Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1901-01-04
SPEECH OF HON W ]. BRYAN.
His Future Candidacy to be Determined
by Events.

His Future Candidacy to be Determined
by Events.
The annual banquet of the Jeffer-
sonian Club of Lincoln Thursday
night. at the Lincoln Hotel. brought
together nearly three hundred repre-
sentative men of the Democratic ana
Populist parties of Nebraska, together
with a humble er of leaders from other
States William J. Bryan made his first
appearance at public gathering since
the election, and the greeting accorded
him was never more hearty and spon-
taneous in his home city.
Mr.. Bryan, whose subject was "Prln-
ciples Live, /" said in part:
''At this banquet, surrounded Dy
neighbors who have been my friends
for ten years, may be pardoned for
saying word of personal nature.
Five times you have voted for me for
public office-twice for Congress. once
for the United States Senate and twice
| for the Presidency-and no candidate
ever received more loyal support than
you have given.
Whether I shall ever be candidate
for Office again is a question which
must be determined by events. No
one can speak with certainty Of the
future, for ones destiny is not known
until his life's work is complete. l
shall be content if it is my lot, to aid
in the triumph of the principles while
others enjoy the honors and bear the
responsibility of office.
1.-The holding of public office should
be an incident, and not the extreme
aim of the citizen. 1t should not be an
end, but the means for the accomplish
ment of a purpose.
"The Presidency seemed desirable
because it would have enabled me to
give effective aid to certain reforms
which 1 believe to be necessary to the
public welfare, but defeat-even Sec
ond defeat-does not lessen my inter
est in this reform, and time may prove
that nv work is to advocate rather
than to execute.
1.-The Commoner will give me an op
portunity to participate in public dis
cussions, and I am sure that an edi-
torial pursuit Will furnish as much in
tellectual enjoyment as I could have
found in the White House, and, in ad-
dition thereto, will give me more time
for home pleasures.
1.-THE principles for which we con-
tended in the last campaign still live,
and we who believe in them must con-
tinue to fight for them. An election
does not change principles; it only de-
termines which principles shall be for
the time being applied.
1.-THE believers in tariff reform did
not abandon their faith when the high
tariff doctrine was endorsed at the
polls; neither did protectionists when
their cause suffered loss. The advocates
of the gold standard continued to fight
for monometallism for twenty-five
years, in spite of the platform declara-
tion of all parties in favor of double
standard. Shall we, who believe in
bimetallism, lose courage because our |
opponents have profited by an increas-
ed volume of money, thus admitting
the economic principle for which we
have been contendlng.
"Defenders of trusts did not lose |
heart when all parties denounced COM
binations in restraint of trade. Shall |
we give up the fight because monopoly |
has triumphed by stealth? Must We
now advocate an imperial policy be-
cause our opponents have won a vic
tory by denying that they are imperial
lists ? A colonial system involves a |
of our theory of government,
and the people will understand this as |
soon as the system is put into opera
tion If we were to consult our imme |
diate convenience and comfort we
would never oppose wrong of any, for
all warfare involves temporary sacri- i
fee; but this is our Government, and
must be trains ln1t.vd unimpairru TO
posterity. Wehave no choice, there
fore, but to stand steadfast, come what
may.
''If we are successful in diverting
present tendencies and in carrying the
Government to its old foundations we
shall rejoice in the victory and profit
by the reforms secured. l am confid-
ent that we shall ultimately win, but
if the trend toward plutocracy cannot
be checked it is still better that we
should be defeated in righteous un-
dertaking than that we should JOIN
hands with those who are ignoring the
inalienable rights of man,