The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1913-07-25
MR.. BRYAN's "NEW DEPARTURE"

Mr.. Bryan, for endeayoring to pad
out his salary of $4,000 year as sec
rotary of state, is receiving a good
deal of friendly, and also more or less
unfriendly criticism.
His partisans, who feel it incum-
bent to "sneeze" every time Mr.. Bry-
an dips snuff" say that this unfavor
able criticism proceeds from his enc
mics, who are always glad of an OPP
portunity to give him a dig"
But We do not find this to be the
case. For instance, the New York
World, which has been Mr.. Bryan's
warmest supporter ever since, and
for some time previous to the Balti
more convention, says:
It is with the profoundest regret
that we have to note the position into
which the secretary of state has
drawn himself, and the explanation
now given, which only makes it
worse.
The Wauchula (Fla) Advocate
says:
One by one our idols fall. Now
CommOner Bryan says d thousand dol
lars a month is insufficient for him to
live on.
The South Florida (Orlando) senti-
mel says:
We had hoped that President Will
son and Secretary Bryan would not
only give this country great admins
ltratiOn, but that incidentally they and
their families would give pause to the
insane extravaganza in the spending
IOf money for living. When we consid-
Ter that, after all, the best life in Amer
Iica is the life lived by men who are
influencing thought, who are making
opinions, who are training youth, and
Iyet men who are receiving anywhere
from $500 to $4,000 in salary, many of
them are professors in our colleges and
universities, and many of them never
Iappear in conspicuous places, and yet
they are living useful and full lives,
it looks like money should not cut
such a figure is at does.
We could fill our paper with ex-
tracts, all friendly, though regretful,
but close with printing the one from
the Savannah News in full, because it
is so fair and even-tempered
The Bristow resolution calling on
the president to advise the senate
what salary would be sufficient to
keep the secretary of state on his job
was defeated by a strict party vote, as
it was expected it would. 1t was
purely partisan resolution and was in
tended to have a political effect. 1t
was well understood by it's author
that it wouldn't be adopted, and it
remains to be seen what effect it will
have. There is no doubt, of course,
that the republicans will make use
of the salary incident in political
campaigns, butt is an open question
as to whether or not it will be of a
great deal of benefit to them.
1t will hardly be denied that Mr.
Bryan made a mistake in assigning as
a reason for his activity in the lecture
field that he needed the money, that
his salary as secretary of state wasn't
sufficient to cover his expenses. A
and less sincere man would
not have assigned any such reason.
If he gave any reason at ali he would
have given one less open to criticism
and attack. He certainly wouldn
have given one that opened the way
to question his fitness for position
recurring tact and foresight.
No one questions Mr. Bryan's SIN
cerity, kindness and ability. But be-
cause he is an honest man and
really great one it doesn't follow that
he is the right man for the place he
occupies. The comments at home
and abroad on the salary incident in
dictate that. If the reasons he gave
we're approved it would be pretty hard
to keep government officials and en-
ployes on their jobs. A precedent
would be made that would be very en-
barrassing to the government.
The salary incident shows Mr.. Bry-
an that occupying the position he does
he cannot give reasons for his con-
duct thoughtIessly, even in matters
which apparently are of minor impor-
lance. His political opponents are on
the lookout all the time for some act
or word of his to criticise. Hence II
he wishes to avoid criticism and save
the administration and his party EN-
arrassment he must be on his guard
all the time Being man Of quick
it isn't probable that ne
will give his political enemies another
opportunity of the foregoing kind for
him.