The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-07-06
WILLIAM ]. BRYAN.

was prepared for Illinois College. !
his senior year in the last mentioned ii
stitution he gained second prize in a
intercollegiate oratorical contest. and O
his graduation In 1881 he was class OratC
at commencement. After studying law q
Union College, Chicago, and in the offic
of Lyman Trumbull he entered upon tn
| practice of his profession at Jacksonville
| A year later he was married to Mary L
Baird, of Perry, ILL.,, whom he met durin
his college course. when she was studen
! in the seminary at Jacksonville. In 1ss
he removed TO Lincoln, Neb., when hi
wife was admitted TO the bar and CAV
him efficient aid in the practice of hi
| profession. In May, 1855, Mr.. Bryan wa
elected a member of the Omaha Conven,
tion that was to select delegates TO tn,
Democratic National Convention at st
Louis, and he became widely known a!
an orator through a speech before tht
Convention advocating a tariff for revenue
only In the following year he was of
fered the Democratic nomination fol
Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska. He
in the canvass. and year later, in 1890
he was nominated by the Democrats for
Congress through the efforts Of the
younger element of his party in his dis
trict. The district, though Democratic by
1000 majority in 1886. had been carried
by the Republicans in 1883 by 1900. The
party managers, it is said. gave little aid
to Mr.. Bryan in his canvass, regarding it
as hopeless. and be was ridiculed by his
opponents as young and without expert
ence. He entered into the contest with
vigor and defeated his opponent, Mr.. Con-
nell, the holder OF the seat, by more than
5000 votes.
He served as member OF the Ways
and Means Committee and was re-
elected to Congress in 1892. He was
active in his support OF the Demo
cratic view of the tariff question and
later became conspicuous in Ills advo-
cacy of bimetallism. aiding Richard
and gaining notice by his readiness as
speaker and skill in parliamentary tactics.
He declined a third nomination for Con-
gress and became in 1894 editor of the
Omaha World Herald" After an unsuc-
cessful candidacy for the United States
Senate he retired from the editorship of
the "World-Herald'' and resumed the
practice of law, at the same time continu
ing his interest in politics. He is credited
with a principal part In bringing about at
iyaa he nF ba In'c
with the Democratic party in Nebraska.
In 1896 he was a delegate TO the Democrat"
National Convention at Chicago and on
July 10 was put in nomination as a Presi-
iential candidate by II. T. Lewis of Geor-
,ia. His nomination by the Convention
lad not been thought of as possible until |
n reply TO a speech BY Senator David !
3. Hill, of New York, he advocated the |
rec coinage Of silver, closing with the |
words: You shah not press down upon
-ou shall not cruelty mankind upon a
ross of gold" On the first ballot Mr.
bryan received 119 votes, on the second
80, on the third 291, on the fourth $50,
nd on the fifth SEQ. thus receiving the
omination. In the Convention of the Peo-
lonth he was also made the head of this
cket. He telegraphed to withdraw his
anne unless Arthur Sewall the Demo-
ratio candidate for Vice President should
e nominated by the Populists, but his
anne remained on the ticket, although
homas Watson. Of Georgia, was made the
ice Presidential candidate of the Popu-
SITS. Mr.. Bryan also received the nomi-
alton of the National Silver party at its
invention held in St. Louis on July 90
art that Mr.. Bryan took in it as a politi-
Il orator.
In the election with which the campaign
osed Mr.. Bryan received 6,5O6.S35 votes in {
total of 10, 926, 157 of which the Repub- :
can candidate, William Mckinley, re- {
lived 7,104, pa. or the electoral vote MIR. I
ryan received 176 and Mr.. Mckinley 27l. t
Mr.. Bryans career in Congress was an
tive one In the Fifty-second Congress,
the Speakership caucus, he supported I
r. Springer but in the House he voted t
II Mr.. Crisp, the caucus nominee. Mr.. e
ittee on Ways and Means, and it was :
rgely through his influence that Mr. Bry- c
was given place upon that commit
e. His tariff speech of March l6, 1892, /
stifed his appointment on that commit !,
e. More than one hundred thousand n
cir i,fa i,,.
ess. In the Fifty-third Congress Mr. c
yam was reapponted upo the Ways and s
cans Committee, and assisted in the prep
alton of the Wilson Tariff bill. He was
member of the subcommittee which 4
afted the sections of the bill providing
e spring OF 1893 through the courtesy of
e State Department Mr. Bryan obtained :.
report from several of the European ma Z,
ms which collect an income tax, and the lie
suits OF this research were embodied in fl
2 Congressional Record drring the de- 81.
tie. He succeeded in having iacorporat ell N
the bill provision borrowed from the fo
ussian law, whereby the citizens who OF
We taxable incomes make their own re u
ms ard those who's incomes are within 81
= exemption are relieved from annoy 10
&c. Mr.. Bryan's speech of August l6 al
3, in opposition to the unconditional re- al
Il of the purchase clause of the Sherman W y,
. called forth even heartier commenda- 9,
Il than his tariff speech. te
While in Congress he made a fruitless eff eS
t to secure the passage of a bill provid- al
..,,,a. &C., a., 1t. gr
ina '' '"e 'e'ti'' vi bu
ee- fourths of the jurors constituting the bs
Y shall stand as the verdict of the jury, m
such verdict shall have the same force TO
:. ,5i ,.,, is