East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1908-07-01

sweltering July night in Chicago In
1896. Delegates, spectators and
newspaper men were petulant and ex-
hausted The silver men were In con-
troll Of the convention. but the gold
men were putting up a fight Every
thing seemed to indicate that silver
Dick" Bland would be the democratic
party's nominee for the presidency.
The noise OF the hall was so great
that 1t was hard for even trained
newspaper men to keep track Of what
was going on.
In the midst OF the confusion a
young, smooth-faced delegate from
the west stepped to the platform to
make few remarks. one OF the
newspaper men turned to veteran
Washington correspondent and in
qulred: "who the hell is that?"
"Oh, he's a dub congressman from
Nebraska" was the weary reply. 81
wish they'd choke him off and let us
90 home"
A half an hour later these two men,
as we'll as some 10000 others, were
cheering themselves hoarse over the
greatest speech ever delivered in a
/ democratic convention.
From Obscurlty 10 Leadership.
Within the space Of 80 minutes
WILLIAM Jennings Bryan had leaped
from comparative obscurity to the
! leadership OF his party. He could
have had the nomination that night,
but he declared that II his boom was
not strong enough to live "a hours, II
would better die, so the nomination
went over till the neN day.
Sitting down in the front Of the
hall was democracy's old time chief
tia. David b. Hill, with part OF the
New York delegation. His friends had
importuued him to leave, but he
leaned back in his chair with a scorn-
ful smile on his face and watched and
listened. As the Nebraska orator
reached his eloquent climax and ut
tered the phrase that became SO trite
i'm the campaign that followed: You
shall not press down upon the brow
OF labor this crown of thorns; you
shall not cruelty mankind upon Il
cross Of gold" and even before that
ever-to-be-remembered parade Of
standards about the hall. Hill turned
to one Of his friends and said. THAT
ends BANDS and every other boom in
the convention"
Bryan lived a fairly successful or
binary American life prior to that
convention. He had been a power in
/ Illinois in the small communities in
which he lived, and had removed to
Nebraska because he believed the op-
portunitles were greater there. AS
member of congress he had not shown
particularly bright, true, he was pop
ular among the western members, and
some of his friends yet relate with
glee, how, when a democratic leader
wanted to end a debate in the house
he sidled over to the republican
"whip" and whispered, 'Tf you don't
call this wind jamming off, I'll set
that Nebraska cyclone loose and he'll
talk for a week" Those who tell the
story always wind it up with the re-
mark, "and there was a quick vote
on that bill"
An Authority on Economics.
He was recognized as an authority
on questions of political economy in
the early COS and his editorials on the
coinage question had widespread pop
ularity which was added to when he
was named but beaten, for the sena-
torship Of his adopted state.
Bryan's campaign of 1896 was spec
tacuar. He was the first candidate
for the presidency to tour $4,000 miles
TO advocate his own election. He in
vaded the "enemys country" twice
that fall. In Madison Square Garden
he defied Tammany Hall and it's
leaders With his voice so husky that
it could hardly be heard he dominat-
ed the meetings with his personality
and 1t Is now generally admitted that
had the election been held in Sep
tember he would have been elected
Beaten at the polls he devoted the
next two years to lecturing on bimet-
allism.. In May, 1898, with the Span
ish-American war in progress, he
raised the third Nebraska regiment
Of volunteers and was commissioned
its colonel.
Two years later, in 1900 he domi- |
mated the next national democratic |
convention, wrote its platform and
forced his own nomination. He It was
who made imperialism the burning
issue" and he toured the country in
behalf Of this fresh child Of his brain
only to be again defeated.
Steady Advance.
There had been a steady advance
in the mans development. Maturer
years had given Importance in his
mind to things he formerly deemed
less essential, and he was also real
Izing that changed conditions in pub
lie affairs demanded new methods of
treatment. AS result there was
born The Commoner. 1t proved tho
foundation for Bryan's present for
tune, boosting his yearly In ;ome from
$4,000 to approximately $4,000
Up to the assembling Of the 1904
convention 1t had been expected Bry-
an would fight the eastern element in
the party and again force his own
But he did nothing Of
the sort. His enemies within the
ranks now declare he was afraid to
run against Roosevelt, but no matter
what the reason, he devoted his en-
ergies to seeing that the plItform Of
the party was not obnoxious to him
self and his friends, and then permit