The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-19
One of the Country's Most Re-
 markabIe Men
STORY OF HIS EARLY LIFE
From His Youth to the Present Time He Has Been a Devoted Student of Tariff and Money
 Questions.
BY FREDERIC j. HAskIN.

Born 4s years ago today, when the poli- tics of the country had reached that high and excited stage which eliminated In the greatest war of the ages, little won der is it that William Jennings Bryan has taken to politics as a duck takes to water. The times undoubtedly left their imprint upon the child. Whether he ever reaches the goal to which his ambition leads him or not, MT. Bryan stands before the country as one of its really remark able men. Twice he has gone down to defeat in a battle-ground of lis own choos- ing, the second time worse than the first, and yet he commands the loyal support of the rank and file of his party in way that Is comparable only to the loy- alty which the triumphant Roosevelt commands from his followers.
 Nothing holds men in political bonds sa well as the cohesive power of public sAStronage," and usually men leave de- feated leader. But in spite of his lack or those things which are usually neces- sary to a leader for holding men to- gether MT. Bryan has as firm a hold on his followers as he ever had. The secret of it all Is his personality. As Roosevelt Is the ideal leader of the masses of his own party. so MT Bryan is the peerless one'' to the great body of the democracy. It is perhaps not telling tales out of school to say that both of them are disliked today by the politicians of their respective parties.
 A single speech lifted MT. Bryan into the limelight of countrywide fame. It gave him the presidential nomination and laid the foundation for one of the most remarkable political careers the country has ever seen. Never but once before has single speech landed a presidential nomination. That one, however, won more. It won the presidency itself It was when the republican convention was deadlocked between James G. Blaine and John Sherman. Ballot after ballot had been cast without a choice. Then teacher-preac cher-lawyer made a speech. It was an old-fashioned call to arms, and the man who made it-James A Garfield was in short order the nominee of the party. The speech of MT. Bryan was not argumentative. Even his partisans con- cede that. David B. Hill had made a speech for the gold standard, and it was bristling with arguments. But MT. Bryan ignored them all. Instead he delivered speech of assertions rather than of sup ported arguments. It had ring of ora tory about 1t, and was just suited to the mood of the convention. And the man whose presidential boom had only day before been laughed at, had talked himself into the nomination. David B. Hill said of that convention that it was the most emo tional political body he had ever seen.
 Someone recently told MT. Bryan that he was the only man in this country who could make money honestly out of politics. The statement is about true. Before he was nominated the first time he had but a modest income. Today he makes enough to make him a man of in- dependent means. His First Battle" which, by the way, is the most marked up book in the library of Congress at Washington, made him a good deal of makes out of his Commoner, but con- a year. He is the greatest drawing card nets him perhaps as much. Then he has a summed-up and boiled-down work which he calls "The Commoner Con densed." These probably bring him in a good living in themselves.
 His Commoner has been a political appeal to precinct workers to send him