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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 1909)
fPMMn jMWiw mmnwwwwi r The Commoner VOLUME 9, NUMBER 4' 6 -'rl'W' Itf I The Commoner. ISSUED WEEKLY. William J. IlnvAN Kdltorniid J'ropilctor. ItlCIIAIll) I Mktcai.kk Aff clnto Kditor. ClIAIlLKH W. NllYAN Puhllntter. Kdltorlnl Nooinfi and Iluslncsi Ofllco IU-M0 South 12th Btrcct XiitFiril nt Hip J'ofitcfllcc nt Lincoln, Kcb., nn bccoih1c1ms mnltor Olio Ynr ftl.OO feJx Aloutlm OO Ji Clthf ol Five or more JcrYcar ... .7ti . 58Bo . 5a Tlireo Montliii- -BliiRlo Copy - - - Eaniplr Copies Free. Foreign l'ostnKo62 Cents Kxtr. SIJHSCHII'TIONS can bo Bont direct to Tho Com moner. They can also bo sent through nowapapoiii which havo advertised a clubbing rate, or tnrougn local a&ontfl, whero BUb-aBonts havo been &PP0""" cd. All remittances should bo sent by postofflco monoy order, express order, or by bank af"" ," New York or Chicago. Do not send individual check, stamps or money. 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ADVERTISING Ratos furnished upon. -application. -Address nil communications to -THE. COMMONER, -Lincoln, Neb. - Next Ibbug Tho Commoner's educational series will deal with, the initiative and referendum. Representative Willett made the mistake of saying it in congross instead of to congress. However, California may continue to enact a fow laws without first securing presidential consont. Of course there are thoso in the south who are hopoful that Mr. Taft will return pie for 'possum. 'Possum as a' steady diet has its drawbacks, but with political pie for dessert a lot of people aro willing to endure it. Thoso convicted labor leaders are talking like men who can see no dlsgraco in going to jail under cortain conditions. Perhaps tho house clearly saw the impossi bility of meeting tho president on his own ground of invoctlvo and denunciation. Tho papers claiming that Mr. Taft will carry out tho Roosovelt policies are careful not to pledgo him to carry out the Roosevelt language. Wo will not believe that the limit of eques trainism has boon reached until the president rides his favorite saddlehorso up Washington monument. b Having allowed Mr. Willett to say all he want ed to say tho houso promptly ordered him to take his seat. Congressional dignity must bo pre served at all hazards. It has boon only seventeen years since Home stead and it may be possible that there aro some yet nlivo who were closely connectod with that affair and who aro sadly in need of a pension. Wireless Operator Binns of the steamer Re public does not belong to tho "has" class, al though tho passongors on that ill-fated stoan or aro to bo congratulated upon the fact that they Tho Omaha Bee is objecting to the establish mont-of school' of political economy T the Nebraska state unlveVsity. The Omaha Bee is the republican organ that sovorelv dMihi,ni a plank in the republican nationa? frattSSn un der Aha mistaken idea .that the. plank .denoinini was. a sentence taken from one .of M? SS campaign speeches. , u,ans CAMPAIGNING WITH BRYAN (Robert P. Rose in "The Shorthand Writer") Have you ever experienced tho sensation of having a twenty-two story brick houso tumblo on you ono brick at a time? Or do you know how it feels to bo the recipient of the kicks, jabs and hugs of a thousand football teams, each member of which is intent on doing you tho greatest bodily injury he possibly can? Didn't happen to get in the way of two or threo of tho automobiles competing in tho Vanderbilt cup race, did you? Never had any of these little things happen to you? Well, tho effect of such trifles would be meager in comparison with what election day did to yours truly. Even the violent shak ing up which Major Dickinson, the New York Herald correspondent, received when he at tempted to ride the democratic trick mule was but a poor, trifling .thing when you consider the jolt my poor feelings received when the election returns came in to Fairview on election night. And it wasn't all in one big lump, but the torture was a long drawn out affair, and it came all the way from Maine to California. All of which must be a great surprise to my readers, for the tenor of my articles published during tho campaign of course did not show my political leanings or the love in which I held the nominee of the democratic party. But truth will out, and I now confess that I am a demo crat and that I regarded the man whom I served as private secretary with something a great deal more than esteem, and even to election day, shared with him the belief that he would be successful. Nor was I alone in my size-up of. the situation, nor in the regard in which I held Mr. Bryan. Thejiewspaper correspondents those xough and ready fellows who have re ported everything Irani a .national legislature to friendly set-tos between JRussia .and Japan, and nvho -are .-case-JraTdened and as -phlegmatic as wooden Indians also showed real grief when it was seen that the tide was flowing in the opposite .direction. Jn fact, one of them stayed in his room in the hotel all day Wednesday after tho election, refusing to meet any of his friends, and at night when we met him his eyes were swollen with constant weeping. It was a sorrowful bunch, and verily do I believe that very little provocation would have resulted in murder most foul, for when one's feelings are shattered, one can not withstand the temptation to take summary vengeance on another who twits him because of defeat, even in the smallest degree. And how did the ono most interested take his defeat? Much easier than did any of us. At 3 0 o clock election night he retired and slept as peacefully as a babe. He consoled each of us and, from all appearances, we were the losers and not Mr Bryan. True, he lost the presi dencythe highest offlce within the gift of anv people But from his demeanor, one would ave thought he was the least concerned To hose who know Mr. Bryan intimately and who havo had an opportunity to study him at close range, the reason for his apparent lack of dis appoin tment was obvious, but it would be hard nmieXiPlniln ?, i1G wuo ls accustomed to meet and deal with the average politician, with Ms 1 etty meannesses and his hopes centered on self n hteh omS.Difiib,e f,r any an to los? such a high offlce with no visible sign of resret In Ji;ge' iU W.hic,h thG Psuit of the llmighty indeed harTtn b .the ne consideration ft is indeed hard to imagine a man who regards surh an honor but an opportunity to do goZ 1 to his fellow man, and who, when such oppor uVity is taken from him, looks about him for othe? opportunities to improve. But those who have been near Mr. Bryan know that the offlce of president was attractive to him only becanse wS?1? einilarg his 0Prtunities to be o! benefit to his countrymen. When this is real teedif it can be realized it is easy to under stand why one can see the honor go to alothov with more composure than he would if h vZZ only interested in it because "of Tersl I? ?Sr ?' nThSe ,who have not metPsuchnmenw ffl scoff at this explanation, but we who know him are aware of its truth. nlm We got the returns early at Fairview On the broad enclosed porch there were ?Jx tS. 'leSAsSoc7atednpT 22. StVS, bf the returns began to comet" At first Sev .wore .favorable, .and- a comparison of returns from Pennsylvania with those of former von -gave .us .all Jiope,and .confidence that Mr Byan was elected. The first disquieting news came from Massachusetts, in which two precincts were reported where Mr. Taft had made ma terial gains. Then came other telegrams which changed the air of confidence to doubt, and when reports from New York City came, doubt gave way to despair. On the porch were as sembled many of the neighbors, as well as the newspaper men. I retired to the library with Mr. Bryan, the most important telegrams being sent to us. Shortly before 10 o'clock Mr. Bryan announced his intention of retiring, but the rest of ub ptayed, hoping against hope that later returns would show material gains and disprove the trend which the earlier ones indi cated. At midnight we left, a whipped, disap pointed crowd. And, with the telegram of con gratulations sent by Mr. Bryan to Mr. Taft, and the reply of the successful candidate, the cam paign came to a close. Looking back over the last few weeks of active campaigning, it seems but a phantasmagoria' in which I was but an automaton. It had gotten to be an old story with us, and the work of the campaign had told on us physically. While I know that the work did not compare in volume with that in the 1896 campaign, when each and every speech had to be reported in full and transcribed, there was a difference of twelve years, and work which I did then would have been a physical impossibility during the last campaign. It is said that one could become accustomed to hanging. I know that one can become accustomed to fighting crowds from early morning until after midnight, writing shorthand ,un.der difficulties, and .transcribing 4notes on trains running at. a milea minute. ?befre Wal,lh! .?ame W local committee to .contend with daijyj .the .same .big crowds that at every station, with the .same, .demands that ZL if?1 Speak from a Porm erected at some distance from the train, even though the atop was but five minutes. When the large? -cities were reached, .there was the usual big bunch of mail to be opened, the more import tant being referred to Mr. Bryan, and the rest- ' vbn a?swered as hi? secretary The ?or nd WT f' and today Jb impossible SETS ecaS3rtafl" and el of the candidate. Tmifni day ahead to Vend to ThaVw Tr ft a nographer after stenographer was exlmiiipfi' and a good week's salary was amnfr f ed' ceived an answer. Thev rinSS f ? d, le" ging letter of some poor mendfean? bT pages from some patriot 22' twenty method for saving thfcoryVom dSuC SngTK gestions in regard ?o Xes ot arSenf VoT pursued, articles on tho enmnlS e?f ,to be writers desired published-J? SF Which tlle one could imagine and 1 tiw ' evervtlling them had followed u"s abou? tSfnn S.me of were a month old whil nfhi country and in the hotel lobbj with ?f JT h,anded me that it should do opened bv 8'c ,niunotlon sonally, and by no 'one el?n n ryan per" me that there was , i e man told letters addressed "to Mr. Bryfn "hi, Pe?Ing ging letter. All these vZnLS a be&- theeatfr S ZT ideal S if I!gn New -York state? however Mr SOme places n air speeches In pouX? VaSa ?w mae open found local committeemen SL DCe Gr twice I an umbrella whffe I reported ?h??nSh,to hold' at times did not h , . sPeeces, but the ink from my Sen i rotect1ion- Then notebook, and the 5fr ri!n a11 over the decipher.' A? nearly0 every 'nlac1?' hard to wordy war with some of ?h? 1there was a vJshed to occupy BefB M 5Cals' ,men wh' WIe. forgetting that ft 5Pyan 8 automo to be with him everv nlfneessary for m"e .aass 3Sa&s.s: c , v I - CJ- LI "niw ihiiiii V'"- ---?- o. 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