The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1900-07-26
Bryan the Man of tha People.

Bryan the Man OF tha People.
A philosophy which in itself is bad
in morals is injurious in effects. Self
ishness is weakness or viIlainy. There
is no inherent power, no virile force for
good in seif-loye. The man who alwys
takes himself seriously and exercises
his faith only by belief in himself is
generally ridiculed by his neighbJrs
and suspected by the general public,
A man can't accomplish anything from
the standpoint of self. He may wrap
himself in the importance Of his own
consequentalism, say prayers to him
self mornings and evenings and grace
to himself etmeal times aud the ultama-
thule Of his devotion will be either
suicide or starvation.
Though he is a man of superb self
confidence and dauntless resolution
the self element has played very little
in Mr., Bryan career He is a man Of
IDEAS deyotee of principles lie is
ahame with the fervor Of political re-
form. He espouses what he believes
to be the cause of the people and he
has always evinced willingness to
sacrifice his own political future upon
the altar of his faith. His "belief in
the truth of him" goes no further than
confidence in his cause aud reliance on
the immutability of the truth, He is a
philanthropist and an optimist; he loves
mankind and pins his faith to the final
triumph of Justice. These qualities are
the handspring of his eloquence and
the secret of his power.
The general concession is that Bryan
is pure, pure in life, pure in purpose.
His blameless record, spotless character
and solemn earnestness are not the sole
elements of his power to move. These
things care actions that man might
play" for the sake of forwarding sell
fish ambition. The firm resolve of this
determined soul is to help the plain
people who he believes are being gross
lv wronged He breaches the gospel
of hope to the masses and the gospel Of
Justice to the classes and nobody doubts
that he will practice what he breaches.
It is the force of deep conviction, the
magnetism of honest speech that have
given his utterances "zest and n haunt
ing reverberating quality that amount
ed to Mt least a limited immortality. "
Mr.. Bryans speech at Chicago was as
great rs Patrick Henry's speech was
great and the two will ring togethcl
down the corridors Of tradition and
history
There are perhaps in this county
shrewder politicians than the demo
cratic nominee. There are pcrhal,
closer students of political economy,
there may be men OF broader culture
but it will be difficult TO make the peo
pie believe that in the loug list of nota
bles they can find so good friend as
Bryan. He stands for them, they stan(
for him, therein lies the secret of hi
power.
He is not demagogue, he is leader
He doesn't wait to hear from the peo
pie, they wait to hear from him. II
the gloom Of 1896 he told them the bat
tie had Just begun aud renewed thei
courage. When the Spanish war wa
over and the people and politician
were all at sea and wild with enthusi
asm he issued the warning, SOUNDED
the alarm and raised the standard o
the republic against the empire. Alert
calm and determined he has stood il
every breech and every pass, and ever.
hill, his white plume flying as he hunI
his gauntlet in the face of the foe.
The people look upon him as an cid
er brother, their representative, thei
attorney, in fact, and rely upon his su
perior wisdom aud incoruptible in
tegrity. There is no doubt that MI
Bryan is benevolent and reverentiG
man. He came near devoting his lif
to the ministry. He believes in q
oyerruling providence, and makes hi
appeal to the sense of right that h
= believes to be in the hearts of the mu
titude. He is a man among millions
It but at the same time he is man Of til
millions aud champions the cause {
the millions.
He dictated the Kansas City pla
form over long distance telephone,
is said. to leaders who were much o.
posed to his views. Why could he 4
this? The explanation is simp
enough. He was right and they wei
:, wrong, that is ALL His position W.
1t tenable from the standpoint of pril
ciple, theirs was hardly excusable c
the ground Of expediency, If the
= had won, the platform would have bee
both hypocritical and foolish, but Br
an stood firm and the platform is bo
honest and wise. II the voters of Il
party had wanted to back track on Il
silver question they would have dro
n ped Bryan But they did not, n
~ politicians knew the people were wi
him, therefore they we're afraid al
dared not resist him.
I;r 4rin,nnh OF Knncnn Git,- ,r Il