The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-10-09
BRYAN AT THE CAPITAL.
Shrewd Guess mt the Reasons which
Made Him Go There.

BRYAN AT THE CAPITAL.
Shrewd Guess mt the Reasons which
Made Him Go There.
Correspondence Philadelphia Record.
To understand candidate Bryan at all
you must always remember that he Is
young and that he is dramatic, and these
two facts do explain MANY of the things
that he says and does that would otherwise
be uneXplainable. But, although candidate
Bryan would not appear as George WASH
ington reading the farewell address on the
east front of the Capitol which Washing
ton never saw, he did want to make one
Perhaps one thing that influenced him
to accept the, invitation which the rank
and file of the Democrats here pressed
upon him so earnestly was the feeling
which many men who have been in Con-
create sensation right here in Washing
ton. 1t is almost invariably a great dis
appointment to a Senator or a Represen-
tative to find out that he is not of as mucS'
account here as he was at home
There are a few Representatives FROM
great cities who are perhaps OF more ac-
count here than they are at home, but as n
iule the Senator the Representative
who was a great man at home finds that
here he is only one of many great men in
town which has had all the great men
OF the country for century living IN II at
one time or another, and which, IL II Is
not surfeited with great men. is at least
extremely critical and extremely cautious
claim to be great.
There are ninety Senators now, or will
another Senator and there are 35s Repre-
sentatives. sometimes called, without war
rant Of law or sense, members OF Con-
gress.''
A man has to be really great man to
stand out so prominently from this large
body of men as to impress this rather Gym
ical town. Year after year the procession
of Senator's. Representatives and other
stop across the Washington stage. the
ranks steadily recruited behind the scenes,
so that to the Washington audience, al
10 individuals change. process
sion always looks very much the same.
and nothing, less than genius will suffice
to distinguish a man so that all Washing
ton will want to look at him.
The number of men who. by the most
can pack the gallery of either House, neil
Their holding two thousand persons, with
toursts t cam easily f be reckoned on the fin
gers of one hand; and 1t would take those
same men to fill any of the larger halls
while 1 cannot think of one. unless it be
Speaker Reed, who would draw an audi,
Convention Hail. which is the largest or all.
Great men are so common here that even
when half a dozen of them are advertised
to speak at some free meeting ii is diff
cult to get half the audience together that
could be got for any one OF them IN ms
Washington almost unnoticed, and without
thought of attracting a crowd.
WashingtonianS are always amused to see
the fuss that is made at national conven-
tions or at gatherings of any sort, away
from here, over Senators and representa-
tiveS who would attract little or no at
tention of such kind at any public meet
ing here, and still more amused at the way
in which such men are interviewed by
newspapers in other cities, especially those
in New York. where such ignorance seems
to exist as to the relative values or our
public men, to say nothing of their titles
and opinions.
Men who never get interviews into WASH
ington papers into Washington CORE
spondence except by sending in their veiws
in good typewriter copy. ana not al
ways then, seem to be seized upon WIN
avidity in other cities as most desirable
subjects by the interviewer, even though 1T
may be necessary to- make a Senator out OF
high-sounding title for the man in order to
add to the interest of his remarks.
Now Mr.. Bryan has shared the common
experience Of men in Congress and desires
to have the uncommon experience or draw
ing great crowd to hear him make
speech here just as he has done elsewhere.
He came to Washington very young. very
ambitious, and it is not unkind to say very
self-confident il not concerted, ana with tne
consciousness that in his own town and in
his own State he was already reckoned a
rema rkable man. He also seems to have
had the consciousness that he was going
to be President of the United States some
day although we did not know that then
This however would sharpen ane s riSnp
himself only one of many great men and,
like the rest, unable to greatly impress
gifts gave him hearing and an audience
which filled the galleries of the House
whenever he was announced TO Spe&N, Dut
even they did not suffice to make him the
talk of all Washington and the observed
of all observers in the streets. Indeed, II
he had not afterwards been nominated for
the presidency he would have soon been
forgotten here for. unlike other men of less
oratorica power. he made really very 1T
tie impression on the life of the city.
Some of the leaders in Congress like
Speaker Reed and Mr.. Hit and Senator
Lodge and Senator Wolcott. make figure
In Washington society. and others. like
Senator Sherman and Representative Ding
lev stand high in the estimation of its
bankers and business men. while others
still are active in it's churches; but Mr..
Bryan was neither a society man nor a
business man in Washington and, while he
regularly attended President Lincoln's
church. the New York-avenue Presbyter-
ian. with his wife. sometimes leading In
his half-bind father-in-law. he did not con-
meet himself with it. He and his wife
never kept house here, but boarded with a
who is to be his host while he stays in
Washington.
He divided his time between his modest
suite of rooms and the Capitol. except when
he was doing errands for his constituents.
like his colleagues, at the White House
and the departments. where doubtless like
other Representatives. he often had TO
''cool his heels in the anterooms while
Senators, who have the precedence on such
occasions. were in the inner chambers. In
Lincoln Neb., he 1.-The Congressman
the only one, but in Washington ID. c..
he "a Congressman" one of many.
and this tells the whole story of disap-
pointment that must have sometimes been