Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 6.djvu/288

264 control to those Mr. Bryan represents, nor will they contribute to that end. It is useless to tell us that Mr. Platt is as bad as Mr. Croker, or that Senator Hanna is little if any better than Governor Altgeld. We want improvement, not a mere change; and we will not aid in bringing about a political overturn which does not even profess to do more than substitute a confessed evil for a, by us, admitted failure. We “prefer to bear the ills we have,” etc.

There is a homely adage to the effect that half a loaf is better than no bread. That half loaf we see a fair chance of securing by pursuing the course I have outlined. In this you concur, merely expressing distrust as to the relative size of the portion of the loaf thus secured to that not secured. Even should the portion we hope to secure prove of no more value than you suggest, our regret at losing the other portion will still be very considerably alleviated by the reflection that it contains a singular collection of most unsavory political plums, scarcely less unpalatable to you than to us.

We can work together, therefore, up to the point where those who feel as I feel stop. With us, that point is the election of an opposition House of Representatives. For educational purposes alone, aside from all others, we desire to bring about a condition of unstable political equilibrium during the next few years, and give the country time in which to reflect. 



&emsp; Thanks for your letter of Oct. 13th [30th] with enclosures. I hope the correspondence may have done some good.

Now on the eve of the election let me say to you that for a considerable time I have not expected Mr. Bryan to succeed. The Kansas City Convention gave my hopes the first shock. Still, if after his splendid Indianapolis speech against imperialism Bryan had retired into silence, resting his case on that speech, he might have had a chance.