The herald., 1896-08-20
A MAN OF HONOR

The mouth OF the foolish must be
gagged and the tongue of the slanderer
tied. With becoming dignity Mr. Bryan
refused to confound the great issues be-
fore the people by reference to personal
matters in his great speech at New York.
The magnanimity of the man has been
we'll proved. Lesser lights would have
been timorous OF such shadows as Sena-
tor Thurston tried to cast and the hungry
Republican press sought to delineate,
but Mr. Bryan, realizing that matters of
personal moment should be relegated TO
the rear in the discussion of the great
question before the people, forebore the
temptation and abode his time. Such
self sacrifice is simply characteristic of
the man: he is the champion of the peo-
pie. and regards himself as merely their
instrument; his personality is subordi-
nate to the cause. and accordingly he
was willing to abnegate his personal
interest in favor of the common veal.
But. as is always the case. justice and
integrity must eventually prevail. The
Republican press pretended that they
were not satisfied with the explicit de-
NAL of the silver mine owners them
selves that Mr. Bryan had ever been
in their pay. They prated about wi
carious denial" and even Senator Stew
arts plain and unvarnished rejoinder
to Senator Thurston's base and base
less insinuations would not convince
them. The time was then ripe for Mr..
Bryan to speak. He was in comparative
retirement. and no public duties de-
~.
only has he made an official denial, but
il is coupled with a challenge that must
put his defamers palpably to shame.
He boldly demands that the Republican
national committee dare TO come out in
the open and accuse him or forever hold
their peace. Il have never" says Mr..
Bryan, 'at any time or under any cir
cumstances been in the employ of any
mine owners, individually or collective
ly, directly or indirectly nor have l ever
been in the employ of, or paid by, any
bimetallic league or association" 1t is
almost impossible that even the wiles
of bigoted and subsidized press can
misconstrue and torture this into any
thing but j most explicit and straight
forward denial. Even the most consum-
mate and stupendous lie-fabricator
must be silenced by these plain words
and must now invent some fresh false
hood.
In this instance it is wholesome to
recall the philosophy of William H. Sew
| ard, when, also quite young man, he
was a candidate for the governorshir
! of the state Of New York, and was un-
! Il, Nf -la ~,
/ der and Misrepresentation, in much the
| same manner as has been Mr. Bryan :
| fate in this campaign. OF such charac-
/ ter in particular il may be remembered
by veterans, that Seward, then but a few
months older than Mr.. Bryan is today,
after warm canvass, in which he was
| charged with having oppressed settlers
for the benefit of the Holland Land
company and was also aSsailed by anti
slavery men, was triumphantly elected
by a large majority. The ISLANDERS in
vented against Seward were so false and
yet so personal that Christopher Morgan,
his law partner insisted that they should
be answered. But Mr. Seward persist
emily refused to take any notice of his
maligners. contending that every indi-
Vidual of the many thousands that We're
| opposing him could repeat the lies as
often as they chose or invent new ones
at pleasure, but that if he entered upon
the business of refuting them, all his
/ time might be taken up in SO doing
! Besides argued Mr. Seward, "it does
| not follow that my enemies will accept
my statements as true. As a rule tbs
slanderer cares but little about tbs
/ truth of his calumnies, and he is apt
! to reiterate them the more earnestly
/ by reason of denials. The people," con-
1inued Mr.. Seward, will in due time
! ascertain for themselves the fal-
sity of these detractionS and at al
/ events, whatever may he the result
/ I viii take no further notice of them
( The object of Mr. Stewards assailants
/ which was of course solely to influence
( votes, went wide of the mark, as his
! election by ten thousand majority
! proved.
1t will probably be impossible for Mr.
/ Bryan either to keep track of the ia bri-
I cations of the falsehood bureau or Il
/ take time to refute them. But his stout
/ and straight denial of the lie in this in
! stance, together with the confidence ot
! the people which he so worthily com
mands will be a sufficient retort and re-
buke to the misera bic imaginations OF
| those who. in the absence of argument
descend to vile abuse and petty fibs