Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-07-11
BRYAN. THE GENUINE

learned that the man who says moth
ing and does things" is likely to re-
semble the burglar as much in his pur-
pose as in his methods. They have
learned that the man who ''acts first
and talks afterwards" usually does his
thinking afterwards as well as his talk
ing. So they welcome the taller. If
he turns out to be babbler, an empty
phrasemaker, he quickly loses his hold
Indeed. he seldom gets hold, for the
people in the mass are sensitive to
sound. The discord of a false note
CRATES upon their ears. But if he
proves to be talker of honest thought
and frank expression. he gains in pop
ularity as he gains in intellectual grasp,
and there is no objection to eloquence.
This is the kind of talker William
j. Bryan has proved to be.
The first words of Bryan that
caught national ear, his metaphor of
"a crown of thorns' and "a cross of
gold" touched chord that viii not
cease to vibrate while plutocracy sur
wives. 1t was genuine and thrilling to
all who appreciated it's illusions.
To literary experts, to be sure. it
sounded like sophomore rhetoric
Unattuned to the peoples thought
their cultured minds lost the delicate
allusion of Bryan's bold figure,
To languid pietists it came as a
sacrlegious association of labor .un
ions with the tragedy of the carpenter
of Nazareth. Impervious to true re
ligious influences, they were dead to
this suggestion of brotherhood.
To the plutocrat it was reckless
!. appeal to ''lower class" hatreds. In
different to anything but financial
success, he had no ear for the means
of the crowned and crucified. no eye
for Bryan's rugged picture of mans
inhumanity to man.
To all except those whose expert
ence and thought enabled them tc
appreciate the allusion. this metaphor
made Bryan seem like the babblel
that Paul seemed to the philosophers
of Athens. But among the common
people there were millions who appre
ciated the allusion; for they had them
selves hung upon the plutocrat's cross
of gold and worn his crown of thorns
From the day of that historic ut
terance to this day, the greatness o.
Bryan's utterances has depended upor
the listeners appreciation of thei
: illusions. His speeches have been fol
the common people. The literar,
, critic, the pietist the plutocrat-eX
4 cept as they may since have com,
e more in touch with the life of tn,
!, masses as it is lived-are still oh
z fuse. Missing Bryan's illusions. the,
S are incapable of understanding hi
: popularity, which they are bount
\ nevertheless to concede. But tn
, people in the mass, who have Away
, understood his illusions, for these g
, to the very heart of the lives the.
, lead, are now attracted as seldom
before to any man by their confidence
q in the sincerity of this one.
i, They have been charmed by hi
!, eloquence; but that alone is no
!, enough to make popular leader
; They have been stirred by his den
: ocratic thought; and neither is tina
: enough. But now that they are ais
= convinced of his sincerity, they ar
. ready to cry, Behold the mani"
So spontaneous and general ha
this cry for Bryan been, that nothin
could resist it in his own party. TIL
). Overwhelming expression of conf
{ ldence he has received from the ran
and file of that party is unique. Fo
J he has had no money to spend, an
Zone has been spent for him. E,
II lcept in scattered places, he has ha
e no support from party manager.
D. either local or national; ON the COZ
trary, nearly the whole weight {
l. official influence within his party ha
e been against him. Being out of o
e flee he could use none of the power