Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1915-08-03
w. j. BRYAN.

| w. y. Din AN.
Editors Freeman Tribune: I can't
pick up newspaper now days
without feeling strong impulse to
criticise the critics of Mr.. Bryan. 1t
is not necessary to specify which
Bryan-he is so big that the young
est born of the acrimonious para
graphers can instantly supply the
William J. The gads that goad
friends of Mr.. Bryan to impotence
seem strewn through the columns of
some reputable papers and they seem
to be written by scriveners who
deem big men to be legitimate tar
gets for disrespectful paragraphor-
atory. OF course space" must be
filled before the big cylinder begins
to revolve, especially when the ad-
vertising season is not on, but one
would suppose that men who adopt
the responsible vocation of journal
ism would halt to be fair: would re-
alize that the editor is ethically
bound to be judicial in his pro-
nouncements. One would think
that a good editor would scrutinize
the hook at the linotype to see that
no foul" aspersions of the charac-
ter, for example, of cabinet minis
ter of the United States of North
America could get through.
A good citizen, honest and con-
siderate will make it point to &C
cord all due credit for good service
to our public servants. Successful
business men are punctiliously care
full to give due credit for faithful
service to all in their employ in a
private capacity; how much more
should moulders of public opinion
sit in fair judgment upon Minister
Bryan, or any man who has accept
ed the chief cabinet portfolio in the
greatest republic in the world.
Are not these parlous paragraph
ers grateful to Mr.. Bryan for the
PRONUNCIATION of his big idea of
"publicity"? or making it illegal
for any combination of capital to
control more than SO per cent of the
out put of any one staple commodi-
ty? Of peace pacts with twenty for
eign countries? Of a new fraterni-
ty between US and our South Amer
lean neighbors? Of the possibility
of honesty in politics-the feasibili-
ty of it and the example? Can't the
dyspeptic Photographer who announ-
ces Quotes some other D. P.) that
Mr.. Bryan is mot constructive
statesman" mot cabinet timber"
ETC., that che can talk, o, yes.
Can't they see, I say, that it is their
dyspepsia physical or moraD that
makes them ruthless, not with their
minister's money, but with his char
acter? Mr.. Bryan, of Nebraska, up
on the tail end of consecutive cam
paign trains has been a target for
the press (Which isn't always
thoughtful) until slams have be-
come a habit: but one would think
that those who said and perhaps be-
lieved that he would grasp the pres
idency any way he could get it, at
ter viewing his sacrifice in the inter-
est of harmonious Democracy, at
Baltimore, would hasten to abase
themselves and to shout, Here is
who actually SER
yes his state. But, no; Bryan
would rule or ruin, would dominate
the administration" etc, ETC., and,
when he didn't, there were some re-
luctant concessions as to his patri-
otism and efficiency. Secretary of
State Bryan was discovered cooper
ating with the president pro bono
publico. Any such differences as to
modus operandi as undoubtedly
came up, were not paraded for the
benefit of the photographers; but the
two Americans co-worked for the
good of the state, until there came
situation where Mr.. Bryan conceived
his difference with the president to
be one of far reaching policy and
one wherein he conceived the chief
executive to be at variance with the
peace policy to which his life has
been devoted. To have
hen remained in the cabinet would :
nave meant one of two alternatives
to antagonize sections of the cab
net, or to have stultified himself.
The chief executive being the
,hief executive, the obvious act for ;
he secretary of state was to resign
lis PORTFOLIO, which he did and l ;
,elieve that President Wilson shares