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The Commoner
VOLUME 9, NUMBER 4'
6
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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
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-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:
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