The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1925-09-04
SAUNDERS HAS
BRYAN'S
Holds Original Manuscript of
Great Commo1er's Last
Formal Statement of His
Faith

w. ". SdullQcTS, cQlCOT ana
publisher of THE INDEPEN-
DENT is the proud owner of
the original manuscript of the
last formal utterance of the
late William Jennings Bryan,
on the subject OF evolution.
The Commoner'S last formal
statement of his faith was pub
liShed in Golfers Weekly, issue
OF August |, 1925.
Mr.. Saunders. who is associate
editor of Golfers worked with Col.
Bryan in the preparation of the
article for Golfers. The original
manuscript was dictated to a
StenOgrapher in Pittsburgh. Pa. by
Col. Bryan. with Mr.. Saunders
standing by. With his own hands
Col. Bryan made many corrections
and changes in this manuscript and
it was rctypcd. The statement aS
dictated by Col. Bryan waS too long
for Golfers and in some other ways
not exactly suited 10 the require
mentS of that publication. Mr..
Saunders undertook the rewriting
of the piece. u>in" much of the
material from Col. Bryan'S manu-
script and making interpretations
frGm notes made in his interviews
with Col. Bryan. Mr.. Saunders
took the revised piece lack 10 Col.
Bryan. finding him ut Columbus,
q. in the midst of the Presbyterian
General Assembly.
AT first Col. Bryan was outraged
at the idea of my having tampercd
with his manuscript. says Mr..
Saunders. He refused to read ii
o. have anything To do with it.
Finally he turned upon me and
With a magnificent show Of righte-
Gus wrath and Indignation eXclaim-
cd: 'YCu are an Nvoluti0p'St: I ""n
not trust you Monkey Blood fel-
lows: | knew th1t yCu would not let
me say exactly what l thought about
Uarwini>n
Il assured Col. Bryan that in the
piece aS rewritten he had stated his
views with greater force and en-
phaSiS than in his original manu-
script. He seemed Il doubt this
but reluctantly said he would re-
consider the matter. | left the new
manuscript with him at nine o'clock
in the morning. At 10 30 O'Clock
that night Col. Bryan 'phoned me
and asked me To come to his room.
When l reached his room he said :
IL am very happy: l have read
the piece and now | wish To apollo
gize to You for my rudencSS of this
morning: you have done good
job and the piece is much better
than my own
"'Thc fact is. the new product was
Col. Bryan'S own; there are not Il
hundred words in it that were not
originally his. Only one change in
the phraSeoln%y Of the piece WAS
made by Col. Bryan. | had made
him say that he had read the works
of Charles Darwin. Col. Bryan ask
me To change that to read L am
familiar with the works of Charles
Darwin. Col. Bryan told me
frankly that he had never read all
of Darwin'S works. In one place
where he quotes Darwin he told me
that he did not know that Darwin
had said such thing until Il friend
had pointed the passage i'll Darwin
out to him
Mr.. Saunders retains the original
BRYAN manuscript and says he will
some day turn it over to the pubic
library in Elizabeth City-when
Elizabeth City has public library
worthy of the name that can he en-
trusted with the preservation of
such an interesting document.
one of the umcannicSt incidents
in the history Of journalism was
that the piece of Col. Bryan ap,
pcared in Callers almost stimuli
taneouSly with his sudden and un'
expected death.