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The Commoner.
FEBRUARY 6; 1903.'
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8fl FAIR V IB W W
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On this page will bo found a picture of the
family residence at Fairview. Tho house was not
completed as sbon as expected, and is not entirely
finished yet, but sufficiently so to present an accur
ate exterior view. The ground upon which the
house stands was purchased in the summer of 1893
and the house has been in contemplation ever
Blnco that time. The original five-acre piece has
been added to from time to time until the tract
now comprises thirty-five acres.
Ground was broken for the house on the 1st
day of October, 1901, the seventeenth anniversary
of our marriage and the fourteenth anniversary of
our location in Nebraska. We moved into tho
barn March 19, 1902, and into the unfinished house
06tober 1, 1902. The architect was asked to p"re
paro plans for a house that would cost about
$10,000, but owing to the numerous alterations in
the plans, to the expense of delivering material so
far from town and to
tho recent Increased
expensn of building,
the house cost con
siderably more than
I anticipated it would.
This is not an unusual
experience, I believe,
'with those who start
out to build a perma
nent home.
Fairview is nea'rly
' four miles southeast
of tho business center
of. the city of Lincoln
and overlooks as beau
tiful a piece of farm
land as .can be found
anywhere. It is reach
ed by the College View
street car line, which
runs within about a
third of a mile of the
house. My editorial
work is done in a base
ment room, fitted up
with a working library,
and here I am always
glad to see any of the
readers of The Com
moner, who may chanco
to pass through Ne
braska's capital.
It is not often that
one finds it necessary to
dispute exaggerated re
ports of his wealth and
income, but the errone-,
ous accounts have been
so persistently circu
lated as to have de-
ciived friends.
From the tone of some
reports it is evi
dent that they wero intended for a political pur
pose, namely, to create tho impression that my
views on public questions are determined by the
amount of money to be made out of them. It
ought to be apparent to any one that I would take
the corporations' side rather than the people's side
if my object was to make money. Aa it is, but a
small portion of my time is devoted to remunera
tive work. Since 1896 more days have been de
voted to my correspondence than, to lecturing,
and more days also have been devoted to speak
ing without remuneration (and often at my ow.n
expense) than toJecturing where compensation
has been received! There is no reason why the
readers of The Commoner should not know the
facts and thus bo prepared to meet the criticism
of jjnfair opponents.
Jin the. beginning the republicans made me ap
pear poorer than I really was, and now they go to
tho other emtreme and multiply my possessions
from ten to a hundred times. I One paper reports
me as receiving $750,000 fromwsubscrip,tobns-to The
Commoner, and. says that none of this money
has been used for expenses, alleging that the re
ceipts from the advertising exceed by $125,000 the
cost of running 4tjh6 paper; Eyen democratic pa
pers have been misled by these reports into as
suming an accumulation entirely beyond what it
would have been possible for mo to mako had I
dovoted all my time to money-making.
An another pago will bo found an editor
ial from tho Now Orleans Times-Democrat which
defends the means employed for tho accumulation
of sUch wealth as I possess although it has ac
cepted tho republican estimate. Tho truth is, that
in addition to my house, tho tract of land on which
it stands and my household goods, I have proper
ty, real and personal, that might at a fair market
price bo considered worth from $15,000 to $20,000.
Of this, a sum amounting to between two and
three thousand dollars (some of tho land has not
yet been disposed of) came to me by inheritance,
and between three and four thousand was saved
between tho timo I began tho practice of tho law
and my first nomination for the presidency. Tho
RESIDENCE OF MR. BRYAN.
acquaintance and notoriety given me by the pres
idential campaigns largely augmented my earning
power as well as largely increased my expenses and
the demands upon my purse. In 1897 I received
$17,000 as royalty from my book, "The First Bat
tle,'" an equal amount, the remaining half of the
royalty, being distributed among the various com
mittees that wore carrying on the campaign for
the restoration of bimetallism. Since that time,
except when in the army, I have derived my in
come from lectures and from articles written for
newspapers and periodicals. Since 1890 I have
contributed- to the advancement of political re
forms more than twenty thousand dollars, and that
the reader may know that all my thoughts havo
not been centered on politics it may be added
that donations for educational, religious and char
itable purposes have in that timo amounted
nearly half as jnuch as my political contributions
. As I write editorials when on tho road my
lecturing has not interfered with my editorial
work, but I expect to do less lecturing In the
future than I have in the paat, 'because I desire to
spend more time with my family and to ao more
book-reading than I have had opportunity for in
ar- .
24
nay I
recent years. I shall only lecture enough to cover
my personal and housohold exponses and to lay
asldo a littlo for old age.
Tho Commoner, while a success In a business
way and in .the increasing circle of its influence,
has not reached a position where I feol justified In
drawing any considerable amount from It Tho
paper was not started as a money-making scheme,
but as a means of contributing toward tho ad
vancement of those principles for which the
democratic party stands. It was necessary that
tho paper should bo self-supporting and it has
been self-supporting from the beginning. It will
bo published as long as the patronage is sufficient
to pay running expenses, and In view of Increas
ing encouragement received it seems likely to
live as long as its editor does.
As tho subscriptions are .payable in advanco
and when paid must cover the expense oLMio
paper for tho full subscription term. Tho
Commoner fund has
been kept by itself and
held in trust for tho
benefit of tho subscrib
ers) The only reduc
tioire made from it have
been made to pay run
ning expenses, and
there is now enough in
this fund to guarantee
that each subscriber
will receive tho paper
for tho timo during
which ho has paid - -
it. I draw no salary
from the paper myself,
and havo taken out for
my personal Uso on an
average of less- than
five thousand per year
during the two years
of tho paper's exist
ence!"! iTtJIio reader Is sur
prised that tho paper
has not mado the fab
ulous sums reported, he
must remember that
tho subscription price
was fixed at $1.00 per
year in the beginning
and has not been in
creased even though
the paper has been dou
bled in size. He must
also remember that
agents' commissions
must be paid out of tho
dollar, and that when
the paper is furnished
at clubbing rates tho
amount realized Js con
siderably less than a
dollar for each annual
subscription.
In the effort to get the paper before as large a
number of readers as possible, combination rates
have been mado which still further reduce thd
amount realized from each subscription. While,
on the one hand; the paper has been furnished at a
low price, the advertisements, on the other hand,
have been restricted far below the amount that
most papers of similar circulation carry. There
are three reasons for this: First, no trust ad
vertisements are accepted this excludes an In
creasing number of advertisements; second, a great
many advertisements which appear in some less
discriminating papers have been rejected because
not suitable for a paper that goes Into the house
hold and Is read by all the members of the family.
Third, the paper had to encounter the prejudice
of many large concerns, managed by republicans,
who carry their politics into their business and
object to a paper that ' persistently exposes and
opposes the plans of organized wealth.
The care, however, taken in the selection of
advertising matter, while it has lessened the re
ceipts of tho paper for tho timo being, has given
It standing with those advertisers who are ad
mitted to its columns.'
