The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1907-06-05
"COMMONER BRYAN"
Eloquent Tribute to the
Great NebraSkan.
PEER OF REPUBLIC FATHERS
Halls Him as 1.-THE Forums
Champion and the
Peoples Chief"

Some ten years ago an epic was
written which was both poetry and
prophecy. It's spirit has been march
ing on" ever since It's refrain was,
when Bryan Came to Butte"
Every place on two or three con-
tinents is a butte for Bryan's trans
figuration. Whenever this political
dead one" visits any community he
"stlrs up the natives" especially those
to whom he is the eternal "Mordecai."
"Tray, Blanche and Sweetheart,pu
by, whelp and hound" all begin to
yelp. Every press kennel belonging
to "grafters" is in an uproar. Every
Gadarene demoniac cries out, What
have / to do with thee?"
Bryan naturally draws the fire of
all who hate reform and honesty For
him and his kind there has never been
any passover" to shield them from
those who "seek innocent blood" All
great reformers and just men, from
Arlstides to Roosevelt, have suffered
alike.
However, though dead and buried
so often by those with whom "the
wish was father to the thought" this
is the eleventh year that Bryan has
been in the very focus of the public
eye.
The undated rage of "the public"
for this humble private citizen has
been and is the anomaly of all politi-
cal history. No other man, in any
land, at any era, has continued so
long the cynosure of so many eyes
and the ideal of so many souls.
There is something mystical which,
In time, will become NEUROLOGICAL.
about Commoner Bryna's persistence
to popularity. His history violates
the very principles of all social and
political philosophy, viz: ITO be great
is to be misunderstood" and its prime
corollary, Society everywhere is in
conspiracy against the manhood of
every one of it's members"
Bryan is the great exception. The
masses know him and love him in
stinctively. Neither Washington, JEFF
ferson, Jackson, Webster, Clay, Cal
houn, Lincoln nor Grant, who have
been the stars of the first magnitude
in American history, very enjoyed
whilst alive, the general and trans
ceudent popularity of plain and un-
official Citizen Bryan.
No office, however, exalted, lifted
either to the height he has scared to,
perched upon and seemed at home, for
more than a decade.
The crux of explanation for this rid
die is hidden behind the fact that this
persistent love of the tickle goddess,
public favor, has been in spite of the
object of affection being ever in her
sight" She has had no surcease from
Bryan's courtship.
No other statesman has been so
much before the public. Upon the
stump,on the lecture platform, through
the public press and by his books,
has no other man, so freely, so uni
versally, so unreservedly committed
himself upon all public questions. Still
his popularity is undiminished-hi
unchallenged leadership unimpaired.
Bryans star, instead of waning, has
| In ma nd nd
glory. He has demonstrated that sue
cess, in securing office, is not the test
of merit or favor. 1t is oftener the
reward of bending the pregnant
hinges of the knee that thrift may fol-
low fawning." The officeholder now
is generally silent partner in the
corporate conspiracy for public plum
der. Bryan's defeats for the Presiden-
cy, his long exile from office, his
being the target for the mud batter
les of all the pirates and receivers of
stolen goods In the nation, have only
served to make his transformations as:
"The Forums champion
And the peoples chief"
the more conspicuous.
BY the lesson of his public career,
eternal truth and justice have trans
muted defeat into beatitude.
A Plutarch might grandly linn
Bryan's heroic career, but would de-
spair of finding his parallel.
The key to his political paradox is
easy to find. Simply elimination of
side issues will disclose 1t.
Politics Is one of them.
The peoples perspective is above