The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-08-13
mr.. Rrran,s speech.

people last night. This was whether or
mot be accepted the Chicago platform. in
its fun extent or by some reservation Of
Judgment only accepted it in part. offer
ing to the country more conservative pros
poets than it affords.
Among several : merits, Mr.. Bryan's
speech had this one, that IT answered the
above question fairly and sauarely. and,
this being 50, it is hardly worth while
discussing the speech any further,
The answer Mr. Bryan aye was that
he accepted the platform in its utmost
meaning and intent. He is devoted heart
and soul to every doctrine it enbodies.
and. in particular, he enthusiastically en-
braces it in it's -pronouncemerIt in favor
OF free silver.
This should be final. Mr.. Bryan having
spoken there remains no longer any ex-
cuse or color of excuse for voting for him.
Heretofore, the hesitating class of Demo-
Gratis have appealed to sound one men
to pause, to suspend Judgment, to wait
until Bryan himself had spoken and see
If he would not make it all right.
Now he has spoken, and he has pro-
brcadest. most unmistakable and most
rneompromising manner. 1t therefore be-
comes. more than ever, the duty of every
honest man and Of every mai of common
sense 10 vote against him, to work against
him, until the country is saved from him,
end he and his fellow destructives are
buried beyond redemption in the lowest
pit Of popular Reproduction.
ALL of Mr.. Bryan's speech, save and
except the declaration of his personal
position, is mere idle verbiage. 1t has
considerable rhetorical merit. 1t is clear
In expression; it is temperate in tone. it
Is free rom meretricious images and false
appeals to passion; it is specious in ar
gumentation.
But it adds nothing to the stock of.
knowledge of the currency question 1t
makes no contribution to the general un-
Outstanding of 1t. There is not one
thing in it that has not been said before
and quite as well said. For ingenuity it
is inferior to COINS Financial School,
In point of weight and authority it is not
to be compared to any one dozen pub
Eshed speeches by Senator Teller, Sena-
tor Stewart and others. Those who be-
lieve in the silver cause viii find in 1t
the old familiar claims and assertions
on which their faith Is based. Those who
do not believe in silver. viii find the
same misstatements, the same evasions.
the same sophistries which have wearied
dhem before. The effect on those whose
minds are in the balance will be a matter
Of temperament. Those who are subject
to the hypnotic influence which is always
produced by a o n of earnestness in a
writer or speaker-that rhetorical quality
which gives veraciousness to a sensation
al novel-will no doubt be impressed by
tine speech. Those who do not lose their
heads. but test the various sections of
the discourse with the aid of cool reason
viii dismiss it as vain and inconelusive.-
al argument founded on a quicksand and
cernented together with water.
ON the whole. we should Judge, from
an average of the morning paper reports,
that Mr.. Bryan had lost ground by his
theatrical cnoice Of the time, place and
method for his notification. The crowd
that gathered TO hear him was far from
remarkable for such an occasion. IT and
about Madison Square Garden there seem
to have been about 25,OoO persons. This
member h the normal Tammany ma
jority in New York is about S0,o00. In
last nights crowd there were probably
5000 from outside New York, and at least
5000 in the crowd were women and chill
dren.
The Garden was arranged to seat-for
this occasion-about 1900 people. There
were never more than 1900 in it. Of
these, not over 5000 staid to the end of
the proceedings.
Not over Jour thousand people heard
all Of Mr.. Bryan's speech. OF the orig
inaI 12.ooo, fully 1000 did not hear ten
words of 1t. The personal impression re-
sultant was that Mr.. Bryan was an over
advertised mediocrity.
OF the 1900 people who got into the
garden, not over 5000. or about two out
Of three. took part in ttso applause at any
time.
Even the friendly newspapers speak in
a depressed tone. this morning. One of
them says, The speech win read much
better h a it sounded on delivery
Bryan as an orator seems to have turn
ed out a pItiable failure. He read his
speech fttttt And he read it badly. One
friendly paper speaks Of his unfortunate
delivery through which many OF his
most effective sentences were lost in the
jerky. halting and almost tirnid process
Of ~utterance.r Another paper says.-.At
10 o'clock. the speech only half finished.