Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1908-09-10
q Hon. William Jennings Bryan FL
An Historical and Character Sketch of the Democratic Presidential Candidate
Written by j. (. Monaghan, Professor Of History and Economics,
at University of Indiana at Metre Dame.

in our public life. Absolutely incor-
ruptible, with convictions as we'll as
courage. with ideals to which he is faith
full, he will, if elected President, be a
constant source of inspiration to the
whole country. His aims are high, his
purposes holy. In The Commoner, a
paper he owns and edits, he will not take
the best paying advertisements because
of a moral purpose to publish nothing
that will, directly or indirectly, injure
the morals of his readers. What that
means can be learned at the office of any
heightened paper. He is out now with a
declaration in favor of publicity of funds
for the campaign; and he has put a ban
on any contributions big enough to be
dangerous. | wish we could have a
symposium for this column of what even
his enemies will say of him when he
passes away. Mark what was said of
Cleveland before and after his death.
l put my bays and laurels Oh live. not
dead, mems broWs.
Bryan brings into public life the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was never
one to whitewash over the black acts of
men who could coerce conscience when
it protested against a congressman tax.
ing fees as a lawyer. The Golden Rule.
expanded and expounded in the large, is
the law of his life. 1t is his guide to all
that he gives to God, and in all that he
gives to man. This may unfit him for
the Presidency. Perhaps it does.
Washlngton's ways have seldom or never
been the ways of Jesus Christ. As he
said, with that superb literary sense,
when at the conference of governors,
gathered to a V US from our sins OF
Wanton destruction of our
"Ihere is no twilight zone between the
nation and the state, in which exploiting
interests can take refuge from both; and
my observation is that most, not all, but
most of the contentious over the line
between nation and state are traceable
to predatory corporations, which are
trying to shield themselves from de
served punishment, or are %endeavorine
to prevent needed restraining legisla
ton" That one sentence is worth all
the presidential messages since Nc.
klnley's death. For William Jennings
Bryan there is no twilight zone in which
the editor or congressman car exploit
interests at the expense of a peoples
morality. He reminds one OF Papinian
who went to the block rather than write
a brief in defense of Caracalla. who
murdered Geta, his brother. With
DAggasseau or Thomas More he would
have welcomed death in his defense Of
honor and the law.
am not a prophet. 1t is hard te
predict. Still, if prediction based upor
a belief that is based on years of careful,
observation is worth anything. Bryan, i
elected, will make a good and a great
President. Besides, he has back of hin
much that is best in our traditions ane
history. The platform upon which he
stands is not platitudinous-it is sounG
timber, every plank. There will be nc
compromise with crime. No Pau,
Morton will be whitewashed, no political
criminal or scalawag appointed to office
No statistics will be tempered with till
they tell a tale such as parties in
exlgencles call for. The divisions
bureaus and departments will not be
made to subserve partisan purposes, as
alas, they have too often been made te
do under others.
These. then, are the man features q,
the a Whether he wins or loses, be
will go down to his grave a great
American, a splendid specimen of what
was thought of when Lowell wrote the
great ode in which he referred to Lincoln
as the First American. Luckily the
land is no longer dependent upon one
man, however great. 1t is is to 90 on
and on, and on, irrespective of it's Presi.
dents. The fathers, faithful to their
trust, planted the tree of liberty so deep
That Its roots run out into all parts of
the earth. The worlds powers will
never be able to pull it up. In all u
past there was no more powerful, no
nobler personality. than the great
Nobraskan, William Jennings Bryan.
Ihe North Dakota republican central
committee, which has adopted a bank
guarantee plank IN the platform-eyi.