Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1908-09-11
WHAT DID SPEAKER CANNON
SELL?

In his speech to the Illinois republi-
Il state convention, Speaker Cannon
charges Mr.. Bryan with accommodating
Il million dollars by selling wind and
ink to the public. In reply 10 this
chargd. Mr.. Bryan Thursday made n
frank statement of his financial con-
dition and challenged Mr.. Cannon to
he equally frank in stating what he had
sold in accommodating Il fortune said to
be in the ncighborhooi of II million
dollars. Following is Mr.. Bryan's
reply:
Il WAS worth about $1,000 when l
was elected to Congress-" said Mr..
Bryan II served four years and by
careful economy l saved between $4,000
and $1,000 or about $1,000 Il year. SO
the spring of 1885, l was worth about
$4,000 or $1,000.
During the period that elaspcl be-
tween the end of my congressional
terms and. my nomination for the
presidency. about Il year and four
months, l wa engaged in speaking
and lccturing and added but Il small
sun to my savings.
After the election in 1896, my earn.
ing power us Il lecturer WAS largely
enhanced by the prominence which
the campaign had given me My
book. The First Battle brought me
$1,000 and | gave an equal amount
of the profits tn the various commit
tees that had carried on the campaign
of 1895. My lectures have bccn profit
able and my writings have paid me
well, but no one attends the lectures
unless he wants t. do SO. ard no one
buys what | write unless he is inter
cStcd in reading it. More than half of
my time since 1896 has been given 10
%gratuitous work and yet | have been
able to support myself and accumu-
late property which ! would estimate
AT about 1925, 900. hut as one can never
accurately say what property is worth
until he sells it, | will fix $3.50, 900 AS
the outside limit, the maximum of nv
"''''Ah' Wv III lliillI ~ N'lNf llt
public to determine whether that is
more than | ought to have earned, or
whether ! have earned it honestly.
And now. having answered the
criticism of Mr.. Cannon and shown
that his accusation is false. | think
| am justified in asking him u h, rs
frank with the public rs / have been.
He began holding office in 1861,
when | WAS II ear old. and during the
last Il car IL has held Office more
than 40 years of the time. and about
30 years of that time he has been a
member of congress and has been
drawing a salary that the members of
congress deemed ~ inadequate that
the salary mas recently been Increased.
Will he tell uS what Ii, has been sell
inGI To whom he has sold it. and
how much he got for it? He ought to
tell lis whether he has made u mon,
cy lecturing or writIng-that is, Ivy
selling wind and ink, To use his own.
language. He has been greatly ham
percd i'll the accumulation of money
by the strict attention To public du-
ties and yet he is rcputcd to be veal
thy. If he will tell us Just how much
he is worth we can then guess how
much ne might have been worth had
he been free to devote his talents to
money making. Being the third man
in our government. coming next to the
vicc.prcsidcnt, if not even above tho
vicc-prcsidcnt in his power to influence
legislation. is it not fair that he should
apply to himself the same rule that he
applies to mo and take the public
into his confidence? Let him tell us
how much lie is worth and how he
made il.
Let him tell us what he has been
selling. to whom he sold il, and how
much he got for it. If he thinks that the
wealth Of II presidential candidate and
the source ef such IL candidates income
shall be known. can he deny that
the speakers wealth and his sources of
income should not he Known