Evening star., 1900-07-07
HIS FIRST CAM PAIG N
sTORT TOLD BY ONE WHO WAS
WITH BRYAN -FOUR, YEARS AGO.
CreSvlss Which Greeted Him-His Re-
markable Voice-Nearest
to a Breakdown.

1
months in 1896 in Mr.. Bryan's company.
This was from the time of his nomination
by the Chicago convention till the day III
| November when he sent his telegram of
| congratulation to Mr.. Mckinley at Canton.
1t covered eighteen thousand miles of rail-
road travelling and variety of incidents
| which have never been paralleled in Amer
lean politics and not likely to be par
alleled again.
Those four months gave a good chance to
study Mr.. Bryan's personality and to gain
an insight into the qualities which made
| him a political leader. Differing in politics
and not in sympathy with the ideas which
| Mr.. Bryan championed, my own observa-
| tions were perhaps more critical than would
| have been the observations of those wno
| were in sympathy with him. Possibly Oil
that account the newspaper faculty was
| sharpened little, but not biased, for the
| journal which / represented was interested
solely in having the facts.
| Crowds which Greeted Him.
1 did not think that any of the corre-
spondents who spent those four months with
Mr.. Bryan ever doubted that he would
again be the candidate of his party. How
| ever the issues might shift, there was one
patent fact which impressed itself on every
| body. This was that during his travels a
| very large number of the American people
got personally acquainted with him. The
| tendency always Is to exaggerate the size
| of crowds which attend political rallies and
| which turn out to hear and see a popular
| orator. The ordinary observer who has mad
| no experience in judging of these matters
es silly magnifies the numbers. To him a
| thousand persons gathered together seem
| like five thousand. and an outdoor crowd OF
| ten thousand. which is in reality an enor-
nous mass, becomes multitude which can
| only be counted by starting with guess Of
one hundred thousand.
| 1t Is a fact of common experience that
| a thousand persons gathered in hall make
| q very respectable audience as to size, and
| there are few structures in the largest cities
| of the country which ever see ten thousand
persons gathered within their walls. In the
| case of indoor meetings the seating or
| crowding capacity of any building can be
| fixed with reasonable accuracy. but in out
| door rallies there is no certain basis for
| guessing. This is one reason why the num-
| ber Of persons attending a political rally
| Is always overestimated by the enthusiast
tic party managers.
| There was no means of estimating with
| any degree Of accuracy the size of the
crowd which listened to Mr.. Bryan, any
more than there means of judging
| with certainty the number of people who
| had seen and heard Major Mckinley on the
trip he took through the country two years
| before his nomination. Mr. Bryan deliv-
cred more than five hundred speeches.
| Some of them were one-minute talks and
| some were two-hour addresses.
|
| the correspondents who had been with him
| gathered together their memoranda and
| made an estimate of the number of peo-
pie who had seen and heard him. One es-
| innate was high as 5000. 900. Another.
| made with more detail. was i,S00OOO My
| own guess was smaller. but there was a
| general agreement that between 1000 900
| ard 4.J0,OOO people had seen the face and
| heard the voice of Mr.. Bryan in that cam
paign. These were OF ell classes and con-
| dtions. men. women and children, and a
large number We're of his political oppo-
nents but the leading fact was that the
| vast majority were those who sympathized
more less with his political principles
Having seen and heard their champion, 1t
| was not difficult to understand that wheth-
er he was defeated or not the majority Of
| these .4.Wo.O0O people who felt they had
got acquainted personally with Mr. Bryan
| were. going to be his Jealous supporters
| thereafter. This certainly was strong
ly impressed upon me that during the last
| three years the passing phases of poll
tics. when the possibility of his falling to
| receive the nomination Of his party was
| discussed seriously in some quarters, never
interested me.
His Remarkable Voice.
leaving politics out entirely, l nave still
| q vivid recollection of some of the clements
| which have contributed TO Mr.. Bryan's sue
cess. Few will deny his claim aS an orator,
ard in oratory the voice is the founda-
|
it !s voice and nothing else, but that is a
matter Of personal opinion. Mr.. Bryan's
voice Is marvellous one. During his speak
ing campaign it vas not uncommon to have
| physicians who were throat specialists come
| to make a study of his methods. They
| could easily determine that the large mouth
and huge throat were the first elements.
but their theories went for little beyond
| that They could find way of estimating
Its carrying power and 1t defied all the
| ordinary means of measurement.
| do not know what the distance is which
| the human voice is supposed to carry. but
| they used to tell in Lincoln of a street
car driver who heard the voice half mile
| public hall. One night at Nebraska City
| when he was making a short speech in the
midst Of heavy rain some of US who were
| a quarter Of a mile away heard 1t as clear
| as bell. At the famous race track In Lex
ington, KY. one moist afternoon we caught
| snatches of sentences at a greater distance
| A raw October night, at Bath. Maine. Mr.
| Bryan started to speak in the open air
talking In sea breeze which was sweeping
| along at the rate of western cyclone. He
| was very hoarse when he began, yet after
five minutes talking his voice began to
clear up, and in another five minutes he
| could be heard several blocks away. All
the time the weather was becoming more
foggy.
knew little about his marvellous vocal or
| ganism He had practiced speaking all his
life and early had learned the necessity OF
| self-restraint Like President Mckinley, he
| begins a speech In low. softly modulated
| tone and the fend who cries louder" has
no terrors for him. Unlike many political
orators. his voice never gets on the higher
| keys and then breaks. He has sufficient
control over 1t to prevent that anti-climax,
but to its volume and its clearnsss or
| hoarseness he has less the mastery. have
heard him become suddenly hoarse when
speaking in halls where all the acoustic
surroundings were good. and again In the
open air, when the atmosphere was clear
and apparently he was under no strain
The truth seemed to be that his vocal or.
gans did about as they pleased. with a
tendency to show themselves at their best
when the conditions were most unfavorable.
Notwithstanding his excessive speech
making. Mr.. Bryan was always saving
with his voice. That is, he always looked
ahead. He had become an adept in CAM
paign talking long before the world knew
it. and he had a special faculty for max
Ing short talks of three minutes or Eve
minutes when longer addresses were ahead
for the same day.
| Physical Endurance.