The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-07-29
ADDS TO THE STRENGTH OF THE
SILVER CAUSE.
WHAT The ENGLlSHMEN THINK
Any One Who Reads the Daily Newspapers and
Has Brains Enough to Understand Must
Know That Bryan Has a Stronger Hold
Than Ever Upon the People.
shington Post.)

which the Observation-Disclosures
Club Democrats delude themseives-that
Rrvan is dead issue and that the cause
he represents has gone to that bourne
fron, which no cause returns. III is ar
+icult 10 sneak with confidence of the real
natives and convictions of such amazing
narsons as Mr.. Bynum and his assoc
Gates but we have had no hesitation IN
saving that If they do in truth credit
themselves with intelligence and candor
IN Tins appraising Mr.. Bryan and his
cause. they must have much III colihio ~
with the blind fish of the Mammoth
Cave. ANY one who reads the dalis
newspa pers-we mean newspapers "hich
give the news-and who mas pralnt
enough TO understand what ne reads'
must know that William j. Bryan mas
a stronger hold upon the Democratic
masses today than he had year ago. OF
at the very height of the campaign OF
1896. He emerged from that tremendous
struggle. defeated TO be sure, but WITH
ant the smallest loss of prestige, with
the undiminished respect and confidence
NJ his followers. and his influence has
been steadily broadening and deepening
ever since.
And now comes witness from Great
Britain, no less a witness, IN fact, than
the London Saturday Review. one OF
whose editors has been carefully anaiyZ-
ing Mr.. Bryan's famous book, Inc
First Battle" and who finds in 1t much
food for thought. and, perhaps, from his
point of view, concern. Our British
friend does not especially admire, the
volume itself, its make up and material,
neither does he think very highly Of Mr..
Bryan's literary style. 1t should be said,
also. that he disapproves of Mr.. Bryan $
theories almost as violently as Wall
street does But he makes no mistake
as 10 the mans strength with the people,
and he realizes, as ii would be well for
our monometallist friends on this side
to realize, that the campaign OF 1896
was indeed the first battle, and that an
other and a greater battle is TO be
fought in 1900 For example:
But Mr.. Mckinley was elected in
stead, and a brief two months Of his add
ministration has carried the revolution
forward as swiftly as the spring sun
shine and showers are bringing forth the
leaves and buds. With the arbitration
treaty contemptuously rejected even in
its intolerable amended form; with the
Senate and House at loggerheads over
two equally odious rival schemes OF pri-
vate plumber; with business still half
paralyzed; with the revenue still insult
ficient and the currency still unsettled;
with the spring elections showing a ga
wage popular reaction from November
mood, most marked of all in the new
Presidents own State-with these sim
lister omens crowding upon us, we need
not hesitate to describe this new admin
istration as doomed to failure and col
lapse. Where there were four Bryan
men last autumn there are already five
this spring, and there is discernible no
where any reason for supposing that
their increase will be checked on this
side of the crucial year of 1900"
1t is much too soon in the day to make
the predictions of collapse and failure
with reference to the Mckinley admins
tration, but there is and can be no
doubt as to the increase Of the Demo.
cratic movement during the past few
months. The Saturday Review is fully
warranted by the facts of the past as by
the indications of the future when it
says:
:" The First Battle is in itself a mean
ing title. No other defeated candidate
Of our recollection has been inspired by
his calamity to such a table show of
confidence. His adversary has the Presi-
dency, but Mr.. Bryan has all the enthu-
siasm, all the elasticity, and unhesitat-
ing conviction of the ultimate winner
He is only thirty -seven years old, and he
feels that to him belongs the future. This
is what gives his otherwise dull book q
genuine and unique interest. He pos
sesses the stage so completely-on the
side of discontent-that there seems nc
likelihood of his being crowded off it be
fore the next election. During this three
and one-half years, however, most Of his
innate reservations toward decorum anC
cautious measures will have been effacel
by contact with the growing virility and
rancour of the forces he is leading. Il
he is indeed to play the part apparently
marked out for him, one can only hope
for the sake of the world at large, tina
he will expand the area Of his ideas"
We think that our critic goes astray in
his structures on Mr.. Bryan's alleged
scarcity of ideas. He should remember
that the campaign Of 1896 was almos,
wholly limited to the issue of free silver
coinage, and consider that faithful his
tory Of that episode would hardly admit
OF disgressions into other fields. Upon
the whole, however, the Saturday Re.
view appears to have a much clearer
idea Of the political situation in thi,
country than we are accustomed to find
ing in British utterances, and, whilst iti
apprehensions with reference to the pur-
pose of the Democracy as led by Villa n
J. Bryan strike us as being neediessly
poignant, it agrees at most important
points with the conclusions Of intelligent
and observant persons in this country
Mr.. Bryan's strength is growing, and
unless something now unforeseen should
arrest the evolution, he will, in 1900, be
a more potent leader than the Repub-
iicans have ever yet had to reckon with