Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-07-31
TWO VIEWS OF THE REMARKABLE RISE IN
POLITICS OF GREAT DEMOCRATIC LEADER

of the convention of 1896. His views
roads. expounded on his return from
Europe. were thus great surprise to
the Democrats of the east, with
whom he was becoming extremely
popular.
Many reasons are advanced for Mr..
Bryan's continuation in the public eye
after two crushing defeats. Those
who admit his great ability as pub
lie speaker his intellectual gifts. his
fire and force in all that he under
takes. say that his prominence is not
due. to these things alone They laud
him as a type of the self made Ameri.
can. of good moral principles. definite
aims and determined will They bea
lieve in him as the exponent of the
American doctrine of equality to all
and favor to none Moreover. Mr.
Bryan has a marked dash of senti-
mentalism In his makeup This an
peals strongly to the women or the
west, who have done not little to-
ward making him popular and keep
Ing him at the front. His wife was
his classmate in college. In the can
vass of 1896 she accompanied him
wherever he went. and he reposed
much confidence in her judgment III
the political movements. which to
most women would be maze and as
incomprehensible as a plan Of battle.
Mr. Bryan started life as poor
boy, and while in the public school
he worked on a farm. All through
life he has been hard worker and
| conscientious man. During his law
studies he was connected with tho
| Office of Senator Lyman Trum bull and
on completing his studies returned to
Jacksonville to practice. Here his
struggles have been likeped to those
of Lincoln. under the same conditions
in the same state. At first his prac-
| tice did not amount to much Much
of his time was given to speechmak-
| ing in the country districts. The man
ayers of every camp meeting aud
country fair wanted young Bryan to
| talk to the crowd. He was fond. too.
| of frequenting certain village gro
Gerry store TO exchange witticisIns with
| the sa ges of the town. Here the fate
of the nation was nightly settled. TO
| be decided again when the Gebaters
| gathered next night. around the crack
er box or whitfield the benches out
side
1t was In 1887 that Mr.. Bryan decid.
| ed to go west. He arrived in Lincoln
| Neb., in October of that year and be-
came a member of the law firm of Tai
bot & Bryan. He had known Talbot
| In Illinois. and it was he who had In.
| duced him to go to Nebraska. Bryan
at once attracted attention as an ora
not extend beyond the district. In
1850 Bryan wrote to j. Sterling Nor
| ton, the Democratic nominee for con.
/ gress. afterward President Cleveland's
secretary OF agriculture, asking per
mission to take the stump for him
Morton had heard Bryan. and he ac
cepted the offer. Morton was defeated
in the political revolution of that yea.
and O'Connell. the Republican, elected
by more than 5000 majority But the
defeat = Morton caused the birth oil
Bryan as political power. He haG
interested the people in himself by
his oratory. and the politicians were
| forced to take him up. He made 8
fight for the Democratic nomination
the next year and captured 1t. Thai
was the year of the Republican slump
The district repudiated O'Connell an6
the Mckinley tariff and gave Bryan
its old time Democratic plurality Of
1000.
1t is said the cross of gold ant
crown of .thorns" speech made Bryan