Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1908-11-13

Sc. Paul Dispatch: &c Is perfectly
safe to ray that; Mr.. Bryan stands
higher in the estimate Of all men to-
day than he ever has before. And this
Notwithstanding that his electoral vote
will stand at smaller figure than in
1896 or 1900.
His position today has almost
nothing to do with election. It has
everything to do with the man s
citizenship. And today we venture to
believe that William Jennings Bryan
has position not granted to Mr..
Roosevelt nor to Mr.. Taft, the posi-
tion of the first citizen. He is the
private citizen; he will go down to
history as a private citizen. He will
go down in American history in the
calss which holds Webster and
Calhoun and Clay; no American of our
generation has approached these un-
elected giants SO close as has Mr..
Bryan; yet these three have likeness
among themselves, an intellectual
giantism, and the greatest distinction
of Bryan s is almost to be found in a
difference from them.
For Mr.. Bryan possesses the passion
for righteousness, which, whatever
material skeptlcs of the day may say,
gives a man his final high rank It
is the very quality which has given
Theodore Roosevelt his position, if
some other qualities have given him
m ore immediate influence, as. we'll as
detracted from that influence. It is
the quality which has given Abraham
Lincoln his place, even though he
NJ ID:
than William J. Bryan. It is the
quality which IS working place in
history fifty years after for such des-
pissed and rejected of his times as John
Brown. VI
And no man can venture to say that
Bryan is edespised and rejected of his
times He is not He may lose an
election. He has won in the esteem of
his fellow Americans. He will win.
not only In the esteem of history, but
in the practical working out of the
problems of today. AS Mr. Bryan
declared the night before election.
with an earnest of sublime passion, he
has added to the decency and the
Righteousness of this nation And
the very campaign In which he has
just lost so far as actually is con-
cerned, he has won in eventuality.
That campaign was necessary. AS
belonging to the successful republican
party, we can declare that the
as Mr.. Bryan conducted it
was final necessity. Any other dem.
ocratic candidate would have merely
repeated what his opponent was do
ing. There was needed a difference.
.::d Mr.. Bryan furnised that.
We believe it is fortunate at the
moment that he lost. And yet those
who cast their ballots in the utmost
desire to defeat him for president, to-
day give HIM the highest honor as
citizen whose position cannot be
denied, as a force in public life as
necessary as that of so practical and
Efficient president as Mr.. Taft will
make.
Mr.. Watterson, in his editorial on
the conclusion of the whole matter,
has not overestimated the position of
Mr.. Bryan in the American regard,
his influence over the hearts of the
people, his splendid evangelism.
The result shows that we had
diversified the spiritual and understood
the material in the hearts and the
minds of the people, The people are
right, we believe; in the midst Of the
most tremendous material development
any age, any country, has ever seen,
they cannot desert their post. It is
we'll that they should hear Mr..
Bryan's warning voice. needtul that
he should speak spiritual message.
But they must act, must choose, as
they have chosen.