The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-07-15
BRYAN'S FIRST CAMPAIGN
STORY TOLD BY ONE WHO WAS
WITH HIM FOUR YEARS
AGO
HE NEARLY BROKE DOWN ONCE
That Was While Addressing an Au-
dience In Chicago - Crowds
Which Greeted Him-His
49, Remarkable Voice.

Since William J. Bryan is in the midst
of his second campaign for the presiden-
cy good many things about his first
campaign become of interest. 1t fell to
my lot as a newspaper correspondent TO
spend four months In 1896 in Mr.. Bryan's
company. writes c. NJ Pepper, in the
Evening Star. This was from the time
of his nomination by the Chicago conven-
ton till the day in November when he
sent his telegram of congratulation to Mr.
Mckinley at Canton. 1t covered 1900
miles Of railroad travelling and a variety
of incidents which have never been par
aIleled in American politics. and are not
likely to be paralleled 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 observations were, perhaps, more
critical than would have been the observa-
lions Of those who were in sympathy with
him. Possibly on that account the news
paper faculty was sharpened O. little, but
not biased, for the journal which rep
resented was interested solely in having
the facts.
CROWDS WHICH GREETED HIM.
I Go 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.
However the issues might shift, there
was one patent fact which impressed IT.
self on everybody. This was that during
his travels a very large number Of the
lxr mi
ed with him. The tendency always is to
exaggerate the size Of crowds which at
tend political rallies, and which turn out
to hear and see popular orator. The or
binary observer who has had no expert
ence in judging of these matters easily
magnifies the numbers To him thou
sand persons gathered together seem like
five thousand, and an outdoor crowd of
ten thousand, which is in reality an enor-
NOUS mass, becomes a multitude which
can only be counted by starting with
guess Of one hundred thousand.
1t is fact of common experience that
a thousand persons gathered in q hall
make q very respectable audience as to
size, and there are few structures IN tho
largest cities Of the country which ever
see ten thousand persons gathered within
their walls. In the case of indoor meet
1ngs the seating or crowding capacity of
any building can be fixed with reasonable
accuracy. but in outdoor rallies there is
no2certain basis for guessing. This is one
r'easonS wlf5f the Humber Of persons at
tending a political rally is always over
estimated by the enthusiastic party man
ayers.
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 was means of judging
with certainty the number of people who
had seen and heart Maj. Mckinley on the
trip he took through the country two
years before his nomination. Mr.. Bryan
delivered more than 500 speeches. Some
of them were one-minute talks and some
were two-hour addresses.
At the end Of his compaign several Of
the correspondents who had been with
him gathered together their memoranda
and made an estimate Of the number of
people who had seen and heard him.
One estimate was as high as 5000, 000 An
other. made with more detail, was $780,
600. My own guess was smaller but there
was general agreement that between
4.00O,9 600 and 100000 people had seen the
face and heard the voice of Mr.. Bryan
in that campaign. These were of all
classes and conditions, men, women and
dlliIrden, and a large. number were of his
political opponents, but the leading fact
was that the vast majority were those
Who sympathiZed more or less with his
political principles. Having seen and
heard their champion, 1t was not difficult
to understand that whether he was de-
feated or not the majority of these 4O0O,-
600 people who felt they had got ac-
quainted personally with Mr.. Bryan were
going to be his jealous supporters there
after. This certainly was so strongly i'm
pressed upon me that during the last
three years the passing phases of poll
tics, when the possibility Of his failing
to receive the nomination of his party
was discussed seriously In some quarters,
never interested me.
HIS REMARKABLE VOICE.
Leaving politics out entirely, have still
a Vivid recollection of some of the ele-
ments which have contributed to Mr..
Bryan's success. Few will deny his claim
as an orator, and in oratory the voice is
the foundation. Those who do not like
him may say 1t is a voice and nothing
else. but that is a matter of personal
opinion. Mr.. Bryan's voice Is a marvellous
one. During his speaking camNign it
was not uncommon to have physicians
who were throat specialists come to make
a study Of his methods. They could cas-
lily determine that the large mouth and
huge throat were the first clements but
their theories went for little Beyond that
They could find no way of estimating It's
carrying power, and 1t defied all the ordi-
nary means of measurement,
l do not know what the distance Is
which the human voice Is supposed to
carry but they used to tell in Lincoln
of street car driver who heard the voice
half mile away when Mr.. Bryan was