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The Commoner
VOL.; 16; NO. T
I
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Echoes of the St. Louis Convention
BRYAN AN IDOL OF CONVENTION
TFrom Bloomlngton, 111., Bulletin, Juno 23,
A reporter for the Bulletin called on former
Congressman FitzIIonry today and asked him if
it was truo that the great qoraraonor, William
Jonnings Bryan Bat in tho recent democratic na
tional convention at St. Louis unnoticed, as ,de
Bcrlbcd in tho press roports, and in discussing
thiB 'subject, Mr. FltzIIonry said:
"It is vory difllcult to understand how such a
report could havo gained currency. Of course,
Mr. Bryan came to St. Louis unannounced and
came in a professional capacity, hut wherever
ho wont ho was soon surrounded by friends and
was moBt enthusiastically greeted. At least up
on thrco occasions it looked as though he might
havo controlled tho convention if it had been his
desiro to do so.
"When tho groat convention opened, Mr. Bry
an camo into tho section of tho hall reserved for
newspaper men and sat down near tho railing.
Tho greeting accorded, I thought, was exceed
ingly enthusiastic. There was a constant stream
of delegates and altornatos to tho part of tho
floor whoro ho was locatod, and this show of
porsonal affection continued until Chairman Mc
Combs lot tho big gavel fall, bringing tho con
vention to order.
CALLS FOR BRYAN
"Govornor Glynn of Now York was then in
troduced and began his masterful keynote
Bpooch. Tho fascinated multitudo woro quiet
until tho first indirect allusion to President Wil
son was mado, then a perfect storm of applause
broke looso and continued for several minutes,
during which time it was a Very common thing
to hoar from all over the floor 'Bryan, Bryan
Bryan!' When Governor Glynn reached tho
climax of his effort, tho cheering again was in
termingled with calls for Bryan, and when the
govornor had finished, the cheoring of tho con
vention resolved itsolf almost Into a Bryan dem
onstration. 4Whon tho formal business of tho convention
following Governor Glynn's address on Wednes
day, was finished, the convention adjourned to
meet at 11:00 o'clock Thursday morning. When
Govornor Glynn called tho convention to order
Thursday morning tho report of tho committee
on pormanont organization, making Senator Ollie
James permanent chairman was adopted, tho
governor introduced Senator James and tho con
vention was treated to ono of Ollio James' pe
culiar and vory interesting characteristic speech
es. At tho montion of President Wilson's name
tho convention wont to a 46-minute demonstra
tion. Mr. Bryan's namo was again called freely
and vehemently. When Senator James , con
cluded hiB speech a perfect storm of 'Bryan,
Bryan, Bryan!' broke looso in tho convention
again and for about five minutes tho great com
moner sat in his seat with his. face flushed, while
Senator James wielded tho gavel in an effort to
quiot tho convention. Ho was not successful,
howovor, until tho groat audience noticed Mr.
Bryan got up and walk out of tho press gallery,
then tho Bound of tho gavel upon the chairman's
table could bo heard and finally Senator James
requested that tho convention proceed with its
business, as tho delegates would havo an op
portunity to hear from Mr. Bryan before the
convention closed. Wijh this request on the part
of tho chairman and tho consciousness of the
crowds that tho great commoner was not in tho
hall, tho convention was ablo to proceed. A
short time aftor this incident and tho hearing
of tho reports from tho several committees, the
convention adjourned to meet at 9 o'clock in the
evening,
"When that hour camo Thursday night tho
hall was literally jammed full ot people and
10,000 moro on tho outsido scrambled, good na
turedly, for admission, but the doors had been
closed by tho chief door-keeper. Before tho
crowd would permit tho convention to proceed
with its business tho cries of 'Bryan; Bryan;
Bryan!' brought him to tho speaker's stand and
ho delivered tho great speech which cemented
tho democrats of the nation into one solid pha
lanx to support the President. After Mr. Bryan
concluded his speech tho convention proceeded
to nominate Wilson and Marshall and finished
its effort for tho day about midnight, adjourn-,
Ing until 11 o'clock Friday morning.
BRYAN HAD TO LEAVE HALL
"Whei the convention reassembled for its
final session Friday morning and was getting
well under way, tho cry of Bryan; Bryan; Bry
an!' again filled the great hall nl it did not
subside until tho convention noticed Mr. Bryan
got up from his seat and walk down through tho
Journalistic section to ono of tho exits of tho
hall, then tho convention proceeded to its busi
ness. "No such a demonstration was accorded any
other person in tho convention hall. Indeed
there is no other democrat in tho United States
whoso mere presence as a spectator would havo
been as noticeable and produced the spontaneous
outburst of enthusiasm such as that of Mr. Bryr
an's except President Wilson's himself.
"The disagreement betwoen the President and
Mr. Bryan as to tho government's foreign policy
has caused many peoplo to feel that there was
a possibility of a break inthe solid democratic
organization in the impending campaign. How
over, nobody who attended that convention was
better pleased with its great work than was Mr.
Bryan, and I believe it is safe to say that no dem
ocrat in tho United States will support the nom
inees of the convention more wholeheartedly
than will Mr. Bryan.
"Of course everybody knew that President
Wilson was to bo nominated and that a strong
patriotic American platform approving the con
structive work of the present administration
would bo adopted. Consequently the real fea
ture of the great St. Xiouis convention was the
keynote speech of Governor Glynn of New York.
"Governor Glynn is a young man, of small
stature, keen eye, smiling faco and a strong, mu
sical voice. His speech, of course, was a pre
pared speech; his thoughts were well rounded
out, consecutively arranged, and his delivery was
fascinating. His speech is absolutely unanswer
able and there is scarcely an American citizen
who could have heard it and then been against
Woodrow Wilson for re-election, except for sel
fish reasons.
"It is a complete and satisfactory answer to
all of the calumnies which have been spoken,
the bogeymen who have been created and the
misrepresentations which havo been made con
cerning President Wilson and his administration."
BRYAN STILL HOLDS AFFECTIONS OF THE
PEOPLE
By Dwight H. Brown, in Poplar Bluff, Mo.,
Citizen-Democrat, June 22.
That Col. William J. Bryan still is cherished
as ono of the world's greatest citizens and Amer
icas greatest democrat and occupies a warm spot
in tho hearts of his countrymen generally, has
been established possibly to the satisfaction of
all. To say tho least of it, it should be. The
convention in St. Louis last week was a triumph
in every respect, and recorded the victory for the
party in November. To ono who has continually
respected the greatness of Colonel Bryan,' it was
particularly gratifying, for it showed where The
great commoner stands with the American peo
ple, and says.to the writer that perhaps yet the
is'pZiWe aS Pre8idGnt f thQ Unitedystates
The metropolitan press has been'unfair with
him and the public is not permitted to know
facts always. There were many eastern paperl
that even reported himrunninc for fifn
Other tickets than the democrac, and hifvUs
Jnn,wwnal afI?Irs have bee bo misrep
sented that correction should be unncessar
among fair and honest Americans in whose S
?eStiondtnbl?0d fl(T' The attitude of tte SS"
vention to Bryan has not been fully narrated
and we just want to say here that it was a r?h
pendous ovation for him from thn flrT? . f
until the final. In Lctfthe "pepndlnger' S
borrow baseball terms, didn't shWun until
commoner delivered a great add iwS:11 tho
manded the attention 0Mot Zi
tho dropping of a pin could be heard savGJw
Fourth BatotefFrZ tha wuttfflS, f ,the
wielded more Influence mnltlSlied hvraskan
morals, than d!d Ml or thfcSne? SgSiS
that defeated him as a delegate and put him i
tho press box. His namo wilt live and bo tH
vered by Americans and the democrats of th.
world centuries after his feeble opponents havJ
passed into oblivion. vo
This paper took a very firm stand for Bryan
when he was under fire for refusing to follow a
course in public office that disagreed with hia
life teaching. Ho felt that he was right in his
course and we believed the democracy and tho
nation would so regard him later on. His vin
dication comes in the grand ovation in St. Louis"
We are going to. elect the present eminent in
cumbent of the White House and carry out tho
unfinished part of the program of the democracy
and four years from now tlie party might do no
better than turn to that one' whose governmental
philosophy and teaching from 1896 to date has
contributed more to the final democratic success
than any other influence.
As to how Mr. Bryan would deal with the St.
Louis convention, wo were confident for we had
his word. Recently while attending tho Journal
ism Week of the Missouri university at Colum
bia in receiving an introduction to W. Midzuno,
representative of the Osaka. Mainchi of Osaka,
Japan, at the hand of. Mr. Bryan, tho writer
recognizing the journalist from the sunriso em
pire as an admirer of the American Commoner
remarked during the conversation, "It has for
years been my dream to see this man president
of our republic." The journalist concurred,
while the Commoner smiled with satisfaction,
but remarked, "There is but one man now."
"That is true," said I, "but you are still young
and there is an election just four years off."
More smiles and Bryan continued, "You know I
have been close to that office and it is not so
much to be desired after all." The conversation
turned and during its course it was apparent
that the Commoner had discovered that the oc
cupants of the White house have to battle tre
mendous influences in safeguarding the inter
ests of the people. Bryan is a democrat, if thero
are any, and the achievements of the present ad
ministration point conclusively and convincingly
to administration at the hands of the democracy.
Those who have impugned .his apts,,his purposes
and his recent policies have, only, lessened self
and magnified the one criticised'.
Bryan goes home from the convention in tho
capacity of a reporter with 'the plaudits of his
people upon him and brighter burning fires o!
love and admiration in the hearts of patriots
than ever. He is a man of service, and his greatest
reward and his greatest joy come from serving his
nation and his people. He, is the American hero
of peace, who has fought more battles and won
them, bringing greater liberty and greater hap
piness to his people than any warrior of modern
times. He drew the blue prints and outlined the
campaign for years and when the command wai
given to his friend and comrade, Woodrow Wil
son, the battle was won. .
WILLIAM J. BRYAN STANDS FORTH AS
GREAT MORAL CRUSADER
Maurice B. Judd, .of The' Indianapolis News,
sent the following staff correspondence under a
St. Louis dato of June 16:
, "Tho most interesting figure at the St. Louil
convention is William Jennings Bryan. He hal
been here as a private citizen, a reporter for a
newspaper syndicate, and lias been only a spec
tator. Comparatively few of the crowd's cheeri
have been for him. He has been' little photo
graphed and seldom interviewed. He does not
appear a great deal in the hotel corridors. Hia
power seems to have waned for the time being;
he Is no longer the Peerless Leader. He is a
private citizen, now and probably for the rest
of his days.
"Yet there is no close observer of Bryan's ca
reer who could rightly say that he is done. H
will never hold public office again in all prob
ability, but he is not done. No one who sat in
the press section at the two conventions ana
watched Mr. Bryan for several days, noting tha
eternal light of moral righteousness in his faca
and the fire of a hope that will last as long al
the man, could say that Mr. Bryan is done.
There is too much strength of character in thai
face; too much of the kind of stuff that th
Christian martyrs must have been made of in
the days of the Roman empire; too much knowl
edge that right makes might and too much ol
the feeling that though a man may be beaten,
his cause, if it Is right, will never die.
STILL RETAINS 'HOLD
"Mr. Bryan, despito the unfortunate circum
stances of some of his most recent public actions,
till retains a hold on tho American Peo.pI
Probably it would not be right to say the wbou
iHj
