The herald., 1897-07-06
TUESDAY, JULY 6, 1897
THE MAN AND THE SPEECH

OF Hon. William Jennings Bryan, it
may be said, as of Caesar, with very
littae change Of phrase: HE came, he
spoke, he conquered
First, the Free Silver Republican club
deserves the highest praise words can
convey for the way everything in con-
nection with Mr.. Bryan's visit had been
arranged and was carried out. The vast
audience at Fiesta park was accommo-
dated in comfort and without hitch.
Promptly at the hour of Major Geo.
S. Patton. with fine tact and thorough
appreciation of the fitness of things, in
less than twenty aptly chosen words, in
troduced the tiIguished speaker to an
assemblage OF people filling the space in
the Fiesta park from the grand stand to
the north gate, space of 600 by $50 feet.
There were perhaps 10000 people in the
enclosure as Mr.. Bryan rose to speak.
The enthusiasm of the reception is be-
yond the power of words to describe it.
When. at length, quiet reigned at
wave of the speakers hand there stood
before that throng of humanity a man
In the full prime of vigorous and perfect
manhood, not much, if any, less than
six feet in stature weighing nearly, if
not quite, 200 pounds, yet not seeming so
tall nor SO large, so symmetrical is the
well-knit, compact frame, SO we'll poised
IL the massive head on broad shoulders,
from which rises strong, well rounded
neck. The features indicate the man.
With broad forehead, rising to a. we'll
developed dome, with keen, expressive
eyes, an aquiline nose of great strength
and power, in the mobile, yet firm, lips,
= massive chin and perfect teeth, there
w&s in the man a strength and repose
vigor and keennesS which promised
much from the orator.
Before dozen sentences had been
uttered it was evident by the movements
of the audience that the clear, resonant,
well nnodulated and powerful voice was
penetrating to the very outskirts of the
assembly.
For two hours and half, that is for
$50 minutes, the speaker addressed this
great mass of American citizens with
a good sprinkling of their wives among
them. All sorts and conditions of men
were there. All shades of political opin-
ion found representatives in the audi
ence. With rapt attention to a man
they listened to an grafton replete with
fact, keen in the treatment of the topics
touched, profound in it's researches,
with the foundation principles of govern
ment.
From those opposed to him Mr.. Bryan
has won a very pronounced reversal of
the opinion they had been taught to hold
him in by their own newspapers and
orators, and his adherents entertained d
for him at the end of that masterfuI ad-
dress much higher opinion than even
they had conceived of him before.
Yet Mr.. Bryan's speech was not like
what either friend or adversary expect
ed to hear. He Is not fiowery speaker.
Nor is he much of a rhetorician in the
usual acceptation of the term. He in
II.
his language could not be classed as no.
etical. There were but few tropes or
figures of speech in any part of that 15o
minutes speech.
Copious and dignified in diction, we'll
rounded and musical in the construction
OF its sentences, apt in anecdote, fertile
in argument, felicitous in illustration.
telling in the way of putting the points
made, yet the crowning characteristics
of the address were the keen analysis
used in laying bare the meaning ana
trend of political principles, the pro-
found probing of the fundamental prin-
ciples of government, and the great ar
ray Of facts massed like armed battal-
ions to buttress up every statement he
made. And while searching in ANALYSIS
md profound in its treatment of princi-
pies. the speech was brilliant with tell
ll5es of M, then grave with ! pa