Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-07-22
Mr.. BRYAN's BLUNoER
The Break He Made at HendersonviIIe
Bad One


The Break He Made at HendersonvilIe
Bad One
In q letter to his paper, K. Foster
Murray the Washington correspond
ent of the News and Courier, discusses
the statement that Mr.. Bryan made at
Hendersonville recently as follows:
Never did a man bring down q
greater avalanche Of criticism upon
himself In the same length Of time
than the secretary Of state has done
since last Saturday, when In the course
of q chautauqua lecture at Hender-
sonville, N. c., he announced that he
finds 1t necessary to increase his in
come, as his official salary Of $4,000
a year does not meet his expenses. I
or course the Republicans In con-
gress have jumped on the Bryan state
ment with chortles of glee. 1t is the
second real good chance" they have
had since the administration came In,
and they are making even more OF 1t
because the president pulled the first
one away from them by his prompt
action in reversing Attorney General
McReynolds in the Caminetti case.
The majority Of Democrats in and
about congress, including even those
who have been dyed in the wool Bry-
anites," are amazed at the ssecretary's
utterance. and entirely out Of sympa-
thy with 1t. Many Of them say so
openly; others merely look sad and
Senator Ollie James of Kentucky, des-
perately defend their idol without re-
serve. Democratic leaders in both
houses Of congress were glad to ad-
journ last Tuesday until the succeed
| ing Friday and defer as long as pos
sible any further airing Of the Bryan
sensation in the Congressional Rec
ord.
Secretary Bryan's blunder has been
the principal topic Of conversation
here this week, overshadowing the
railroad crisis, the tariff or the cur
rency, or the Mexican situation. 1t is
generally felt that Mr.. Bryan's later
outgivings in explanation Of his
form, have only complicated the
original error. In the announce
ment at Hendersonville. Mr.. Bryan
said nothing about confining his lee
ture tours to his vacation" period.
Now that he has referred to vacation,
the point is being made that Sec
retary Of state Is apt to be called on
at any moment for his official counsel
as to grave international matters, and
that he should not involve himself in
any outside contracts for personal
service during his incumbency.
Aside from consideration Of off,
cial propriety, 1t Is the overwhelming
view in Washington that the $4,000
| salary Of the secretary Of state Is
enough for that dignitary to live on,
and that 1t Is especially astonishing
that complaint Of its inadequacy
comes from a Democrat who has al
ways been an enthusiastic advocate Of
Jeffersonian simplicity. It Is pointed
out that the salary of the secretary
Of state Is the same as that Of the
vice president and that the personal
fortune Of Mr.. Bryan Is very much
larger than that Of Mr.. Marshall.
The suggestion that the country should
not only furnish living wage to its
cabinet officers, but should also re-
munerate them with the annual sur
plus to which they have been accus-
toned, is not relished at all. In one
breath Mr.. Bryan declares that he
regards the salary as sufficient, and In
another he explains that he Is sac
rificing more than $4,000 by going
into the cabinet.
While some Of Mr.. Bryan's critics
find in his course a proof Of the mon
ey-grubbing procliyities with which
he was charged at the Baltimore con-
vention, where he was roundly GEN.
sured for selling his comment to a
| syndicate at the price Of $1,000 per
| Of his decision to continue his lecture
tours during his incumbency as Sec
retary Of state, is probably reversed
in the last sentence Of the statement
at Hendersonville, to wit:
"These meetings enable me to keep
in touch with the people" its
II the secretary had stressed that
reason rather than the alleged in
| adequacy Of the salary, he would
| have been criticised to some extent,
but he would have been in much
better status than in which he now
finds himself. The damaging subject
| of his personal wealth would have
been avoided, and he would not have
bulk Of his political following, whose
| annual income Is perhaps no more than
| what the secretary Of state receives
in salary In one month, to say nothing
Of income on his accumulated for
tune Of several hundred thousand dol
lars. li
A few days ago Mr.. Bryan gave to
a Washington newspaper q reitera-
ton Of his formerly expressed opinion
that this country has seen Its last
| selection Of presidential nominees by
the great parties at national conven-
tions, and that hereafter the presi-
dents will be nominated by their par
ties in country wide presidential pri-
maries. Those who do not think that
the secretary Of state intends to be a
| candidate again for the presidency
| and those who do not think he be-
| lieves his best chance to be in the pros
pect of presidential primaries--well,
those who think these two thinks,
| think very much alike.
Mr.. Bryan has been loyal to the
Wilson administration as a member
of the cabinet, but he undoubtedly
feels that he is sacrificing his own po-
| litical fortune unless he can find out
side and unofficial field in which to
prove that he Is "still alive and kick
ing" He found 1t In chautaqua, but
-!