The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-09-17
WHAT BRYAN is DOING.

t0rship, now held by that able and non
est Populist, Senator VIM. V. Allen, is
at stake. The Democrats, Populists and
4 Silver Republicans are united against the
Republicans and J. Sterling Morton, and
| the fight is one in which both sides
are putting forth every effort to win. The
silver forces feel the need of Mr.. Bry-
ans counsel and help, but they are not
| likely to get It, And thereby hangs
the story of the smallest bit of peanut
politics that has ever been played in the
political history of the country.
| Mr.. Mikeliohn, Assistant Secretary OF
| War, is a Nebraskan. He is the candi-
date of Thurston and the Pacific railroad
for the Senate. He knows that If Bryan
returns to Nebraska before the election.
the Republicans will be defeated and he
Senate. He takes advantage of his posi-
ton as Assistant Secretary of War to
prevent the return of Mr.. Bryan to Ne
/ braska until after the election. Nebras-
ka is small State and sent three regi-
ments to the front. One OF them Is at
Manila, the Second regiment has been
sent home, and Col. Bryan and his men
are to beusent to Cuba for guard duty.
1t is well known in Washington that
the Assistant Secretary disbanded the
Second Nebraska regiment because he
~ Al pYsxynt 70
regiment out of Nebraska until after the
election. The newspaper men in Wash
ington, who know the inside workings
of things there, have been free to express
their opinion that Mikeljohn was engaged
in playing small politics.
To show the different treatment that
the Republican administration metes out
to the Republican soldiers, it is only
necessary to refer to the brilliant career
of Mr.. Roosevelt, who is now actively
running for the Republican nomination
for Governor of New York, and contrast
it with the treatment Mr.. Bryan has re-
ceiyed. Bryan and Roosevelt are the
two most brilliant, capable and popular
men who enlisted to fight IN the Span
ish war. There is no discount on the
courage or ability of either. Roosevelt
happened to be a Republican, he was
sent to the front where he won honors,
and was Immediately thereafter sent
home to build up the failing fortunes of
the Republican party. Mr.: Bryan was
kept in Nebraska without equipment I'M
til the neglect became a national scan
dial, then he was ordered to Jacksonville
to be side-tracked there with General
Lee, and now he is kept to do guard duty
in Florida, and later to be sent to Cuba
for the same unnecessary duty. Why ?
Because the small politicians in charge
of the administration are guilty of
little piece of petty politics.
While all this little meanness is going
on, Mr.. Bryan is doing his duty in his
accustomed way. Yesterdays Washing
ton Post gives this glimpse of his daily
life-a pen-picture that must endear him
more than ever to the American peo-
pie:
"Col William J. Bryan has declined
the invitation to attend the carnival
which is to be held next month at Macon,
Ga, for the reason that his public APP
pearance would be misconstrued and crit
icised.
Il am criticised for speaking and for
silent said Col. Bryan to the
committee which waited upon him. i
might. however disregard the criticism
of partisan enemies and attend, if it were
not for the fact that my duty is with
my regiment. / am not willing to leave
even for a day, the men who are stricken
with fever. If you want the hero type
of this war, continued Col. Bryan, get
Gen. Wheeler
General Lee accepted the invitation,
provided his visit did not conflict with
his war duties, but, he said, you ought
to take Bryan There is only one or me
and sixteen of him.
'sAll reports from Jacksonville agree
that Col. Bryan is making model Colo
nell A few days ago, after making n
round of the camp and noting the food
that his men were given to eat, he sent
testing in the name of humanity against
the kind of rations which were being dis
tributed to the soldiers. Chairman Ellis,
of the Macon committee on invitations.
thus describes the recent Presidential
as he appears in camp:
''He spent Sunday when we were in
camp driving about nursing the sick, pro-
viding them with dainties and relieving
the suffering. Ceaselessly, without din
ner and supper, he went, until he was
worn out by fatigue. This man, surfeit-
ed with the plaudits of his fellows, is
leading the life Of a hero among the
feverstricken commands. His tent is
pitched with them, out in the open; his
daily place is by the sick-bed, and his
nightly occupation is relieving some
mans distress. Though clothed in the
raiment of high military authority, he
was still the plain American Democrat,
loving his men and by them beloved"