The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-06-10
aTHE PASSING on BRYAN.n

We note in few Southern cuckoo
newspapers certain outbursts of habby
Jubilation over what the editors are
pleased to call "the passing of Bryan. {"
Some of these editors still retain the Fed
eral offices to which Mr.. Cleveland ap-
pointed them four years ago. Others are
patiently waiting for the Cleveland mil
lenium four years hence. Bryan is their
bugaboo, and his passing" is the vision
which irradiates their fatuous sleep.
Has there been passing of Bryan?'
Does Mr.. Bryan stand lower to- lay in
the esteem, the confidence, the affection
OF the Democratic masses than he did on
the day before the election last Novem-
Der? Defeated candidate though he be-
has he lost the smallest fry ction of his
influence over these who followed him
through the brilliant and dramatic cam
paign of 1896! We look in vain for any
evidence to such effect. Nowhere in the
whole political prospect do we find the
slightest Indication that his star has
waned. We see Mr. Cleveland retire to
private life after twelve years of leader
ship, eight of which he spent as President
OF the United States, and, save the little
band of feathered ones who roosJ and
twitter in the Reform Club. of New York,
we detect no sym ptom of sorrow or regret
in the ranks of the Democracy.
But Bryan the standard-bearer of few.
months, the defeated chieftaiu, with no
record of domination to commend him,
with no background of successful leader
ship and no atmosphere Of official power
and prominence-Bryan is in the mouths
of all Democrats; his counsel is solicited
in every State; his views and wishes are
consulted hourly; the whole scheme of
Dem Ocra tic action for the future revolyes
about him. Defeat at the polls seems to
have only endeared and strengthened
him. He arouses enthusiasm as surely
and as powerfully as he did eight months
ago. He is, in all genuine respects,
more truly the head of the Democracy
than he ever was before.
Nothing in the career of this extraordi-
nary young man Is as astounding as his
present relation to and influence over the
party organization of which, last July,
he was m ade the candidate and represent.
ative. When,..at the Chicago con vention,
be first sprang into prominence; when, ele.
waited in an instant to dazzling attitudes
and environed with the inexplicable
magic Of popular enthu siasm, he seemed
almost demigod ;...even then he was a
less wonderful product of political evolu-
ton than he IS to-day. The sudden fervor
OF party gathering, the mysterious mag
netism that, transforms men into devo-
lees, are nOC uncommon CnlnGS n our en-
perience. But the. man who passes
through the disseminating process of n
campaign, who endures tho scrutiny and
contact of hundreds of thousands of his
fellow citizens, and who, most trying test
OF all, encounters defeat eventually-the
nan who energies from all these trials
with his dignity unimpaired aud his in
fiIence intact-this man in not to be dis
missed with quotation or eliminated by
IN epigram.
Has there been "Eassing .of Bryan"
Not yet, dear little cuckoos. William j.
Bryan is n larger, IL more. imperious, and
more forceful quantity in the Demo.
cratic equation of the present than Mr..
Cleveland and all his personal followers
put together. We do not endeavor to ex-
plain it. We simply recognize the tire.
mendous, overshadowing fact. Washing
ton Post.