[untitled]
If the wishes of some newspapers
and some ministers, were to be carried out, the death of an American
chief executive would be entirely a partisan matter, to be considered
a partisan question. We are glad to say that no democrat has been
guilty of such an un-American suggestion. Men who earnestly and
strongly opposed McKinley’s policies had a right to express that
opposition. That is a part of the American system of government.
In the heat of a fierce campaign, it is likely that both sides go
to extremes. We do not see that the republican press is a particle
less guilty than the press of the other side. When Bryan was pictured
as a clown leading an army of fools; when we were told that the
democrats stood for dishonesty; when we heard that millions of Americans
were traitors and guilty of treason because they differed from the
administration; when it was asserted that only rebels, ignoramuses,
despoilers, followed Bryan, who was called the hypocritical tool
of silver miners; when the honesty and motives of the democratic
leader were constantly impugned; when the Minneapolis Journal and
Pioneer Press published cartoons as scurrilous and insulting as
any “yellow journalism” gave birth to; when fanatical preachers
thundered from their pulpits that the doctrines of Bryan were contrary
to Christianity—is it then a wonder that there were not reprisals
on the other side? This is what makes it disgusting to hear the
sanctimonious Pharisee utterances coming from some of the republican
press at this time and from the pulpit also. These extremists are
belittling the memory of the lamented president by their insane
talk.
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