Birmingham state herald., 1896-07-14
THR pEMoCRATIC NOMINEE.

Of the Hon. w. J. Bryan, democratic
 nominee for president, Alfred Henry
 Lewis, staff correspondent of the New York Journal, has the following to say in Saturdays issue of that paper:
 Bryan will win all who approach him. As man, none who know him will re- fuse him respect. Politically, Jefferson
 would adopt him; Jackson take his hand
 and espouse his cause. Young as he is,
 Bryan is of the old party, and in his nom- fnation the careful searcher WillNfind only renaissance of the ancient democracy.
 Tt is excellent in Bryans favor that he is founded on himself No coterie con trols him; no syndicate has paid his debts and holds in it's strong box $11S,00 of his
 uncanceled notes of hand to be some
 sword of Damocles suspended over him
 as man or president. All there Is of Bry
 an is Bryan, unless one eXcepts his wife,
 who, with ali that's good about him, is
 the best thing about him still. She is Q
 woman, tender and true, cultured and re-
 fined, and has been a stimulus as well
 as a star to guide in all of Bryans life.
 She will win well and wear long should fate find her on next 4th of March the first lady of the land
 Bryan is what they call magnetic Men like him. He is pleasant to the eye, to the ear, and soothes by his presence and never troubles. No man ever saw him in passion. He is cool and of flaw less temper. No flush of irritation ever reddened his cheek. He is of good boise and his emotions sit steadily, as becomes the emotions of one who, with care for
 himself eats thrice a day, scoffs at dys- pepsia and sleeps soundly of nights.
 Bryan is well, even highly educated.
 He has dug through books and tunneled learning equal with any dusty, muSty college professor of them all. More than books, he has studied men, and their lives have been his lessons. He has memory like wax, and all he has heard
 or read or seen abides with him.
 Bryan Is not so profound as quick; and with an intellect rather military than philosophical, he makes weapons of all he knows and every scrap of learning belonging to him is at prompt and ready | hand to be either defensive or offensive, as his swift genius for combat may de- | eide.
 "It is not too much to say of Bryan l that the arena of politics presents no one l today who, with fuller information, more 1 pleasing address, more ready eloquence and quicker wit, can cope with and | overcome him. I don't want to discour- 1 age anybody about to follow that leader | in the chains of a syndicate, but In any l form of politics Bryan would out-top and l overpower Mckinley as might man | child.
 | During the Fifty-second congress the | tariff affairs of the democracy went limp | ing. The popgun bills that Springer | framed had neither dignity nor tone. | They were quietly sneered al by the dem- l ocrats and jeered and scoffed at by the republicans in every high and open place. 1 It was not until Bryan made his first tar | if speech in the house that the democ- | racy took heart and regarded life worth | living. It was wonderful thing in ora | tory, this first tariff speech of Bryan. It was even more of a triumph than the Chicago eloquence of the other day. ''On this tariff occasion the republic ans, with the cynical Reed at their head, | were there to carp and say sharp things l and ask sharp questions and make bit ter Interruptions. One after another the l orators of the democracy, some of them | old in forensic war had been riddled by l Reeds sarcasm and made to fly. Crisp,
 in the chair, was also in despair. At last | Bryan was sent into the thick of house | battle. He came with the advantages of
 a musical voice, a bright eye and a pleas
 ing personality. Nor did he talk ten | minutes until he developed the fact that | he was a master of English and had as | well such a command of the subject as | comes only to men who have burned the midnight lights of studious preparation "It is of no avail peculiarly to go in de- | tail over a debate that's long since over | and gone. Suffice it that Bryans speech | was the event of the session. Every l thrust of Reed he parried; every blow he l stopped and countered. Time and again I | draw back from collisions he had sought | himself, discomfiture in his face, while l the house howled.
 l "For a new mana young man, one | who had never talked ten minutes in the | house before--the feat was marvellous. | At the close of his effort Crisp and the Il fathers of the house congratulated him, | and even republicans, while disagreeing, | came across and shook him by the hand.
 That speech saved the reputation of the nd ExyA1 | Bryan's standing as master of forensic 1 fence.
 l What was to be admired most was | the absolute stability of the man; nc l more to be stampeded than a mountain
 no more to be put to flight than a tree. Tn the Fifty-second and the Fifty
 third congresses Bryan was in the fore
 front of party battle many times. In his 1 second congress, while still member of
 the ways and means. with Wilson at the
 head, he not only made the leading | speech for the Wilson bill, but a speech
 so full and exhaustive for free silver, 1e
 to 1, that Culberson of Texas, himself
 the Socrates of the house democracy
 said:
 "'That exhausts the subject. It's the l best possible setting forth that the cause l of free silver can get
 During his congressional career
 Bryan led up the forces for low tariff
 free silver, free sugar, the income tax | fought to repeal the national bank acts I and consistently aided Uncle William | Hatch to pass his anti-option On appro- | priations Bryan was against extrava- l gance and stood as the persistent cham l pion of economy With his own people
 he was always leader, and the Nebras-
 ka senators came often to the house to l gain his views.
 Bryan is a Presbyterian in religion, 1 He is often in the pulpit as a lecturer. l Politically he refuses no call to speak l He once addressed concourse of 1 preachers and then talked politics from | a saloon bar on the same day. When l the house held Sunday session Bryan