The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1909-02-14

Tuesday-brief though it was-will
long constitute a subject of discussion
among those who met and heard the
distinguished Nebraskan, and many
incidents of the occasion will be talk
ed over among his friends for many
years to come.
The address itself, delivered by
Nr. Bryan at the opera house, was
made under various disadvantages.
The weather prevented a great many
people from attending in the first
place. while the crash of the thunder,
the beating of the rain upon the roof,
and the combined noise of the ele-
mentS made it difficult for the speaker
TO talk and for the audience to hear.
Nevertheless il was an enjoyable hour
and half, even though the elements
did the best they could to prevent it.
Various opinions have been heard
regarding Mr. Bryan's lecture and it
was either good or poor according,
largely, TO the preconceived ideas of
the individual himself regarding it.
The Signs of the Times is a COM
pOsite lecture, sermon, and political
speech, but it does not constitute the
best OF which Mr.. Bryan is capable in
either. He can, when occasion pre-
sents itself, preach as good a sermon
as any one can preach, and he can
make far better political speech
than most of the great political ora
tors of the past century were capable
of making. but as lecturer he is re-
garded by many as being slightly out
of his element Those who have
heard Mr.. BTyan's lecture, THE Prince
of Peace" which is really a sermon;
and those who have heard him storm
the battlementS of the enemy in a pO-
litical campaign or inspire his follow
eFS in great party convention could
never be satisfied with anything else
in the way of an address by him. The
compelling elOQuence of his moral aD-
peal in the one. and the fire and dash
and vigor of his leadership in the
other can never be combined to SINH
lar effect in any other address.
The Beard dinner, the public recep-
ton at the Escambia, and the supper by
the Bryan Club at night are all events
of the great cOmmoners visit around
which cluster many incidents that
viii be talked of in the years to come
Mr.. Bryan was much interested in the
semi bungalow effect Of Mr.. Boards
home and he made a hurried pencil
sketch of the plan for consideration.
he said. by Mrs Bryan and himself in
the building of their winter home
down on the Rio GTande in the Lone
Star State.
Judge Francis b. Carter was an in
terested participant in all of the Bry-
an functions. Judge Carter was a
delegate from Florida in the great
convention of 1896 when Mr.. Bryan
was first nominated for president
The Judge was on the credentials COM
mittee in that convention and he
voted TO seat the Bryan delegation
which. it viii be remembered, came
as contestants from the Nebraska
state convention. He was also one of
the four original Bryan delegates from
Florida who voted for the NebFaskan
when his name was presented and
who stuck 20 him until he was nom
mated. Judge Carter is probably the
only man in FIorida-if indeed there
are any others -auyWhere-who has
read every issue of Mr.. Bryan's paper,
the CommoneF, beginning with the
first one right down TO the present
time. Judge Carter may be safely
classed as d Bryan man
At the Escambia Hotel, Hon. NJ. NJ.
Cox, for ten years a representative in
congress from the seventh district OF
Tennessee, is stopping, and he and his
wife are spending the winter in Pensa-
cola. Mr.. Cox was member OF
congress when Mr.. Bryan first en-
tered that body, and the meeting be-
tween the old colleagues Tuesday was
very pleasant one. Il heard Mr..
Bryan make his celebrated tariff
speech in 1891. right after he en-
tered congress- said Mr.. Cox, and it
was and is today the greatest tariff
speech ever made on the floor of the
house of representatives They may
say what they please about MIR. BTy
an" continued Mr.. Cox. hut he is all
right in every way. He is the great
est orator. the greatest eater, and the
greatest sleeper in the United States"
Jas. McHugh was a happy man and