The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1913-07-19
MIR. BRYAN'S LECTURES

Being either too busy. or too tired,
or too lazy. to write what We thought
about William J. Bryan. secretary
OF state, lecturing TO supplement his
salary, we have been waiting fol
some unusually bright and fair
minded exchange to print our senti-
ments, so that we might reprint
them. The expected arrived Friday
morning in the columns of the Col
umbia, 5. c., State, and we take
pleasure in reproducing it in order
TO please the genuine democrats OF
this section, who believe in Mr.. Brv-
an, in spite of the attempts of the
republicans and the near-republicaus
Ito belittle him. The States article
follows;
In the matter of delivering. dur
ing his vacation, certain chautuaqua
lectures Mr.. Bryan has, as is his GUS
tom, spoken plainly and fully. He
has concealed nothing and the people
understand exactly what his attitude
is. That always has been his habit
and therein lies the secret of the
faith Of the people in him. 1t is for
eign wholly to the habit Of the astute
gentleman of business who have been
in power in Washington, and they
and their friends complain. They
are n0nplussed and they resent the
frankness Of these democrats as a
departure. without notice. from the
traditional rules of their game. 4
republican secretary of state. attor-
Of secretary of the treas
would have turned this pretty pen
ny, say. a hundred thousand dollars,
in an entirely legitimate deal having
nothing to do with official duties, and
would have held his tongue. One
does not know that the salaries Of
men like Elihu Root. FRANKLIN Mae
Eeagh and Philander Knox we're the
limit Of their earnings while they
were in Office, possibly they were, but
whether they were or not. one may
safely assert that the public would
not have been the wiser had these
gentlemen devoted time and atten-
ton to the making Of tens and hun
dreds Of thousands "on the side" L.
is d rare republican cabinet officer Of
the last fifty years who has not been
a postmaster in making money and
who has not known how to practice
his art quietly whether he did prac-
tice it or not.
What Mr. Bryan earns he earns
openly and he is neither ashamed nor
afraid to talk about it. He is en-
titled to a vacation and prefers to
use part of it lecturing. The private
work that he engages in for a few
weeks is that of a public teacher,
that is what the people regard it, as
all other teachers, including those
who teach from the pulpit, do.
Meantime it is we'll to remember
that the administration in Washing
ton is composed of men who as a
class are wholly different in circum-
stances from their predecessors. One
does not find about the cabinet table
now a group of millionaires. There
are no merchants among them retir-
ing for the time from activity in a
business that yields annually hun
dreds of thousands in profits and
that goes on in their absence. There
are no great bankers, no lawyers who
have amassed their million already,
and no plungers in western timber
and mining properties. There is no
gainsay that Washington is a poor
town, so far as the condition of office
holders is considered, as compared
with what it was a few months ago
| and there is and must be now a close
counting of dollars and dimes thai
was lately not thought Of The pres
ent administration in its personnel
is representative of the moderately
well-to-do. The American people are
not likely to resent the circumstance
that a cabinet officer is not so rich
that he is unwilling to use his leisure
in adding to his income and that he
is frank enough to tell them so il
plain words.
Were the secretary OF state the