San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-08-22
DEPEw ON BRYAN's SPEECH.
He Had Expected the Boy Orators
Failure.

! He Had Expected the Boy Orators
| Failure.
| New York Tribune.
While at Manhattan Beach Mr..
Depew read Mr.. Bryan's speech, and
also the accounts of the way in which
it was received. He remarked yester-
day that he had expected the result
of the speech. Il am" he said, "al-
and have made study of their habits
and customs, / felt assured, when it
! was first announced that Bryan would
make the speech Of his life in New
| York, that he would fail. With a
man of great ability and genius, such
as Webster or Clay, when an extra
| ordinary occasion was presented he
arose to the emergency and surpassed
| any previous effort. With a man of
moderate ability, however, it is differ
| ent. If he has made a reputation,
usually it is local and based upon one
happy speech, and when he is con-
| fronted with a great crisis he fails.
He desires to Guido himself, he de-
parts from his usual tactics in vain
| effort to gain a greater height, and
the result is he deals in platitudes
| and becomes weak, vapid and thin.
| His effort, such as the one made by
Bryan, is always demOralizfng fail
ure.
I'm all the history of New York
can think of only two men who have
come to this city heralded as great
orators who have lived up to.their
regulations or surpassed themselves.
| The first was Abraham Lincoln, in
his speech at Cooper Institute, and
the other was Henry w. Grady, in his
| speech at Delmonico's. Both came to
! New York advertised as speakers of
| strength and logical reasoners. Both
surprised even their own friends and
/ scored an instantaneous success. No
| other much heralded orator that can
| think of has justified the predictions
! made for him previous to his appear
ance in New York.
"After all, the true test of an orator
, and the only is a New York audience.
| That will be denied in the south and
west and all over the country gener-
| ally where there is latent prejudice
| against the east, but it is true, and l
will tell you why. l venture the as
| sertion, and believe that what say
| is true, that not one out of 500 persons
| who went to the garden the other
! night to hear Bryan was born in New
| York. They were born, some in New
| England, some in the south, some in
| the west, some in the Pacific coast
states, some in Europe, and so on.
| There is no more cosmopolitan city
in the world than New York. The cry
| against New York has no basic foun-
| dation. We have within our city
men from every state in the Union.
Great lawyers, great bankers, success
full business men, students, theolOg-
| ians, artists, writer's and thinkers. as,
| they develop and grow out of their
| environment, naturally drift to New
York. They are a brOad-minded and
| highly critical class. They are catho-
| lie to the broadcast degree. They care
not what a mans religion is, what
| his political faith, what cult he advo-
Gates. They judge him upon his mer-
| it's, and If he impresses them they ap-
| plaud. If he fails they don't. In
| this way they set more equal stand
ard, perhaps, than any other part Of
| the country can boast of.
| BRYAN came here the natural pro-
| duct of environment and education.
| He was heralded far and near as a
coming wonder, a second Lincoln, the
savior of his people, and, above all, a
| calm, logical reasoner and a man of
great eloquence and oratorical abili-
| ty. A New York audience listens to
all this advance notice in silence, and
is not impressed by it. 1t waits until
| it can see the man, hear the orator,
and then it deduces its own opinions.
Bryan went before the people of New
York They were ready to give him
the due recognition that his abilities
| demanded, and, no matter what his
political faith or creed was, if he had
lived up to his reputation of being an
eloquent orator, a magnetic person, a
good reasoner, he would have been re-
ceived kindly and commended, even If
not agreed with. They may say what
| they will about the east, but the mere
| fact that Bryan failed to hold New
York audience and proved a dismal
failure is going to hurt his reputation
| all over the country. He was not
| hOoted at: he was not maligned; he
simply failed to attract or to interest,
| and those who went to see him slow
ly filed out with no word of condem-
nation, but a just criticism that he
was not equal to his task"
GEORGETOWN BOOMLETS.