The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1915-06-25
BRYAN. IMAM
and IOEALIS7
Intimate View Of Ex-Secre-
tary Of State.
Wonderful Career Of Man Who
HAS Doubtless Ended His
Political Career.

came secretary or state when vii
ham j. Bryan did; the prairie thei
catered diplomacy, International "vu
trcversy. The secret of all that ha,
puzzled the land ia his behavior lie.
IN tEat fact. His hold in the Yves
lies in the fact that he is i'm himself
the average man of that country, will
the mans ideals, aspiration, defect.
and drawbacks. There seems moth
ing strange or funny i'm Secretar,
of State who goes to New York and
signs temperance pledges, or holds
Billy Sundays platform in Philadel
phia, when you get few miles away
from the cities; and if it seems a
little queer to New York to find the
Secretary of State undertaking to de-
molish the Darwinian theory, there
are plenty of regions where the OAR
winian theory is regarded as a de-
vice of the devil to upset the Mosaic
eosmogony. Chesterton says that
Dickens never wrote down to the mob
because he was himself the mob /;
and Bryan never talked down to the
men OF the prairie for the same rea-
son.
He is not a man of culture, nor of
reading. He has been around the
world, but when he came back the
book and articles he wrote were such
as might have been published as
guide books or in encyclopedias; he
could have written them without leav
ing home. Travel had no broaden
ing OF polishing effect upon his
mind.
speaks the Common Mans Thoughts.
's The vast influence he still has is
due TO Jhe fact that the common man,
with all his mistakes and gaucheries,
speaks in him, and that when the
common man hears his own thoughts
spoken in Bryan's voice he knows
that the accent is sincere Bryan
may have taken up this or that par
ticular issue because it sounded like
vOte-nlaker. but none of them rep
resented the least divergence from
his course as whole, which has al
ways been honestly bent in a GER
tain plain direction. He never hest
tated to be in minority and never
lodged fight. He is an innocent
theOrist, who frequently goes wrong
because of the simplicity of his men
tai processes; but he acts upon his
theories, right or wrong, with all in
trepidity and whole-hearted cour-
age in which the ordinary man sees
che qualities he himself would like to
have, and dreams he has. His mind
Is not broad but it is strong; he is
always sure he is right. and always
ready to fight for his beliefs, and he
keeps his hold upon his followers be-
cause he is not below them and not
much above them, and because they
know he is honest and sincere.
In 1908 the Democratic party pick
ing Itself out Of the wreckage of
Parker's defeat. was yearning to re-
unite. Big business" assaulted and
bruised and banged about by Presi-
dent Roosevelt. was ready to come
into line. Roosevelt or his candi-
date could be defeated in 1908 only
by Democratic harmony. Bryan was
abroad, travelling, and somehow his
distant fgure looked less appalling
than the nearby figure of the White
House. The East did not ask him
10 recant his radicalism. but only not
to talk about it. He arrived in New
York, and business went to hear him
make harmony speech. If he made
it, business would support him for
President. He made the speech; he
declared for government ownership
Of railroads, business. roaring with
pain, fell back into the Republican
arms, and Bryan was defeated for
President. No, Bryan is not an OPP
portunlst--not in things that really
matter.
"a ytGlOrified Circuit Rider"
William Bayard' Hale once accurate
ly described him as essentially a
preacher,Sa high-class exhorter,
glorified circuit rider" There are
vast spaces of our country still pop
ulated by men and women of the Old
fashioned kind; Chesterton describes
Them as full of stale culture and ar
sestral simplicity" They are the. de-
scendants of the Puritans--lntel'ect-
ally, ct any Iate--they look ask-ance
Oh cards, dsn tag and the stage;
thsy are tn Kind o. folks who peo-
Piled ,ae &'ss'ssiDD, Valley IN Lin
coins 'ay and Va, ssachusetts " jnha
Haneock's" Bryan does not talE down
20 that type for votes. he is that
type, Colonel George Harvey. with
sarcastic intent. alleged that Bryan
A. IA