Evening star., 1925-07-28
A Remarkable Career.

that William Jennings Bryan is dead.
He was for nearly thirty years an ac-
tive factor in American public thought,
and recently he was at the zenith of
his participation in the affairs in
which the people of the country were
concerned. Not even during the first
campaign in which he was candidate
for the presidency, in 1896, was he
more conspicuously in evidence than
during these past few weeks when he
was participating in a procedure in
Tennessee to determine the legality of
the right of a State to dictate or pro-
scribe a mode of education.
When in 1896 Bryan took the plat
form at Chicago to deliver his speech
favoring the espOusal by the Demo
cratic party of the doctrine of free
coinage of silver he was virtually un-
known to the people of the country.
Very few had heard of him. He had
served two terms in the House of
Representatives and had then unsuc-
cessfulIy run for the Senate. Like
hundreds of others, he had passed out
of the political picture for a time. His
Chicago speech, however, revealed him
TO the country as an orator of rare
powers and won for him the nomina-
ton for President.
During that campaign Bryan was
an object of the keenest interest to
the people. He was young-iust eligi-
BILE in point of years for the highest
oftice-good looking, eloquent, mag
netic and courageous. He conducted
a personal campaign, speaking every
where, tirelessly, making the best pos
sible presentation of a poor cause
That he had the Republican party
leaders gravely concerned is a matter
Of record. 1t looked for a time as if
ae might sweep the country with his
remarkable personality.
Defeat did not check the ambitious
young Nebraskan. He tried again,
gained a second nomination, suffered
another defeat and then, it appeared
to most people, lapsed into retirement.
But it was only a temporary eclipse.
He came back with unprecedented
vigor and undiminished prestige and
sought and gained a third nomination,
after lapse of four years. Thus did
Bryan become in the minds of the peo-
pie perennial factor of politics
At Baltimore in 1912, when condi-
tons assured Democratic success,
Bryan, although not a candidate for
the nomination, virtually dictated the
selection when he abandoned the sup
port of Champ Clark and swung to
Woodrow Wilson, thus giving the New
Jersey governor the golden chance.
There was tragedy in this. Thrice
Bryan had sought the presidency
against a united Republican party
united save for the free-silver split
of 1896, which had broken the ranks
of the Democracy as well-and had
lost. Now the Republicans were rent
in factional quarrel which made
Democratic success certain, and the
Commoner could not gain the leader
ship for himself. He did, however.
gain it for Wilson, and in recognition
of that service he was named Secre-
VI hoLS1lCf Oil OlllCt lOE Wn1cn ne
possessed small qualification and in
which he was not a success.
Often since 1912 the question has
been asked, Can Bryan come back
once more?" He seemed to be a peren-
NAL possibility. In 1916, however.
there was no chance for another can
didacy than that of Wilson. In 1920
thre was a decided waning of the
Bryan sentiment" and the Bryan in
fluenCe at San Francisco was weak.
In 1924 it was sufficient only to dictate
the vice presidential nomination of his
brother, which proved to be a lamenta-
BILE blunder, though even had it not
been made the result would have been
the same.
But during this period of waning
political power and prominence BRYAN
continued to occupy public thoughts.
He had turned his attention to moral
and religious questions, and had made
himself protagonist of fundamental
ism with characteristic vigor and
thoroughness. He had plainly put be-
tions. He had changed his residence,
and though he aspired to the Senate
he was not seriously regarded as
factor in that field.
The evolution issue was Bryan's Oh.
portunity again to dominate the pub
lie thought and to fill the vision of
the country. Intensely serious and
sincere in his convictions, he became
the leading figure of the case. 1t was
assured that he would continue, unless
broken in health, to preach his doc
trine far and wide. He was preparing
for another of his far-flung crusades
Of agitation and discussion when
death came, swiftly, unheralded.
So the great figure passes, and the
people of America, mourning him as a
man of the highest integrity, must
come to regard him as memory, and
no longer as an intimate, powerful
factor in the current of affairs and
thought.