Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-11-13
POLITICS AND SUCCESS.

When a man can step from an earn
ing capacity of less than $1,000 a year to
an earning capacity of $4,000 a year,
within twenty-four months, with the
same set of brains. it shows what a field
for advancement political life affords.
According to his own statements, such
is the career of Mr.. w J.. Bryan. After
denying to the San Francisco Examiner
the charge that he was paid for his po-
litical speeches. Mr.. Bryan detailed his
financial affairs as follows:
Mr.. Bryan began the practice of law
in his native town, Jacksonville, ILL.,,
July 4, 1855, shortly after his graduation.
He was then twenty-three years old, and
for the next six months, or for the re-
mainder of the year 1888. his fees at the
bar amounted to so. but for the next
year. 1884, they amounted to $1,000. In
1885 they We're 81 .0So.2I. and in 1886, ST.
566. 80. For the next nine months his
fees We're 81, 1923 or at the rate of about
! 81, 800 a year, and on the last day of Sep
TENDER, 1887, he moved to Lincoln. Neb.,
and began business there October 10. 1887.
being then tWenty-seven years old and
without friends in Lincoln. He did not
even know more than half a dozen per-
I SpllS III LlllColl, dlV III TIE ItllldlIllIlS
three months of that year earned there
in his practice at the bar $3.50. He wa4
then just beginning to form an acuuaint-
ance. and in 1888 earned $S34.4 In 1889
his fees rose to 81. 99S. %. and We're increas-
ing in the following year when he was
nominated for congress and entered the
campaign. After his election to con-
gress he abandoned the law for public
life. Since the 1896 campaign he has
had several offers of $4,000 a year from
: a. ytn,,, To nnt &C thni,, nys
One was a New York corporation. But
he preferred to decline all these offers
and devote himself to his present OBJ
iects. Mr.. Bryan says he earns money
now in three ways. from his book
for magazines and the press. While
Mr.. Bryan is far from being a rich man,
even in the modest sense which the term
rs used in a small western city. he has
no debts. He has always lived within
his income. owning his own house and a
little farm of twenty-five acres. He has
no expensive habits whatever.
Colonel Bryan's career up to date fur
Had he kept out Of politics. on the the
DRY that the way of the t~ransgressor is
hard. he still would be a struggling at
torney, saving the lambient air of the
| Ip'iitt touiN - y ,'>'
was a dollar in sight. Like thousands OF
I other deserving young men he would
have lived and died in comparative OBJ
security. without the spark of genius ir
his makeup having been kindled into q
flame. But he went into politics-and
the world knows the rest.
Whether Mr.. Bryan ever attains the
goal of his ambition, or falls far short OF
it. his entry into politics was a success
when measured by the narrow span OF
life's ordinary opportunities. Cireum'
stances favored his advancement to GER.
tain heights, and if he climbs no further
he has won a place that most men would
look upon as far UP on TIE roster of sue
cess.
Unfortunately, political success bring!
political appetite. The man who goe:
up like a sky rocket usually acquires tbs
suspicion that destiny has singled hin
out for a complete aurora borea1is. From
a meteor he aspires to become a sun, anc
then spread out beyond the solar sys'
tenn into the broader field Of the illimi'
table universe. This feeling is, not ne
cessarily due to egotism, or any Other
form of swell-headedness, but to natura
growth of ambition when fed too liber
ally at the outset.
The chances are Mr.. Bryan will
follow in the footsteps of many an illus
trious predecessor who failed to reacl
the presidency. and die a disappointed
man, never becoming thoroughly con
scious of the fact that his aspiration!
actually got too far ahead of his oppOr
tunities. Politics may pave the way t.
success, provided a man is conscious o
where success begins and leaves off
But they may become the torment o
a mans life, by goardins him to ambi
tons tina are infinitely beyond his reach
and the dropping him under the chario
wheels of political progress k a man
acled slave.