Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1912-08-23
STORY OF bRyAN'S
MASTERY Of THE
BALTIMORE EVENT
Writer in Denver News Depicts
Dramatically Part Played by
Commoner.
NARRATES EXCITING SCENE
Describes Tumult of Convention
When Ryan-Belmont- Murphy
Resolution Was Sprung.

Bryan, the Commoner." was the
man whom certain forces in Democ-
racy went to Baltimore to defeat but
Bryan, the Commoner" was not de-
feated Many different. stories were
written about the Nebraskan's mastery
of the convention: the following, writ
ten by Olin w. Kennedy for the Den
Yer News, is among the best:
Bryan, master of men,
A great painting has been lost to
posterity on account of the absence
from the Democratic convention at
Baltimore of a master of the brush.
able to reproduce scenes such as the
world may never again witness.
Writers may Try to paint the pic
iure in words. but they must fail be-
cause mere words fall before art
Voice of the Masses.
William Jennings Bryan was the
name of the physical body. but the
mind, heart and voice were of the
millions of men awakened to new
civic life and thought. The silver
toned voice carried out to the thou
sands in the four walls of the armory
the message flashed from the minds
anu utdl - vi Tic SWtdt-StdlHtu ldl liCI
in the fields, the begrimed workman
in the mill and the business and pro-
fessional men of the town and city.
They could not be there to speak for
themselves. They had as their spokes-
man the interpreter of the peoples
will.
Absolutely unmindful of Bryan, the
man; Bryan, the politician--Bryan,
the commoner faced the multitude and
gave, in succinct form, the message
that had been confided him to deliver.
The hall echoed the shutting of feet
while the scarlet-gowned prelate in
yOked the divine blessing, but silence
came as Bryan, unperturbed. stepped
forth to give the dictum that Parker
was not of and for the people. He
placed the armor about Kern. Then
the dramatic moment came, when
Kern, handing back the armOr, Bryan,
like Roman warrior, buckled it about
his own body, and babe defiance to
The enemies of the people. AS the
long roll call proceeded no smile
played about his lips. Bryan, the de-
termined, sat there as If breathing de-
fiance to every opposing vote.
McubuEImk ShuEA AUUH0ECs
1t was not for the spectators to
know, but at that very time Bryan
was measuring the courage of the
suave Clark, who, fifty miles away in
the gilded capitol at Washington, was
equivocating with progressivism and
reactionaryism. AS the referee counts
the moments above the fallen gladia-
tor, Bryan was counting the votes that
ended the presidential hopes of the
Missourian.
Victory, empty as the air, was with
the reactionaries. Parker was to be
chairman. Victory, as full as the per-
feet head of golden grain, was with
Bryan for he had forced the enemies
of the people into the open. From
that hour on, Bryan knew whom he
had to fight. He could choose the
weapons most suitable to each indi- |
vidual case.
Too late, Clark and his followers
realized that they had been run to |
ambush.
None in the convention can ever for |
get the scene-most dramatic of ALL
when Bryan, with no CLEAN of mercy
in his eye or feeling of sOlicitude in
his heart, dashed Murphy, Ryan and
Belmont until those chieftains of poll |
tics and finance writhed and CRASHED
their teeth. The painter might have
wanted to have depicted the pall0r of
anger on the faces of Ryan and Bel
mont, but he would have neglected to
do that in order to have transferred
to canvas the flashing eye, the dis
tended nostril, the firmly set lips of
the Commoner as he waited or the
Kisses and bowls of the hurt and the
yells of approval of the pleased to
cease. Bryan, accustomed to the
plaudits Of the masses, must have
gained greater pleasure from the wall
ing of the men whom he had dared to
move to their proper places on the
checkerboard of public life.
Hall I'm Pandemonium.
Back of him. on the platform, the
veteran Congressman Talbot of Mary
land was in frenzy. Up from the
fSoor uo1 Of