The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1896-08-13
ITINERaTING vAPIDITY.

uiuSG De COIleSpouulnSiy pi0''@ou NAiA
hopeful.
The very tame demonstrations along
the route are serious disappointment
to the Popocrats, for they contrast most
painfully with the outpourings which
greeted Mckinley at every station, long
before he was a Presidential nominee.
There has been absolutely none of that
wild-fre enthusiasm which the Popocrats
predicted, and which they must have to
carry the country. The crowds have
been only fair in numbers, and scarcely
more anywhere than might have been
expected from mere curiosity to see and
hear a man who is the candidate OF
great party for the Presidency.
A still more severe disappointment
has been the character of organs
speeches He has no reputation for any
thing but oratory, and yet his speeches
have been vapid and pointless in the ex-
IRENE. A very ordinary orator, travel
ing from one station to another, can lind
something suggestive and fresh as he
journeys along, so that at each stopping
place he can say a little at least that Is
apropos, pointed, and applicable. All
will remember with what wonderful skill
President Harrison did this. At every
place he said something new and vivid;
something suggested by the town or the
country; something particularly suited
to the locality, and yet which echoed to
the remotest parts Of the country. iar-
r;son's bitterest enemies could not re-
strain their applause at the happiness
with which he acquitted himself when
speaking from the rear of Pullman car
to hastily-gathered crowd. Whether
it was in Texas or Indiana, he never
failed to capture his audience, and say
something that the whole country read
with approval. Bryan, on the other
hand, seems as intellectually barren as
Harrison was fertile.
For example, when the train stopped
at Grinnell, Iowa, Mr.. Bryan said:
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: j am very
glad to greet the people who live at Gen.
W-aver's home. He was pioneer IN ihIs
work. and was talking for Free Silver long
before II had come TO the attention OF great
many Of rs. And / never think OF one oil
those pioneers, who blazes out the way, or
think of the abuse generally heapcd upon
the pioneer, without thinking Of what some
body said year or so ago. That when one
l,erson saw a thing he was called a fanatic:
when great many saw il he became an en-
thusast; when everybody saw it he became
a hero.
This was so fat that it could only
please those who were determined to be
pleased at anything.
AT Newton he said:
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. am glad to
see you. | believe this is Newton. Ii am
not mist aiken your town rs the name of a
man who has been given credit for starting
the law of grasitation. Some of the laws of
finance may say all the great laws of
finance-are rs certain IN their operation
and as irresistible in their force as the law
of gravitaiion. If you throw a stone in the
air you say it Will come down. Why? Be-
cause it is drawn toward the center Of the
earth. The law upon which We base our
fight is as sure as that. If we have gold
standard prices viii 90 down. IGreat APP
plause.
We should be sorry for 15-year-old
school-boy who could not do as well as
this. At Marengo he said /:
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: The name of
your town, they tell me, is Marengo, aud it
recalls one of the great battles of history. /
have been told by some Of those who met me
in the train that the battle fought at Ma
rengo was not more bitter as a struggle than
The battle that is going TO be fought here
for the purpose Of restoring the gold and
silver standard Of the Constitution. Great
applause. / am glad to hear of it, and /
wish you success IN your efforts. ] am not
going to enter into discussion of politics,
| because ] have not yet been notified of my
| nomination.
This is as bald and commonplace as
anything that we remember to have
read, but it is on the same level with the
rest of his speeches. He scored hit at
one place, by speaking of the President
as merely "the peoples hired man,
and this SO pleased him that he repeated
it several other places. OF course, there
was nothing new in the idea. Ever
since the foundation of the Government
all its officials, from President down,
have been constantly spoken of, and con-
stantly spoken of themselves, as "Serv.
ants of the people"
We certainly hope that Mr.. Bryan
will continue bis speeeh-making tour tc
the last limit He is doing good work