The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1896-07-22

j
at by the Republican, in every high
aud open place l. was DOT until Bryao
made his Ere, tariff speech in the House
that the Dem ocracy took heart and re.
earded life worth living It ~ss
wonderful thing in oratory.. this first
tariff speech Of Bryan. II was even
more of triumph than the Chicago
eloquence of the other day
On this tariff occasion the Repub.
licaus, with the cynical Reed at their
head, were there to crop and say
sharp things and ask sharp questions,
and make bitter interruptions. One
after another the orators ofthe Demo
craey, some of them old in forensic
war, had been riddled by 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 cames with the
advantage Of musical voice.
bright eye and a pleasing personality.
Nor did he talk ten minutes until he
developed the fact that he was a
master of English and had as we'll
such command of the subject as
comes only to men who have. burned
the midnight lights of studious pre-
paration
1t is of no avail peculiarly to go in
detail over debate that's long since
over and gone Suffice it that
Bryan's speech was the event of the
session. Every thrust of Reed he
parried /; every blow he stopped and
countered Time and again the Big
Man from Maine was made to draw
back from collisions he had sought
himself, discontinue in his face,
while the House howled.
For new mana young men, one
who had never talked ten minutes in
the House before-the feat was
marvellous. At the close of his ef.
fort Crisp and the fathers of the
House congratulated him, and even
Republicans, while disagreeing, came
across = shook him BY the hand
That sp.s III saved the reputation of
the House Democracy and fixed for.
ever Bryan's standing as a master of
forensic fence
What was to be admired most was
the absolute stability Of the man no
more toebe stampeded than noun.
tain; no more to be put to flight
than tree.
In the Fifty second and the Fifty
third Congresses Bryan was in the
forefront Of party battle many times.
In his second Congress, while still a
member of the ways and means, with
Wilson at the head, he not only made
the leaing speech for the Wilson bill,
but speech so full aad exhaustive
for free silver. Is to l, that Gull
bertson, of Texas. himself the So
crates of the House Democray.
said !:
'That exhausts the subject It's
the best possible setting forth that
the cause OF free silver can get.'
During his Congressional career
Bryan led up the forces fer low tariff,
free silver, free sugear, the income
tax ; fought to repeal the National
Bank Acts. and consistently aided
Uncle William Hatch to pass his anti
option. On appropriations Bryan
was against extravaganza, and stood
as the persistent champion of econ
omy. With his own people he was
always leader, and the Nebraka
Senators came often to the House to
gain his views.
Bryan is Presbyterian in religion.
He is often in the pulpit as a lee
turer. Politically he refuses no call
to speak. He once addressed con.
course of preachers and then talked
politics from a saloon bar on the
same day. When the House held a
Sunday session Bryan left his seat
for an hour to lecture on the divinity
of Christ at a church on Capitol
Hill.
Bryan in Lis habit is decorous and
we'll within the moral line. He has
none of the vices. When he ia
President, should that time come, the
White House cigar bill will represent
only the consumption OF visitors,
and the wine will be as lacking as in
the abstemious days of Hayes For
the second time the world will wit.
ness temperance White House.
Bryan, while master of eloquence,
prepares his speech es with care.
He writes them, prunes, pares and
rehearses them. He told me once
that he would no more speak with
out preparation than he would plunge
| wingless and reckless into all abyss.
His life is quiet, except 80 far as he
disturbs it with his pilgrimages of
politics. He has no circle of friends ;