The Washington herald., 1920-04-30
BY RAYMOND G. CARROLL.

Omaha. Neb.. April 2s. Like a
huge showcase filled with samples
OF the social and industrial wares OF
a rectangular region greater in area
than the New England States. oms
ha Is most revealing of Nebraska.
From the roof of the eighteen
story Woodmen of the World Build.
ing one looks down upon q pano.
rama Of packing houses. -four mill,
and elevators, soap. bag and maca,
roni factories, and attractive homes
and office buildings. bisected by wide
streets, and understands Omaha.
defiant boast of being the gateway
of an inland empire.
Over the horizon round about are
the rapidly growing Antelope
cities Of Hastings. Grand Island
Fremont, Lincoln, Beatrice, York
kearney Norfolk. Columbus, Falls
City, North Platte, Alliance. McCook
Chadron, Gering and Scottsbluff: vi
brating polkadots of human activity
in the broad green sash of grain
and cattle ranches. dairy farms and
beet fields which unroll westward
from the Missouri River.
Omaha. minus slums or tenements
a community OF over 100000 pros
porous home jewellers, claims Of all
American cities to be first in butter
production. first in pig iron produc-
tion. first in per capita automobile
ownership, second corn market. sec
ond livestock market, and third ag-
ricultural implement center.
Said a leading citizen: Business
in close harmonious association with
sensible government has performed
these wonders for us, and then, as
usual, once more along comes WILL
lam Jennings Bryan, of Chautauqua
Circle. God help US" we always
say"
Anxious to Lose Bryan.
They don't like Bryan in Omaha
where 1t is almost unanimously felt
that Nebraska has been systematic
ally and periodically used" selfish
ly by the man they call The Beer
less One"
casually spoke of Bryan's recent
re entry into Nebraska politics
contesting with Senator Hitchcock
for control of the Nebraska delega-
tion to the San Francisco conven-
tion, to a man who is perhaps the
largest grain dealer in the State,
and he mournfully replied: Yes
he's in again. 1t is no easy task
to gauge the power for good or evil
of a professional advertiser. Bryan
originally came from Illinois. and
we had prayerfully hoped that he
had gone permanently from US to
Florida"
Omaha feels that it has gone
portion of the population which
calls itself Democratic squirms at
the very mention of his name. Both
Democrats and Republicans assert
that Bryan simply exploits Nebras-
ka as a proving ground. a testing
station. a try-out region for self
boosting schemes that he afterward
expands into the limelight of a ma
tional theatre.
The Bryan appeal for women first
voters who had Republican fathers,
husbands and brothers to register
as Democrats, where there was Of
fered wet-versus-dry battle
ground, is a device, Republicans as
sert, to get these women into the
Democratic party, and have them in
November vote independently of the
males in their own homes. think
that perhaps Bryan is sometimes
given credit for more astuteness
than he possesses.
There are distinctly two Nebras-
ka ways of considering Bryan. Ar
thur Mullen. a tall, fine-looking
lawyer specimen of the Midwest,
who is the Democratic boss of
Omaha! said to me: Bryan only
into the State when he wants
support for some office or to col
lect the admission fees of some lee
ture that he is giving. or when he
wants to defeat some Democrat
who is running for Office,
Projects. BENEFIT to Nation.
Charles w. Bryan, the exceeding
ly earnest brother of William ].
and the editor of that Bryan family
project, the Commoner, retorted:
There are, of course, people who
won't recognize that Mr.. Bryan
never took up a fight in Nebraska,
but that in its wider application
had some lasting benefit for the en-
tire nation. Study the measures
Mr.. Bryan has advocated since he
was first elected to Congress from
thirty years ago, and see
whether they were conceived for
the advantage of the Omaha crowd
or the whole American peoples In
come tax, initiative and referendum,
popular election of