Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1905-02-13
HON. VIM. ]. BRYAN
The EMINENT DEn!oCRAT IS in.
CREASING In POPULARITY.
His Motives In Fighting In COnneCti-
cut Courts Were But Loyalty TO a
Dead Friend. Refuses Position in
Alma Mater While 1t Affiliated
With Rockefeller Institution.

In the mass of misrepresentation
which has flooded the press regarding
William J. Bryan's Connecticut lawsuit
few people have realized, perhaps. tht
self.repression Of the man in persistentl,
making the loyal fight he has made
through the courts of Connecticut to the
court Of final resort. Narrow mind:
have inferred that only selfish hunger
for Legacy could have spurred him Oh
in such fight. Yet his real motive va:
loyalty 10 his dead friend. This became
clear enough for all TO understand it
through the closing words Of his fina
address to the highest court last week
when he said:
"This is small case in which only
three or four people in Nebraska are in
terested, but it means much TO the peo'
pie of Connecticut. If the court makes a
ruling that is adverse to me, that ends
my responsibility. If this court shall
say this trust is not effective, that ends
thy trust to my friend, and when l meet
him, as hope shall, may meet him
with SMILE"
The circumstances under which this
contested will was made, show SO clearly
that the man who made it was far re.
moved from any possible influence to dc
otherwise than as he himself desired
that it is hard 10 understand how any
who respected his dying wishes could
have resorted to technicalities to defeat
their object. There appears, indeed, to
be no other explanation than that inAu-
ences both pitiful and malicious were
operative here. To Mr.. Bryan's honor
it is now to be noted that he has patient
ly endured the calumny Of the malevo-
lent and the suspicious of the thought.
less in order to execute the commando
uf dead friend whose manifest wishes
should have been az sacred to others as
they were to hin. AS he says, his re-
sponsibility is now at an end. Whether
the wishes of the late Mr.. Bennett are
carried out or not, is no longer his con.
cern.
In another way Mr.. Bryan has within
a few days taken stand that entities
him to the respect Of all men whose re-
spect is worth having. He has raised the
college from which he raduated-Illinois
college, Jacksonville, Ill.-above the
level of living upon plunder. Mr.. Bryan
had once been a mem Der Of the board OF
trustees of this college. He resigned
when it affiliated with the University of
Chicago, Mr.. Rockefeller's Institution.
Recently he was asked to return to the
board and to become it's chairman. This
he refused to do except on condition that
the college sever it's connection with MIR.
Rockefeller's establishment, and his con-
dition has been accepted. Whatever
may be thought of the naked right of an
educational institution to take tainted
money, there cannot be two opinions
about the dignity Of refusing such dona.
tions. Nor is it to be doubted that in
holding aloof from financial associations
of this kind the college that does it
offers a guarantee Of moral worth of
greater value to young men than Cur.
riculum stuffed with more or less use.
less studies.