The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-04

j. Bryan his chance to attract atten-
ton, and by an odd coincidence the
new man is a Nebraskan and one of
BTyan's warmest admirers. w. L.
Greene is his name. You have seen
man of nearly fifty years, and, though
he is serving his first term in congress,
his years command respect and no
sense of "newness" has restrained him
from taking part in the debate. A
man who has known him for many
years said to me last February that
Judge Greene would be found per
fectly at home in joint debate" He
proved the truth of the assertion on the
first two days of the tariff discussion.
On the first day he made a set speech,
on the second he jumped into a dis
cuSsion between Dockery of Missouri
and Tawney of Minnesota, and snapped
up the Minnesota man as quick as a
wink. That is the sort of thing that
tells in a house debate. LabOred
speeches delivered to scattered half
dozen members and a drowsy chair
man do not make an impression on con-
gress or on the country They are
well enough to use as pamphlet matter
in campaign of education but they
don't make votes in the house and
they add nothing to a members repu-
tation among his fellows.
THE SAUCY POPULIsTs.
Judge Green is a POpulist. And
right here I want to say that the Pop
ulists have push and make themselves
heard in the house. Perhaps they
are like the Sassy canary which is
always ready to fight anything 100
times as big as itself But what is a
more likely explanation is this: The
Populists don't pick up some political
hack or some rich man who can pay
the expenses of a campaign and send
him to congress. They nominate the
man who can talk and who has ideas
to express. They may be wrong ideas
from your view point or mine, but
even then the Populist has his value
for he makes argument and so brings
out our ideas-of course the right ideas
more strongly by contrast. He is a
student, is the Populist, and, though
from your view point or mine his
knowledge is wrong and his Judgment
warped perhaps, he makes the men of
other parties go to their books and
cudgel their brains for replies to his
arguments. And so 1 say that even
from a Republican view point the
Populist is an excellent thing to havl
around, especially when tariffs arc
under discussion. Judge Greene was
born in Pike county, Ind. His parent;
took him to Dubois county when he
was boy, and he worked there on :
farm until he was about eighteen
years old, going to the country school:
IN winter. He had three-year acad.
envy course and taught for a time
He did not confine himself to the schoo
course, but did a great deal of readins
and studying at home, and in q grea
degree he is a self-educated man. Hi:
parents intended him for the ministry
but after trying 1t he concluded that i
was not his vocation. His inclinatio,
turned him toward the law. He ha
read some law while pursuing his othe]
studies, and when he gave up the min
istry he went to Bloomington and tool
a regular course, being admitted to tn,
bar in 1876. He had been married ther
five years, and, as his wife was a:
poor as he, they had a hard time keep.
ing afioat.
In 1888 he went with his family t.
Kearney, Neb, and he told me the othe,
day that when he opened his Office
there ne had wife and five babies
ala not know man, woman or child il