Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 October 1908 — BRYAN CONDEMNED BY HIS ASSOCIATES [ARTICLE]

BRYAN CONDEMNED BY HIS ASSOCIATES

At various times in the past Hernia® Ridder, now Treasurer of the Democratic National Committee, has published in his newspaper, the New Yorker Staats Zeltung, frank expressions of his real opinion of Mr. Bryan as follows: “Hia (Bryan’i) •election would surely causa a disturbance in the Industrial and economical development ot the country.” “We deem a Republican victory less dangerous for the country than the election ot Bryan.” “Only a few intimate friends and blind admirers ot Bryan are ■till willing to follow him. • • • The miserable intrigues ot the man who would again incite the masses cannot retard this process. Bryan’s ■trenuons activity will hasten his entire ANNIHILATION!” bate Views of Watterson. It is well known that the most severe criticisms of Mr. Bryan in the campaign of 1900 were from the pen of Mr. Henry Watterson, now heading his press committee. As late as February. 190 S. Mr. Watterson, in the ed itorial columns of the Courier-Journal, had this to say of Bryan: “Now, for our part, we see in Mr., Bryan nn agreeable lay-preacher who wants to be president, and has shown himself willing to take any old thing for a paramount Issue, promising to loin votes enough, all the way from Free Silver to the Governmental Ownership.” “As one of the guilty in 1806, though not in lOOtl, I am se sensible of my lack of desert that, whilst In the coming campaign I shall labor to elect him—still greatly distrusting him—l shall not expect any other than negative results from his advent to power, nor dream of crossing his threshold after his election. “Just before Mr. Bryan’s return last summer a year ago and his bad break at Madison Square Garden, Mr. John G. Carlisle said to me «I know Mr. Bryan—l know him well— I like him. but he has no more idea of the responsibilities of government than a ehild.”

In Politic* for Gala In a public statement issued Sept 7, 1900, Roger O. Sullivan. Democratic National Committeeman for Illinois and contributor to the Bryan campaign fund, said: "Mr. Bryan hi« twice led the Democratic party to detent, the aecond a worae defeat than the flrat. If he la proud of that evidence of the people'* confidence in hla aincerlty, he (a welcome to It. Rnt hla boaat of aincerlty merit* further conalderatlon. He inalnnatea that I make money out of politic*, and that hla aincerlty therefore compel* him to oppoae my participation In Demoeratle affair*. The plain Inference In that Mr. Bryan thtnka It wronp to make money out of politic*. Thia hoaat of hla put* the atamp of Inalncerity all over him. If Mr. Bryan think* It wrong tn make money out of polltlca. bo ahould quit making money. Mr. Bryan haa not one dollar that ho ever made nut of any. thlnir but politic*. Ho tried tn be a lawyeri he waa a failure at It. He tried to be a newapapor editor! he waa a failure at that. He la now a man of property. A* fortune* «>, be la a rich man. He made every dollar of hla fortune out of polltlca aa a atepplnir-alnne to the lecture platform. Mr. Bryan dlaeovered, many year* «»«, thnt he could make hla politico! prominence pay. He la a ahrewd advertlaer, and In hla way a clever bndneaa man. He bn a dlaeovered that io limit aa Im 4- a candidate for I’rc-ldcnt nnd pi>». alhle aomlnee triftoa w'tb the Ability io weave flowing aentrncea Into

Real Sentiments of Ridder, Watterson, Carlisle, Sullivan, et al.

well-rounded periods, the public will come to hear him at no much • head. He la in politlca because it helps the gate receipts. Like the actresses who have discarded the stolen diamonds dodge for the greater publicity of a divorce suit, Mr. Bryan will quit running for President and will quit politlca juat M soon as he diieoven that some other form of advertising will bring more dollars to the box office when he is announced to appear on the stage.’ Can’t Ride Horses. The one-time running mate with Mr. Bryan, Tom Watson, now Populist candidate for the presidency, commenting editorially (See page 8, Watson’s Mag azine. March, 1905) upon the small vote Bqgjn secured for the United States Senate in, Nebraska in 1904, said: “Mr. Bryan say’s that 'reforms are not to be secured all at once.’ Quite rfght: and they will never be secured at all by leaders who change front as often as Mr. Bryan has done within the last twelve months. Neither will they be secured by a political party which preaches a certain creed for eight years and throws it aside like a worn-out garment,” “Watch out, William! The people have loved yon and believed in you, but your course in the last campaign has shaken your popularity to Its very foundations. Beware how yon trifle with the radicals. If you want to come with us. come and be done with it. Be assured of this, William, YOU CAN’T RIDE ROTH HORSES.”

Bryan Doctrine Vndeinocratle. This is what Col. Mose Wetmore, now chairman of the Finance Committee of the Democratic National Committee, said Sept. 5, 1900. of Mr. Bryan's views on government ownership f “Government ownership of railways .is undemocratic, un-Jeifer-sonlan, it you like. Government ownership of railways would be better than railway ownership of the government, but the thing hasn't got that far yet. I think the railroads can be properly regulated without putting them into the hands of the government. 1 don't believe conservative democrats will follow Mr. Bryan on this issue and the thing we’ve got to do is to keep it ont of the pintform. My opinion is that it won’t get Into the platform In any shape.” “Et Tu Brute.” William R. Hearst, who In two presidential campaigns gnve money and unstinted support of all his newsiiapera lo Mr. Bryan's candidacy, now says of the Peerless One: “Me is the peerless prestidigitator of modern politics, whose hand Is quicker than the eye, who causes hln principles to disappear and changes bis politics tn full view of the audience. A showman at a county fair, conducting a shell game with his political oplalons. “Where Is the little ball nf free sllverf Vader the drst shell f Not at all. It was there nnee,* bnt It In not now, and the confiding voter loses. Where Is the little ball of publle ownership f Under the second shell f Wrong again, and the confiding voter loses again. Where , I- the little referendum built Under the third shell f Wrong again, ' end once more the confiding voter i loses. “My friends, Mr. Bryan has no ' ■et ronvlctloas. lie hns changed I bls opinions at every election, and If he has been wrong so often we nre Justlfled In assuming that he Is wrong again. Mr. Brysn'a definition of a fondnmrntal principle Is a proposition that will help to elect Mr. Bryan. If It falls to elect him It ern.cM tn be an eternal verity and ' bero-nea an ex plod-I theory.”