Seward daily gateway., 1925-07-27


 His career has been likened to that of Henry Clay who also was three time nominated for the presidency and as many times defeated. Clay too, became a Secretary of State Friends of Bryan insisted that, Ike Clay, he was too conscientious, con sistent and scrupulous for a politi- elan and that the famous "Whig's declaration T would rather be right than be President" we'll described the man from Nebraska.
 Born, Salem, H.
 The former Secretary of State was born in Salem, H., March 19, 1860. His father was Silas Lillard Bryan, a native of Culpepper county, Vir- ginia, lawyer and judge. The son, after graduating from Illinois Col lege in 1881 and Union College of Law, Chicago, in 1883 entered the law office of Lyman Trumbull, for mer United States senator. Sub seQuently he removed to Jacksonville, H., where he practiced law until 1887 when he settled in Lincoln, Neb
 During the presidential campaign of 1888 young Bryan's speeches in behalf of the Democratic ticket at tracted attention and in 1890 he ac- cepted nomination for Congress in the First Nebraska district, a Repub- lican stronghold, because, no one else would have it." he said, since it was believed no Democrat could win. He was elected and served from 1891 until 1895. He was made member of the important Ways and Means committee in his first term.
 Two speeches in this period gave MT. Bryan nationwide prominence, one against the policy of protection, delivered on March 16, 1892, and the other against the repeal of the sill yer purchase clause of the Sherman Act on August 16, 1S93 In the lat ter he advocated "the free and un- limited coinage of silver, irrespec- tive of interna tional agreement, at a ratio of 16 to 1, policy with which his name was afterwards most prominently associated until he entered the cabinet of President Wilson.
 Nomination "Mracle."
 The first nomination of MT. Bry- an for the Presidency at the Demo cratic National Convention in Chica- go on July, 1896, has since been char acteriZed as one of the miracles of American politics. The nominee, after serving in Congress, had run for the United States Senate and been defeated by Senator John M. ThurstOn of Nebraska Abandoning the law, MT. Bryan became editor of the Omaha World-Herald and championed the cause of bimetallism as vigorously with the pen as he had upon the forum He had been beaten for a third term in Congress on the issue of sound money" and when the time came for the Nation al convention this question was rend- ing both big political parties. There were Free Silver Republicans as we'll as Democrats, but the nominee of the former, Henry NJ. Teller of Col orado, threw his support to Bryan when the Nebraskan won the nomi- nation at Chicago.
 The "cross of gold" speech by Bry- an, which has been quoted oftener, perhaps, than any other of his words, and which made him a rival of Will jam Mckinley for the presidency came at the close of a debate on the floor of the convention in advocacy of free silver plank. Men nation ally prominent in the party has pre- ceded him, and opposed the plank unless it should provide for bimetal- lism by international agreement. The situation was tense when the Ne braskan, then only 36 years old-one year more than the Constitutional requirement for president-arose to speak. Every was tired; everybody seemed ready for compromise. Not so the delegate from Nebraska. There was fire in his eye when he began to speak:
 T would be presumptuous, indeed, to present myself against the distin- guished gentlemen to whom you have listened" he said, If this were mere measuring of abilities; but this is not contest between per- sons. The humblest citizen in all the land, when clad in the armor