The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923, October 30, 1908, Image 1

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Commoner;
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CHARLES W. BRYAN, PUBLISHER
V.OLr 8, NO.' 42
Lincoln, Nebraska, October 30, 1908
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BRYAN MEN
Whole Number 406
ATTENTION!
The great battle is almost won. What the enemy fails to
accomplish by intimidation it will seek to complete by fraud.
Let Bryan men everywhere see to it that every voter goes
to the polls on November 3. Then watch the count Let the
count be watched in every precinct in the United States.
tVwS I '"' U YEA OF fNSUUWr ' . jlx
H '"" Steal J5
DO YOU WANT ANY MORE OF THIS?
WHY BRYAN SHOULD BE ELECTED
By George F. Rinehart in Midwestern Mag
azine, Des Moines, Iowa.
Righteousness exalteth a nation; but
sin is a reproach to any people. Ps. 14:34.
Mr. Bryan is an optimist. Ho believes the
world is getting better all the time and it is im
possible to be around him a great deal without
sharing his hopeful view of things. I confess
that I have caught the infection and believe
firmly in the final triumph of righteousness over
every form of wrong. That accounts for my un
faltering faith in Bryan.
The situation must be exceptionally diffi
cult if Mr. Bryan can not extract a grain of
comfort from it. To illustrate this habit of his
I recall that one time I was lamenting the fact
that Tom Watson, whose ability I so much ad
mired, permitted his desire for revenge to warp
his intellect and induced him to larabast Bryan
in each and every issue of his magazine. This
was while Watson was in Ndw York lending the
weight of his great name to Col6nel Mann- of
unsavory memory in the publication of "Tom
Watson's Magazine." Mr. Bryan did not share
my concern. Not a shadow crossed his smiling
visage. Ho was borrowing no trouble. He had
no regrets. His reply was eminently chajacter
istic of the man. He said simply that-Watson
was doing a good work. I asked him how he
figured that monthly abuse of himself could be
accounted "good work." He replied that Wat
son was there in New York where In 1896
Bryanism was called populism and that Tom
Watson was rapidly convincing the average New
Yorker that Bryan was not a populist.
Having known Mr. Bryan intimately for
twelve years, and shared his confidence all that
time, I naturally feel a closer Interest in his
welfare than those less intimately associated
with him. That Is why some people can not
understand my devotion to the man as well as
to his cause. I once said to him: "Mr. Bryan,
do you realize what It will mean were you to
assume the role of the man on horseback and
say, 'Come on, boys?" " His reply was prompt
and decisive: "That is just what democracy
must try to avoid. Democracy must make this
government so good, so just, so equitable that
there will bo no room for the man on horse
back." Personally, the great commoner is the clean
est man I have ever known. I have heard him
on maiy occasions both as speaker and as lis
tener. I have heard stories told in his presence
that were more or less "off color." The re
mainder of the crowd may have laughed, but
Mr. Bryan never. He never told a story that
could not have been told in a parlor in the
presence of ladies.
Not long ago Mr. Bryan attended a recep
tion for men only. He told a number of witty
stories and had the crowdfconvulsed. A stranger
appeared In the crowd and entered Into the con
versation and the general give and take of the
occasion. By and by there fell from his Hpa
a coarse remark. Instantly Mr. Bryan's firm
jaw closed like a steel trap and his expressive
eyes snapped fire. The stranger was hustled
out and several apologies were offered Mr.
Bryan for the occurrence. "Never mind me,"
said Mr. Bryan, "the remark did mo no harm;
my concern was for the boy waiting to shako
my hand. It was not the sort of speech for a
boy to hear."
However, there Is not space In this magazlno
to tell anecdotes of this marvelous man. I
must get down to brief and concise reasons why
ho should bo elected. I have begun with his
optimism, his hopefulness, Ills belief in the ulti
mate triumph of the right. I have suggested
his personal purity, his wholesome cleanliness,
hfs high mindedness, his Immaculate ideals.
These ought to recommend him to eery man,
woman and child that believes in the upward
trend, the higher view, the struggle for tho
soul's disenthrallmcnt.
As a thinker, Mr. Bryan stands in the foro
" front of the world's statesmen.' He is tho only
living man who has the ear of every other man.
The legislators of the world love to sit at bis
feet. He talks to them by Invitation, and they
listen because of what he has to say. He
handles no subject which he does not illuminate,
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