The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-08-31
MIR. Bryan at Home.

Mr.. Bryan at Home.
If Bryan is not the right prophet for
democracy in=l90s, the best thing that.
could have happened for his opponents
is the demonstration Of last night in
New York, so far in advance of the ma
tional convention, 1t gives time for the.
opposition to take the true measure of
the Bryan sentiment, to perfect plans
to counterfeit it and to raise up another
prophet to take his place. -
That the demonstration for Bryan had
an element of reality no one can deny.
The man is popular. He is more Sc
riously regarded than ever before. It
is true that the country has gone for
ward toward what is called Organism.
The fatal fault of Bryan's politics is
that he will never permit the country
to catch up with him. When it is about
to surround him and make him it's one
hero he, like the will-o '-the-wisp, is off
again. For example, in his New York
speech he for the first time definitely
abandons free silver, but in the same
breath he is off on another tangent, the
public ownership of railroads under an
apparently impossible scheme of own
ership of trunk lines by the federal
government and short lines by the
states.
And curiously enough, Mr.. Bryan puts
the argument for the public ownership
of railroads on the ground that the re-
cent rate legislation has tended to pro-:
duce a danger. of Capitalization. The
railroads, he says, will now have para
mount interest in the election of the
president, who will have the appoint
ment of the interstate commerce COM
mission. If this is Capitalization, what
would be the effect of the government
ownership of the railroads, with their
millions of employees?
Both Mr.. Bryan's settlement Of the
railroad question and his assignment of
reasons for his platform have ten
dency to again unsettle his position as
statesman to be trusted.
The curious thing about Mr.. Bryan
is that he is constantly posing as a
reasoner and logician while as a mat
ter of fact he is neither. His power is
in appeal. He can stir people to ac-
ton. He has also a certain poetic fac
ultv which can lull people to rest. His
non partizan lectures are full Of good,
homely truths culled from the best
books of popular quotations and strung
together like the wires of harp wait
ing to be struck into music by the
master. They are neither profound nor
discomforting. His @political speeches
where they are not personal and bitter
are trifling comments upon the plat
form. The most that was ever noted
about Bryani,s speeches was that they
drew out the crowd and inspired his
followers. There is yet to be recorded
the fact that he converted blocks of
voters to his cause by an utterance
that stuck in the mind and compelled a
change of front on the part of the indi-
vidual. The New York speech, partak.
ing as it.. did of the nature Of both a
social and political effort, was suffi
GENTLY personal to- have a. point and
sufficiently impersonal to avoid antag
onisms. 1t showed Mr.. Bryan at his
best as temperate observer of events
Yet measured by this standard it falls
far short Of being satisfying. It reads
something like a president message
A perfunctory discussion of a large
of oil r.,
argument on any. one. These defects
in the speech are inherent in the man
Mr.. Bryan is not a$logical thinker. H
is a magnificent phrasemaker and 8
powerful orator. Hence all Of the oh
iectiors to the speech in type doubles
were lost upon those who heard it
They sat under a spell which was O.
the manner and not of the matter. -.
But with all his defects it is a mat
ter of congratulation to the countr,
that the second of our great politica
parties has as it's leader man VIII
has so many Of the great qualities @
our politics and so few of it's vices. A
a citizen, husband, father, publicist
orator, politician he holds and main
tains high place in the affections O.
the American people. His patriotism i
sincere. His faith in his country is un
clouded; his labors for peace are I'm
selfish; his aspirations are honorable
He is so nearly a great man that it i
a matter Of some aggravation that h
has not broken the bounds which ap
parently hold him to shallow course
and inaffectna1 measures