. F. Tarpey had deserted the shifting cause of Bryan. , A "My registration speaks for Itself,” said Mr. Barrett “When asked to state my politics I said I was a Republican. That tells the tale.” Barrett preached Democratic doctrines from all the stumps of California. Reaaoni of a Worth Carollnan. Regardless of past affiliations, students of affairs, delvers and thinkers, are fast lining up for Judge Taft A recent example is that of Silas Mcßee, editor of the Churchman, of New York. In an interview he says: “I am a North Carolinan by birth and a lifelong Democrat I shall vote for Mr. Taft because he has it in his heart to bring my people of the South back into absolute union with the national life and to their historic place as a controlling force in the nation, and to do which would Immortalise him as a statesman. "I shall vote for him because be more nearly represents my Ideals of government, of social order-and economic policy than any living Democrat, or any man before the people to-day, save alone Theodore Roosevelt, who Is the only Republican President I have ever voted for. Mr. Taft has administered every trust committed to him by the nation with an eye single to the nation’s good and for the highest fhterests of the people that compose the nation.” Th« Bester la Baltimore. Mr. George R. Willis, former president of the Police Board of Baltimore and Democrat of the eld school win east the first Republican vote since he ettained his majority. Mr. Willis w’ll vote for Taft “Under no circumstances could I vote for Bryan," said he, “for the reason that I do not believe he is since «% and if sincere, is not a good man for P -esl- - of the United States." “How dd you gauge public sentiment?” Mr. Willis was asked. “Among my clientele I know of no one who will vote tor Bryan. There is not a Democrat who favors him.” Another prominent southern Democrat who will vote for Taft Is Mr. W. A. Garrett, chief executive officer to the receivers of the Seaboard Air Line Railway Company. Mr. Garrett's reasons for supporting the Republican candidate are that lie fa the candidate of the business men and his election would be for the best Interests of the country. Mr. Garrett says bo has noticed a leaning toward Taft in several of the

Southern States and Instanced AlafctaMl as one of these. Two men who have always been prominent in Democratic circles in Baltimore who have announced that they did not think enough of Bryan to vote for him, and that they would support Taft Instead, are Mr. John E. Semmes, one of the prominent lawyers of Baltimore and president of the . School Board, and Mr. Leigh Bonsai, who in years past has been one of the most active workers in the Democratic party. Both men said that they could not stand for Bryan and his policies. Mr. Bonsai’s defection from the ranks of Democracy was an especial shock to the Bryan men in the State. They had counted on him as one of the prise spellbinders during the coming campaign, and had no idea but that he was an ardent supporter of the Democratic nominees. “When and where will it suit you best to speak during the coming campaign in behalf of Mr. Bryan?" Mr. Bryan’s friends in Maryland wrote him. When Mr. Bonsai replied that he intended to vote for Taft the correspondence ceased. Major Richard M. Venable, former president of the Baltimore Park Board and one of the most prominent Independent Democrats in Maryland, has declared for Taft and against Bryan. “I am for Taft,” said Major Venable, “as I do not agree with Mr. Bryan’s opinions on the various questions now confronting the public. “He has not the judgment and temperament of a statesman. A statesman knows that no matter how desirable a reform may be he must take short steps in accomplishing it He knows that it cannot be done in a day. The public mind and the new machinery of administration must be educated and adapted to introduce such radical changes as are-contained in Mr. Bryan’s program, even conceding for the argument that he is right.” Waldo Newcomer, president of the National Exchange Bank of Baltimore, says that although he believes in the principles of the Democratic party and would like to cast his ballot for the Democratic ticket, ho finds it Impossible te support Bryan and his ideas. Mr. Newcomer characterized the Bryan plank in the Denver platform guaranteeing deposits in banks as nonsensical and unnecessary. He said ths scheme smacked of paternalism, and is not founded upon sound or good business principles. Mr. Newcomer said he did not regard Mr. Bryan as the type of man to make a satisfactory or safe President, and felt that the interests of the country and the people as a whole would be far better promoted this time by the election of Mr. Taft, in whose sanity, soundness and honesty every one who knows him has the utmost confidence. Frederic R. Coudert, for years a prominent New York Independent Dem*ocrat, has stated that he intends to vote for Taft.

J. E. Smith, vice president of the • Simmons Hardware Company of St. Louis, whose politics heretofore has been Democratic,* has come out for Taft. He says many other Democrats among St. Louis business men will mark their ballots the same way. Now York Newa*a*er Deserts Bryaa. The Ithaca (N. Y.) Chronicle, a newspaper heretofore Democratic, has broken with that party and joined the opposition, saying: “Believing that there is no hope for reasonable men in the Democracy under its present leaders; refusing to truckle to the misfit combination of Populism, Socialism, corruption and bosslsm presented under the guise of Democracy, the Chronicle takes its stand firmly for Taft and Sherman, for Hughes and his running mate.”