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Show N0THIEG TO TAKE BACK How Will llryan IIiplMu Ilia lloilllltr to Parker'.' William JfiniliiRH ltryan lias bcem officially rinniKfil by the Democratic nntloiml committee to make epeeches In New York, Indiana and other placest. The former candidate for the presidency lias KometlihiK of a reputation reputa-tion hh an afjlle political contortionist, but he will have the time of his life explaining bin record during the present pres-ent campaign. .Mr. llryan has been on n good many side of it good many dliTcicnt iiitct-tlniiM, and yd he lives to tell the tale. Hut Just how lie proposes to advocate the election of Parker Is u niysteiy. llryan was opposed to Parker before the convention met at St. Louis. 'lie wan opposed to Parker every day during dur-ing the kosIoil? of that Inharmonious gathering. When Parker sent Ids telegram tele-gram supplementing the Democratic platform .Mr. llryan ioo fiom a bed of sickness to denounce the nominee as a traitor and a dictator, and his dramatic dra-matic appearance on that Saturday night was one of the mort extraordinary extra-ordinary episodes of an extraordinary convention. llryan lashed Parker and ho dared the convention to Bend a telegram tele-gram to tlm nominee demanding his honest opinion on other well-known Democratic principle. Later on. .Mr llryan, In hfa paper, The Commoner, while the events In the convention were fresli before him, openly charged that Judge Parker was a party to a corrupt attempt to deceive the convention and that his nomination nomina-tion had been fecured by Improper means. It -was then that the former candidate for the presidency put himself him-self on record by saying In The Commoner Com-moner of July l.'l, loss than a week after the nomination: "I have nothing noth-ing to take back." It seems a curious thing to flnd a man who has "nothing to take back," appearing on the stump favoring the election of Alton II. Parker for the presidency. If .Mr. Bryan has "nothing "noth-ing to take back," he should In common com-mon honesty when he appears on the stump In Indiana, and elsewhere, repeat re-peat to IiIh audiences exactly what he mid In Tlie Commoner of July 13, which was printed exactly one week after the Democratic convention was called to order and only four Jays after Judge Parker wnn nomlietl for the presidency and had sent Tuts telegram tele-gram repudiating the Democratic platform. plat-form. In this Issue of The Commoner Mr. Bryan said: "It was a plain and deliberate attempt at-tempt to deceive the party. Tlie New York platform was vague and purposely purpose-ly so; because the advocates of Judge Parker were trying to i-ecure votes from nuiong the people who would have opMised his views had they known them. The nomination was secured, therefore, by crooked and la-defensible la-defensible methods." As an exhibition of political gymnastics gymnas-tics Hryan's campaign speech for Parker Par-ker ought to be worth going miles to hear. If. a he says, he has "nothing to take hack," how will be evplain matters to the people? What did he mean when he said In The Commoner: "The nomination of Judge Parker virtually nullllles the anti-trust plank?" Was It true on July 13 that Parker's nomination had been secured "by crooked means?" If It was true then Is It not true now? Mr. llryan In The Commoner said: "I shall not appeal for otes for the ticket on faUe grounds." How can he appear nu the stump, tbetefore. and Herloiisly a.k the worklngmen of tho country to vote for the Democratic nominee after The Commoner had declared de-clared that "The labor plank n prepared pre-pared by Judge Parker' frlomls on the subcommittee was a straddling, meaningless plank?" Was Mr. llryan lying when he said In his pa pen, "A Democratic victory will mean very little, if any, progress so long as tlie party Is under control of the Wall street element?" i If the party was under the control i of the Walt street element when Mr. i Hryan wrote that cuitorlal, is It not I Just as much under tho same control I while he Is on the stump? I Perhaps Mr. llryan can explain i away these things. Perhaps lio can answer these questions, I Perhaps not. |