The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-07-31
THE EGOTIsTIC BRYAN.
His Vanity Cruises Anxiety to Chair
man JOnes's Committee.


w. B. S., in st. Louis Globe-Democrat.
Saturday evening, Immediately after the
Chicago convention closed. the new nation
al committee met. Several Of the older
counseled that it would be we'll for the cam
didates not to make too many speeches.
They had in mind Mr.. Bryan's laxative
ness as shown Friday evening following his
nomination. They feared the obtrusion of
too much individuality into the campaign.
One of them asked Tillman, OF South Caro-
lima, what he thought.
Let him talk, of course, said the South
Carolinian. whose mouth has been his po-
litical fortune. When you've bought a
canary bird. what's the use of hiding it in
a corner?"
The Democratic. national committee has
got a bird, sure enough. How did the NOM
mittee? He kept still one day. doing moth
ing more spectacular than making a visit
TO the tomb Of Lyman Trumbull. Then he
hood home, TO rest. ITO rest up" was the
homely expression he used. On Monday he
made a string of speeches stretching from
Chicago to Salem. On Tuesday he took a
.tiresome trip to Centralia, shook HANDS
with everybody who was sufficiently inter
ested to come to the city park. and made
road got Mr.. Bryan into Salem a little be-
fore midnight. On Wednesday he made two
speeches. received visitors all day. on
Thursday morning he got up at 5 O'Clock
TO take q train to St. Louis. He talked all
the way across Illinois. Between times
ne read and kilograms, looked
after all the details of a journey with a
wife and three children and managed to
keep on cordial terms with twenty-five
newspaper men-"my body guard" as he
termed them. This was what Mr.. Bryan
called resting up from the strain of the
convention. preliminary to the real work
following the nomination. since then he
has received delegations at Lincoln. has
made a side trip to Omaha to address vari-
Gus bodies. has issued and has
come within g. scratch of SDOiliOO tho nloro
port for him.
This is only the beginning. 1t has made
the members of the Democratic national
committee very tired. 1t has surfeited the
country with Bryaniana. But it hasn't
wearied Mr.. Bryan art all. There never was
such a campaigner. in his own estimation.
This man will enjoy every minute from
now until election day If the craze keeps
talk. His record is eighty speeches in one
short congressional campaign. four
speeches of one hour each and fifty miles
across country in a single day, and more of
that sort of thing.
Bryan believes in a Misunderstanding cam
paign. He began it the day he left Chi
cago. His hand and arm were so badly
swollen the first week that he WINGED every
time he got a grip. But he kept on shak-
ing. He intends to keep on shaking hands
UP to the night of Nov. 2. His ambition
is to shake hands with a larger proportion
of the POPULATION of the United States than
any other presidential candidate ever did.
Az ho' L AiiO hio llitlOS tOIlilutulldliH
that this is to be a Misunderstanding cam
paign. The people of this country may
think they have had a good deal OF Bryan
in three weeks. Flow will they stand three
months of Bryan, getting Bryaner every
lay? That is what the campaign means.
Bryan isn't a slayer. He does not wear.
He can last no more than Schlatter could.
He rides naturally and easily on the crest
or a wave. He is the apOtheosis of q po-
litical craze. The most interesting thing
about that craze is the problem OF it's
duration. James j. Hill, the builder Of the
great Northern railroad. a lifelong Demo-
crat, stood in front of the Auditorium on
Michigan avenue when the excitement was
at its height and said:
This can't last. BY the 18th Of next
month you will see the wane OF il under
way, and from that time ii will &c down."
"A Democrat, perhaps the best judge in
St. Louis of political movements. from
twenty-five years OF close study of and
active participation in them. said one day
this week:
IF tbis thing had started in September
ii would mean the election of Bryan with
out much doubt. 1t can't run until Novem-
Der. Six weeks from now you will see the
difference. / have been in too many cam
paigns. 1 know just what this excitement.
which carries people off their feet, means.
1t is in politics what a revival is in religion
good for a six weeks run. but you can't
make IL go one hundred days. 1t will let
down in spite of you. We are all right
with Bryan until September. / am telling
my friends not to bet a cent on Bryan