The Washington herald., 1906-11-25
BRYAN AS A PREACHER;
CAREER AS STATESMAN

his influence for good on his fellow-men
would have been greater and more far
reachiag than as 1t Is?
Yes, Mr. Bryan has the qualiues OF a
great preacher-eloquence and magnet
ism backed by a brilliant intellect. a
forceful personality. by the highest sort
Of moral courage, by unquestioned and
unquestionable integrity, indefatigable
energy, and infexible determination and
persistence. But don't We need just such
qualities and just such men in our poli-
tics? And didn't we pre-eminently need
them when Bryan first came upon the
stage as figure Of national prominence?
That was a time Of commercIalism and
materialism run riot. How much so we
can realize only By turning back the
leaves in Father Times yearbooks for a
decade. Sound business methods" and
motives "a Ia Hanna and quay ruled the
day. and civic righteousness" was an
unknown or forgotten virtue. At this
juncture appeared Bryan the candidate
but also Bryan the idealist His preach
ments Of reform we're laughed to scorn,
his personality attacked, his motives as
sailed He has had the honor 10 be. since
Jefferson, at once the best loved and the
worst hated OF Democrats The largest
campaign fund. probably, in the history
Of the country was used against him. so
that among his opponents money flowed
Ike water. and though he poIled a round
million more votes than mad any Demo-
cratic candidate before him, he was de-
feated-or. counted cut But to-day Col.
Bryan is far and away the most com
manding figure In American unofficial
life; his sterling honesty is everywhere
conceded, and his Ideas and principles are
gaining ground The Bryanite heresies
of ten years ago have come, one after
another, 70 be the recognized maxims Of
to-day. Not that MT Bryan originated.
or even single handedly championed. the
principles Of reform in matters political
and industrial. but he voiced and popu-
larlzed them as no other man Of his age
has done. Could his influence for good
have been one-tenth as widespread in the
pulpit?
Bryan's one great fault as a political
leader is his extreme altruism-he is. al
times, too consrientious and unbendingly
consistent for tEe good Of his own inime-
date prospects But don't we need Just
such an ezemplar in our political arena ?
Some Of the voters apparently think so.
After Mr. Bryan's speech in New York
last August We were told by those who
had always opposed him. and who were
straining their optics to find fresh ground
for criticism, that he had killed himself
forever with the South on account Of his
government-ownership proposition uenta-
tive though that was). A very few days
after that New York speech, and while
the hostile press was fun OF discussion
and denunciaton Of said government
ownership project. the Democratic State
convention OF Georgia, that progressive
Empire State OF the South, unanimously
indorsed William Jennings Bryan for the
PRESIDENTIAL nomination in 1865 Again
would Bryan have taken and kept the ad-
Vantages 10 be derived from the loot Of the
W.doWs' and orphans funds for the sake
OF ms own election. the while he fierceIv
was declaiming against corrupt campaign
contributions? To ask the question is ID
answer il emphaucally, Never,
Let rs hope that The nHrald-disnoss5
to be more fair than many of fits conteD,-
pofarles-Will take a second thought o-,
I me proposition IL has advanced. AS fo-
| lhe general run Of the urban press M
| Ihe DAY; OF William Jennings BRYAN biz
| followers can feTventIy say. as was said
with less reason OF another. thew Io,.l
nm not the least for the enemies he has
made. TIoyn r rvrI,r--r-- -
( Editor The Washington Herald
/ One OF the paragraphs Of the editoria
which is entitled Had Bryan Been 2
Preacher" and which appears in Won,
paper. reads in part, as follows: "Wba
man has the world produced of late wear,
/ who could more forcibly drive the unfit
ing thoughts Of true religion into III,
hearts Of his fellow-men than William
Jennings Bryan? = His wouderfu
/ and compelling eloquence is not TO b,
/ questioned"
Assuming that the question with which
/ this quotation begins is asked becaus,
/ you would like to have It answered.
answer it with the name OF Robert Greer
/ Ingersol. Ingersoll, you may recall. dio
/ not die until 1899. Mr.. Bryan, too, may
/ recall. Not only could" Ingersol "rnor,
/ fCrcibly drive the uplifting thoughts o.
true religion"-that is the religion O.
/ reason, Justice. and humanity-.into Tn,
/ hearts Of his fellow-men," but he actual
/ ly did drive more Of 1t in than any other
( individual Of the nineteenth century. O
/ his kind Of religion IngersolI drove II
/ far more than could Mr.. Bryan Of tn,
/ kind he would have preached, easy a;
/ that doubtless would have been Z,
/ RI Ard +C
/ preachers, why! II Iugersoll only coul,
/ have dissimuiated. there would not hav,
/ been half a hundred men. women. an,
/ children 70 listen a second time Il
Phillips Brooks, Beecher. Talmage. an,
/ Bryan, if they could have got within
hearing Of the magic and incomparabl
| lngersoll. And. too. the latter, doubtless
/ could have been President.
Mr.. Bryan's wonderful and rompellin,
| eloquence" I for one cannot acknowI
edge. l have searched in vain many O
his printed utterances for a single para
graph that 7 believe will be read in tn
/ future because of its reason. its logic
Its wit and humOr. its pathos its epiCram
/ matte or poetic power and beauty Why
aside from his honesty. which all but N
/ preJudiced recognize. there Is really moth
/ ing striking in Mr. Bryan. except hi
respiratory system. Mr.. Bryan Is not
great OratOr-he * C great speaker An
there. is as much dlnereICe between
great orator and a great speaker n
there is between an organ grinder an
( an orchestral leader Mr. Bryan is neithe
a poet nor an artist. He Is not a sculpto
in language; he cannot paint pcrfec
picture with words. Fer him the loon
l Of imagination does not weave the gol
and purple 'vesJments-the flowing robe
and mantles of sublime aud nobl
thoughts There Is more reason an
logic, wit and humor, philosophy, poetry