The herald., 1896-11-01
The Democratic Candidates Life
and Character Reviewed
HE IS A BORN POLITICIAN
nis Experience IS Practicing Lawyer
Small and Uuremunerative
The Consistent Foe of Monopoles-His
Steadfast Refusal to Appear as
a Railway Attorney.

a
His income as lawyer has averaged
about $1,000 year, although he has man
aged to increase it to $500. His salary
as a political editor OF the Omaha
World Herald was $500 year.
WORTH ONLY $4,000.
Today his whole wealth will hardly
amount to $S0O0 and yet he is a mature,
highly trained man, with thousands of
friends and national reputation as an
orator.
But his easy, contempt for money, his
aversion to the advocacy of corporation
interests, and his absorbing passion for
speech making have prevented him from
acquiring wealth.
The truth is that while he has dab
bled at law and journalism, the serl-
Gus business of his life has been poll
tics. The White House has always been
his goal. although he looked upon the
United States senate as the proper field
for his peculiar talents.
Mr.. Bryan makes no secret of these
facts. He entered the Union Law school
at Chicago in 1881, and sat three years by
the side of Adolphus r. Talbot, his pres
ent law partner, who is now a candidate
for the state senate on the Republican
ticket. These two men have been in
teliectual and social intimates for fif-
teen years.
AS LYMAN TRCMBULL'S CLERK
While Mr.. Bryan was studying law he
served as a clerk in the late Lyman
Trumbull's office at S. a week. He was
easily the leader of his class and had
a weakness for buying books relating
to various forms of modern government.
He immersed himself in constitutional
law and shrank from the technical side
of his profession.
The first school debate which indicated
the trend of his mind turned on the
question whether legislator should
abide by the promptlngs of his own
Judgment or ascertain the wish of his
constituents and follow that.
Young Bryan held that a legislator
should take care to ascertain the truth
himself and should then educate his
constituents on sound principles, lead
ing rather than following the people.
Within twenty-foug hours, however
MI. Bryan has told me that he believes
a legislator has no right to depart from
the platform on which he is elected. If
he cannot consistently carry it out he
should resign. The people do not hire
a legislator to think for them but to
act for them
In his college debate he argued that
statutes should not be based upon on
rortunism but that each law should be
brought into absolute harmony with
certain great fundamental ideas This
was his constant theme. 1t accorded
with his love of generalities, his pro-
pensity for topics, which lent them
serves to metaphor.
AN ABSTRACT STUDENT.
He was tremendous student, but his
CHOSEN studies lay along the lines of
least resistance-pleasan distractions
and broad political propositions. He
had no head for dry details. His philos-
ophers were jackson, Jefferson. Lincoln
BENTON. Judge Cooley
There is always peculiar religious
strain running through Mr. Bryan's
thought. 1t was inherited from his
Baptist father. And this tendency is
marked when he discusses popular gov
ernment
H1s f2vorite answer to those who
questioned the intervention of Cod in
the affairs of men is the last verse of
Bryant's lines ITO a Waterfowl" which
heard him repeat last night to the
newspaper correspondents who accom-
panied him from Chicago when they met
in his house:
He who from zone to zone
GUIDES through the boundless sky thy
certain ti.sat
VIII lead my steps Alright.
After graduating from the law school
Mr. Bryan served six months more in
Lyman Trumbull's office. and then went
TO Jacksonville, ILL.,, where he practiced
law for about four years in the office of
Brown & Kirby.
NOT CORPORATION LAWYER.
1t has been said that he never in his
life has appeared in court as the repre-
sentative of corporation In a sense
tnis IS strictly true. On two or three
occasions. when the senior members of
his firm were absent, he made minor mo-
tlons for them in the Jacksonville court
on behalf of a railway company which
they represented. But he has never ac-
fa1 faa
a corporation
When he left congress he was offered
salary Of $4,000 a year for his services
as general attorney for railway and
oil enterprise owned by the Standard
OIL company. His answer was that he
would not take the position for all the
profits of the company.
A few days later he mentioned the fact
to his present partner.
You have made great mistake. Mr..
Bryan said Mr. Talbot Tell them
you have partner who is not so sensi-
tive
Mr.. Bryan failed to see the point. I'D
rather take cases am in sympathy with
and live as l do now than be president
of the Standard Oil company" he re-
piled.
URGED HIS PARTNER TO RESIGN.
When Mr. Bryan came to Lincoln in
1901 ana FORMED law partnership with
Mr. Talbot, he urged his old classmate
to resign his position as counsel for the
Missouri Pacific Railway company.
Mr.. Bryan insisted that such a con-
nection would prevent the firm from
taking cases against allied corporations.
The partnership agreement provided
that the firm should have nothing to do
with the Missouri Pacific or any other
corporation, and that that part of the
business should be the personal affair
of Mr.. Talbot. In order to emphasize
his opposition. Mr. Bryan twice appear
ed in court against the Missouri Pacific
Railroad company.
When the Rock Island Railway com
pany completed it's line to Lincoln sew
eral cases against the road, involving
the appraisal of private lands, were
brought to the firm. Mr.. Talbot declin-
ed to take them on the ground that he
was a railway lawyer.
Mr.. Bryan happened to be absent from
Lincoln at the time, but when he return
ed he Immediately brought suit against
the Rock Island company for widow
and won the case in single speech. He
accepted several other suits against the
same company
A CURIOUS PARTNERSHIP.
TIE relations between Mr.. Bryan ant
Mr.. Talbot were interesting For years
Mr.. Bryan was chairman of the Demo.
lcratic county committee, while Mr.. Tai.
bot was chairman of the Republican
county committee. Frequently the two
committees met at the same time in the