Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1912-05-29
1xyan, the 1orexssnner. {

0xyAns the 3oxeEunnex. "a
q No American. in or out Of public Of
ice in the last ten years. can challenge
the proud station Of William Jennings
Bryan In private lie glorif1ed more
and more with every surge Of the pub
lic mind towards the democratic stand
ard he set UP SO boldly and has upheld
so steadfastly.
{ The figure of Bryan history will cele-
brate clears it's true proportion slowly
with oblivion Of his own error and the
perception by his countrymen Of the
deeper truth he proclaimed through III
rs much as through his later and wiser
policies. Intellectual limitations that
have expanded since bound him up with
3 fatal error Of fundamental finance all
the more insidious for its false moral
appeal.
The same intellectual limitations have
clouded the moral brightness Of his
teachings by denying him power to put
them in practical or popular form. It
was not till pinchbeck imitators in both
parties adopted for gain Of fame or pow
err the principles he proclaimed for their
value in the government Of the
republic that his prophetic inspiration
was recognized.
Bryan was the First Progressive. He
began as voice crying in the wilder
ness of Indifference and contempt the
gospel of return to the untrammeled
rule of the people, with all its chances
of blind impulse ana generous error.
He ends as the neglected leader of
chorus that has swelled with the cry
of Office hungry hounds as well as the
higher note of awakened citizenship.
What Bryan said twelve years ago the
higher citizenship of the country is say
ing now with the volume of irresistible
numbers and the compulsive force of
the united will and purpose of the whole
nation. Some follow one of his copy
lists and imitators and some another, but
all, consciously or not draw inspiration
from the same unfailing source:
The nation that denied him the presi-
dency three times is building the prin-
ciples he stood for more than any per-
sonal ambition into it's laws and con-
stitution. The states that threw elec-
toral votes against him have been re-
shaping their own governments in ac-
cordance with his ideals He has been
the most potent influence in late Amer
lean public life.
What political success in the same
period is comparable to this? What
successful politician is not his debtor?
Contemplate the careers of glutted but
unsatisfied ambition built out of the
fragments of his philosophy of political
morals like modern shops and stables
out of an ardent temple!
no ~ vl,~
resisted his teaching, and the swift ex-
altatlOn of those who were keen enough
to see in it ladder for climbing to
power and manifold joys power can give
to them who seek it for their own sake.
Senator Crane is the last to fall be-
fore the weapon of his spirit, as the AL
driches, Hales and the like went before
and the Lodges and Penroses are to come
after. They who have risen on the de-
grees of his political philosophy increase
in number with every now illumination
of the road to popularity and success.
He is moral Warwick, who has made
presidents and governors, senators and
judges, legislators in states and nation
as great inventor makes masters OF
finance and industry by supplying the
spiritual basis of success, often without
ability to reap personal profit from it.
A national leader of more political
cunning and advertising skill rose on the
| steps Of Bryan's ideas to a perilous en-
inence from which, unwilling to retire
he contemplates new conquests of popu
larity beyond the bounds of American
History and tradition - = -
State leaders of what they call pro
1 prQSC ho IN
adherence to the permanent American
ideal, have wrecked political dynastie:
and wrought political revolutions will
the irresistible magic of his conception O.
public morals, though in their own sci
fish names.
| Wherever a. machine was to be smash
ed, boss to be oyerthrown, corruption
to be expelled or any obstacle to b,
cleared from the path of rule of the PEG
pie by themselves, the work has bee1
done under his inspiration, whoeve
reaped the reward of distinction or pro
motion.
i From Wisconsin to Oregon, from
lPittsburg ito San Francisco, men hav
gained place and applause by doing bat
tie for his ideals in state and city gov
Iernment.
All the new refinements of initiative
referendum and recall of judges and de
lcisions, direct nominations and prefer
lence primaries, are only practical appli
lcatiOns Of his basic doctrine that all Law
and government and justice are of, TO
and by the people.
The democratic party should know it
own business best, and probably it ha
the true instinct for the road to tn
Iloaves and fishes it has hungered for s
long.
But they who can read history in tn
making may anticipate the contempt O
it's registers for the Individual Demo
Icrats who think themselves big an
strong enough to brush this heroic flgur
aside and reach the presidency by eithe
|copying or decrying it.
How could he be a candidate for off1c
in the sense of those who are snarlin
land splitting and scratching and goug
ing and filing the protesting air wit
mephitic speech in a degrading scrambl
for the presidency?
He is the one man in American his
tory who. never having been presiden
lean afford to despise the office. In
truer sense than the inventor of tn
phrase, he has mad everything" Min
|neapolis Tribune.
What Texans Admire
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