The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-07-19
progressive convention, one with


and difficult. He was in favor of
Ollie James or Kerns. The latter ran
as candidate for a while, but he
| finally withdrew and Mr.. Bryan was
suggested to go against Parker. If
Parker had been elected by a unani-
nous vote, the convention would
have signified that it was not pro.
gressive, but reactionary conven
ton. Mr.. Bryan finally served on
the subcommittee and helped pre-
pare the platform.
Fight Against Wealth.
The speaker then described his
fight against the Ryan-BelmontMor
gan element. Ans operation was final
ly performed without chloroform,
that cut out the rotten meat in the
/; democratic party, he said. Mr.. Bryan
then described the final scenes OF
the convention when Wilson was al
last elected democratic candidate for
president.
tell of his valedictory talk when he
was given the floor However, poll
tics, he said, does not absorb his
entire time and interest. His views
have changed considerably of late
as he has grown older. Formerly
he thought that all democrats were
good and all republicans were bad
but he has come to learn that there
are good republicans and bad demo
Gratis, and he for one, was will
one republican if he could have the
choice of the republican.
II have more faith than | used to
have in the final triumph of every
! righteous cause and i am willing to
wait for the truth to triumph, and
SO under the title of the Signs OF
the Times / will present a brief
review of the worlds progress in
education, morals and science OF
government"
! Spoke on Reformers.
J He then spoke under the assump
ton that his entire audience were
reformers, for if there were some in
his hearing who were not, he said
he thought they would change their
mind as soon as he had defined non
reformers. These belonged to three
classes: first those who lacked in.
/ telligence; second, those who know
reform is possible but are so hard.
hearted as not to desire it; and
third, those who profit by faults
that ought to be corrected-those
have who have their hands in other
peoples pockets.
Mr.. Bryan then discussed the diff
ficulties of reformers. The first diff
ficulty was in getting the so-called
reformers to working point, for
many are just above freezing point
and do very little real work. The prob
lem was to get them to the boiling
point. Another and probably the
greatest difficulty was to get re.
formers to act together. This fault
alone during great crisis has often
delayed reforms. At other times,
however, over-interest and zeal in
! one reform has been such that the
reformer has paid little or no atten
ton to the minor reforms.
Il believe it is the part of wis
dom to join and get any good that
may derive from our efforts, and
then commence tomorrow to get the
next reform. Nor can we tell how
much influence the reform we Sc
cure today will have on the reform
we intend to secure tomorrow. We
sometimes find that that which
seems trivial today will be the step.
ping stone to the larger thing the
next day.
The CommOner told of the neces.
sity to encourage reformers, for
these classes of people move slowly.
Many reformers never see the re.
suits of their toll, and while work.
ing at it, realize this, and hence
need encOura cement.
| World Moves Forward.
Il come to bring you a message
OF encouragement. No matter along
what lines you have labored, l come
to tell you that God is still on his
throne, and that the world moves
forward. Back of every righteous
cause stands God, who brings vic.
tory to his side'
There were so many evidences in
support of these three principles of
which he spoke, that he was almost
embarrassed. His ~"bject had been
divided into three parts, first the
progress in intelligence, second in
morals, and third in science of gov.
eminent. Beginning with the first,
he told of the increase in education
during the last fifty years. In ia
pan for instance, few people could
read and write fifty years ago, but
i today they boast that ninety Der
cent can write. The results of the
increase in education in China, are
manifold.
Education in India has been back
ward, yet the English government is
expending more and more every
year to increase the education OF
the natives. In America everything
tended toward democracy, and espe-
cially education, while the whole
trend of all nations, is toward uni.
versal education. He described the
difficulties of getting an education
in the earlier days, when it was
necessary for students to have