Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1906-09-07
Bryan as a Doctrinaire

MI. Ii GIL 40 INV III w -olA C1tf2
old and it is fair to suppose that he
has a broader and more tolerant
mind than ten years ago. Ii was the
testimony of independent observers
that he was by fan the strongest and
most impressive figure in the st.
Louis convention two years ago,
where he Yves able to compel the Par
ker men to accept his platform. The
one great fault of his earlier public
career was his lack, Of open mind
edness. lie seemed to hare made up
his mind once and for all upon all
possible questions, and be seemed
unable, even for moment to con-
slider whether or no, through mex
perience and lack of mature study,
be might not at some point or other
have been mistaken. Where strong
and able man has long lifetime 20
expend in battling for his convic
tions, it Is always to be regretted if
be is so short-sighted as to form all
these convictions that are to serve
for his entire career, as if he were
snstching bit of food in railroad
station. Yet all great men cannot
have all great qualities in equal adj
mixture. Some men think with Phi
losophilical sagacity. yet wholly lack
the zeal for propaganda. Mr.. Bryan
has always had a very dangerous
love for settling things by hastily
reducing them to the form of die
tum Of eternal and immutable appli-
ton. The danger of this habit of
mind is that the coined phrase that
expresses policy may become a sort
of religion to the man who takes it
up. Thus, Mr. Bryan, after his de-
feat in 1896. was so sure that mis- ''16
to / money doctrine was at the root
of all things, past, and present, and
future, that he was ready to spend
his life as the martyr of lost cause.
Later ON he showed the same ten
dency in his theoretical attitude to-
ward what he called imperialism,
and not less so in his attitude, which
was purely argumenta tive, toward
trusts. - 1t was not his method to
study things in the concrete ard
reach conclusions about imperialism
or trusts through an intimate ac
quaintance with facts and conditions,
but it was his method, onthe con-
trary, to proceed along abstract lines
building up syllogisms like the logi-
clans and sophists of old. But al
though this doctrinare tendency has
always been SO strong in Mr.. Bryan
the corrective has to a great extent
been supplied by his wholesome con-
tact with practical American life;
and with man of his character and
traits, the abstract point of view is
much more likely to show itself in
species than in actions. In an ex
Iecutive Office like the Presidency
Bryan would probably be almost as
free from reckless desire to test I'M
tried theories, and make startling
innovations as Cleveland, Mckinley.
or Roosevelt. lie talk always as a
vacuum, like a pure theorist: but he
Would probably act in a given case
like a prudent and thrifty citizen.
with hard sense. AS candidate he
has the great advantage in the pres
ent state of public opinion of being
regarded as wholly free from corpor-
alton influences, and he is as strong
with the plain people" as ever be-
fore. On the other hand, business
men consider the money question set
tied beyond doubt, and do not ex-
pect a Bryan administration to up
set the prosperity of the country.
They know Mr. Bryan and can make
their calculations neutrality-suspicious.
THE Progress of the World" in the
American Monthly Review of Re
views for September.