Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1896-07-11

: perlty.
A MissOurian's Tribute.
Judged by the ancient canons of criti
cism established by Cicero, LonginuE
and Lord Kane, incomparatively the
.. greatest orators in the SD congress were
Col. William @. p. Breckinridge of Ken.
, tucky, and William Jennings Bryan, OF
. Nebraska. Col. Brenkinr;dge inherits
eloquence as an ancestral gift Oh both
sides Of the house and has few peers in
this divine art of swaying mems minds
and hearts by power of spoken words.
Back of the speakers stand is large
hall called the speakers lobby, upon
whose historic and frescoed walls hang
life-sized pictures of all the men who
have welded the speakers gavel from
Frederick Muhlenberg to Charles Fred
erick Crisp. By long odds the hand
soonest portrait in that collection is that
Of Samuel j. Randall. It was painted
when the great Philadelphian was in his
prime, and will do well enough for Bryan
ten years hence. Amos j. Cummings,
who knew Randall we'll and Bryan closely,
says that they not only resembled each
other much in their facial feature, but
also in the constitution of their minds.
Their lives also run parallel in the fact
that to each, during his first term, was
accorded the unusual distinction of
place on the ways and means committee,
and that each Immediately leaped into
national fame. If new member could
know that he had fifteen or twenty
years lease on a seat in congress, it would
be more fortunate for him to be placed
lowest on the committee of ways and
means than to be given the craftsmanship
of any other committee, for in the lapse
of time, through death, promotion and
the vicissitudes of politics, he would so on
er or later reach the head of that COM
mittee, which is the highest honor the
house can bestow, except the speaker
ship.
Geographical position and paucity of
Democrats in the war congresses, coupled
with his army service, gave Randall that
most desirable committee assignment
upon his first entrance into the house.
Locality, the Mills Crisp fight for speak
ership, and perhaps his views on finance,
did the same thing for Bryan.
In four years. service Bryan established
a far greater reputation than did Randall
in the same length of time. Indeed, it
may be said without any extravaganza
that when Bryan quit congress he had as
, widespread fame as Randall had when he
died after twenty years of congress.
Whether the Nebraskan plouGheG his
ideas as deep into the minds of men as
did the Pennsylvania ls an entirely diff
ferent question: for as late as 1894 the
<,f nj do htv dol ,,f h.a
Democratic party on the tariff was easily
discernible to the naked eye, when seven
teen of his disciples bolted the Wilson
bill, and several others had the will to
bolt, but lacked the courage.
Bryan is collegiate scholar, and has
slowed away in his capacious Uranium
much of the golden grain of wisdom and
little of the husks, and it is all there for
use, either as argument of establishment.
Some men are 30 ugly and ungainly that
it is a positive advantage to them as pub
lie speakers. Some are 80 handsome and
graceful that they are on good terms with
the audience before they open their lips.
OF the latter class Bryan is shining ex-
ample. His appearance is passport to
the affections of his fellowmen, which all
can read. He is the picture Of health,
mental, moral and physical. He stands
about i've feet ten, weighs about 40, is a
pronounced brunette, has a massive head, |
clean -shaven face, an aquline nose,
large under jaw, square chin, a broad |
chest, large, lustrous dark eyes, a mouth :
extending almost from ear to ear, teeth |
white as pearls, and hair-what there is
left of it-black as midnight. Beneath !
his eyes is the protuberant flesh which
physiognomists tell us is indicative of
huency of language and which was one of
the most striking features in the face of
James G. Blaine.
Bryan neglects none of the accessories
of oratory. Nature richly lowered him
with rare grace. He is happy in attitude
and pose. His gestures are on Hogarth's
line of beauty. Melihuous is the one
word that most aptly describes his voice.
1t is strong enough to be heard by thou
sands. 1t is sweet enough to charm those
least inclined to music. 1t is so moduat-
ed as not to vex the ear with monotony |
and can be stern or pathetic, fierce or
gentle, serious or humorous with the vary
ing emotions of its master. In his youth
Bryan must have had sklllful teacher in
elocution and must have been docile
pupil. He adorns his speeches with illus
trations from the classics or from the
common occurrences of very-day life
with equal felicity and facility. Some
passages from his orations are gems and
are being used as declamations by boys
at school-the ultimate tribute to Amer
ican eloquence.
But his browning gift as an orator is
his evident sincerity. He is candor incar-
nate, and, thoroughly believing what he
saws himself,i it is no marvel that lie makes
others believe.
Bryan's rst speech IN the house-the
one on the tariff in l892-fixed his status
as one of the crack orators of this genera
tion. 1t astonIshed old stagers, electrified
the country and stimulated the ambition
of every young man in the land. Envious
carpers lugubriously predicted that he
could never duplicate that far-resoundlng
performance, that he would be like wasp,
biggest when first Matched, and that his
congressional song would be pitched in
diminuendo instead of crescendo. But he
utterly COMPOUNDED these Jealous Cassan-
dras by delivering speech on silver which
must forever remain as classic in con-
grcssional literature.
| If it did not increase his fame as much
as did his initial effort, it was for the all
sufficient reason that there was not so
much room for him to grow in. If Daniel
Webster himself could come back to life,
he could not by twenty years of ceaseless
endeavor increase his fame as an orator;
for while here before he butted his lofty
head against the stars. But Bryan went
on to the end making speeches stronger
and ever stronger, manifesting new pow
ers every time he arose. Perhaps his