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The Commoner
VOL. 21, NO. fi
8
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It
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Mr. Bryan's Removal
to Florida
M. JHIYAN'S CHANGE OF KEKIDISNCE
A rccont roport ptovcb to be true Mr. Bryan
will cause to be a Nobniskun and become a
Floridian. Tbe rauBon given Mis. Bryan's
health juHtifioB tbe chunpe.
There will bo speculation, however, about
what effect the change will have on Mr. Bryan's
political fortunes. He found his political oppor
tunity in the west, and as a western man he has
run his extraordinary political course.
A Floridian could not have stampeded the
Democratic national convention of 1896 into
making him a candidate for President. It would
have appreciated from him such a fiery appeal
as Mr. Bryan made, but the only thought of the
dologates would have been, "What a pity he
does not hail from a western or an eastern
state!0
Ah Mr. Bryan hailed from a western state
his apjioal swept the convention off its feet.
Nothing stood in the way of his nomination. He
was not handicapped by residence in a section
which practically was under a ban as respected
presidential-nominees.
Doos this change take Mr. Bryan out of all
further calculations about the presidency? Many
will regret, some will rejoice, to feel that it does.
The idea will be that he will share In the handi
cap of his adopted section. No more now than
in 3 89G iB the south the hunting ground of the
political parties for national leaders.
However this may be, the change will not
take Mr. Bryan out of politics. As easily could
a fish live out of water. A born agitator cannot
live in a calm. As long as he keeps his strength
and his speed Mr. Bryan will have his say about
our public affairs, and be at pains to reach his
countrymen with his messages. Washington
Star.
MR. BRYAN OF FLORIDA
It is said that William J. Bryan, "the world's
leading Nebraskan," plans to move to Florida,
become a citizen of that state, and run for United
States senator from there.
You do not have to be a Democrat to feel a
thrill of enthusiasm over this idea. It would cer
tainly be a fine thing to have Bryan in the United
States senate. The senate is the place for such
a man. We all need him there, no matter what
our political creed may be.
Bryan is a great America.., and if he can't go
to the senate from his old state of Nebraska, let
Mahomet go to the mountain, that is, let Bryan
move to a state which will send him. It has
often been remarked that the English custom in
this is superior to the American, as a r.an does
not have to be a resident of t. district in order to
be its representative in parliament. But Bryan
by putting on his old alpaca coat, and packing his
throat lozonges in a gladstone bag, can achieve
the English system by ratting on a train and
working his way to Florida by means of Chau
tauqua lecturing en route.
Let a universal shout go up from Maine to
California: "We want Bryan in the senate. We
don't care what state he comes from, but we
want to hear this grand oil man of American
politics in the senate."
If Bryan were to be returned from Florida he
would undoubtedly do much good in influencing
southern statesmen to a more civilized attitude
toward negroes, too. And the times seem to be
propitious for such work. Just recently the gov
ernor of Georgia addressed a stliring appeal to
the people of Georgia, showing that out of 135
attacks made upon negroes in that state in the
last few eyars, in only two cases was it even al
leged that crimes against white women were in
volved. Bryan might do much to help the governor of
Georgia and other sincere southern reformers if
he were to move to the south and become a sena
tor. Evening News, San Jose, Calif.
MR. BRYAN
Now comes the announcement that William T
Bryan has established permanent residence in
Florida, and that never again will he be listed
as a legal resident in Nebraska. All the old
guard who began following Bryan in the days
before a Democrat had been able to lift his head
any higher than the buffalo grass in Nebraska
will sincerely regret Mr. Bryant change of resi
dence. And yet they see the old Bryan in the
one reason which . be gives "laking the
change. Duty has impelled it duty to his wiie
who for several years has been an invalid, ana
who has been advised that she must never again
attempt a residence in our northern climate. We
who have loved him through the years love him
a,l the more today. Always he has been answer
ing the call of duty, and he quickly answers the
call now, when his physicians tell him that his
invalid wife must remain :n a southern clime.
Nebraska holds much that is dear to the great
commoner. Often he has told me his dream of
spending the evening of his life amid the old
scenes and among the old friends in Nebraska,
but instantly he sacrificed all the beauties of that
dream upon the altar of devotion to that splen
did woman who has shared his triumphs and his
tears during his long and tempestuous public
career. Members of the old guard in Nebraska
have also had a beautiful dream the dream of
a day in which the great commoner should re
turn for permanent residence here in this prairie
commonwealth whose name he has made a
household word in every nation and in every
clime. But now that they kno their dream may
not end in fruition, still in their loyalty and love
they are wishing for their beloved leader and his
faithful wife all of blessing m the flowerland of
Florida; reserving for themselves and holding
fast the memory of that wonderful man who
found Nebraska in the concealed Recesses of po
litical geography, and here launched that splen
did galaxy of humanitarian principles on whose
wings our Nebraska and her Bryan have been
carried as friends and familiars to every earth
zone where love of liberty lives in the hearts of
men, and where personal purity is a shrine at
which good women worship. Edgar Howard, in
Columbus, Neb., Telegram.
SAYS "AU REVOIR" TO THE COMMONER
(Lincoln Star, June 1.)
Senator G. M. Hitchcock's newspaper, the
Omaha World-Herald, publishes a leading edi
torial on the announcement that W. J. Bryan
has transferred his legal and voting residence
from Nebraska to Florida, which has been his
actual residence for some years past. The fact
that Bryan and Hitchcock have been arrayed
against each other as leaders of the rival fac
tions of their party during the last ten years,
though formerly in close and friendly associa
tion with each other, makes the Omaha paper's
parting word to its one-time-editor of special
interest.
Following is the editorial farewell of Hitch
cock's newspaper to Bryan, unde the caption:
"AU REVOIR, MR. BRYAN"
"When an old time neighbor departs for sun
nier climes, whether terrestrial or celestial, we
think not so much of the times we fell out with
him as of the happier days when we were com
rades and friends. This frame of mind seems
to be instinctive. It is indicative of the reassur
ing fact that amity, not discord, peace rather
than strike, is the condition for which the soul
of humanity yearns. We want to like our
neighbor and we want him to like us. When
differences interpose, and a long enduring and
valued cordiality gives way to coldness, and
coldness is followed by harsh words and hard
actions, uphold we ever so lustily our end of the
quarrel, down deep it hurts. If the quondam
friend and later enemy be an upstanding man
of parts, estimable and esteemed, whose broad
smile and genial greeting were once a delight
one wonders that so good a friend could have
become so staunch an enemy, and hopes for
the old days of confident sunshine again.
"It is in this mood, we fancy, that many a
Nebraskan will receive the tidings that William
?,iiBry5l A 'J0 l0nger t0 be even nominally
fellow NebAskan. The World-Herald feels that
77?i- He was once ed tor of
the World-Herald. He went as its reporter to
he Republican national convention in the year
J the Dmocratic national mention flrrt nom
inated him for president. More than thirTv
years ago the World-Herald enrolled itself
his friend, and helped fight his battles ?n his
successive campaigns for congress for SL
and for the presidency. Twice when J! P
defeated for the latterxattS I office trill
?earhsTf 0 sied
"It has been easy to be proud of Mr Brvan
hard to be obliged to accept and deaf with him
as an implacable and tireless foeman He hS
shed honor and renown upon his adopted state
He has been a wonderful fighter for il Ta
and policies to which he wfSgJfc g,
has admired and respected him even though
for the most part it has refused to follow his
leadership, much less accept his dictatorship He
has had few equals as a popular orator, and none
as a gladiator in the rough and tumble of con
vention debate. No one who saw him in action
at Baltimore, as he was administering the coup
de grace to honest old Champ Clark, will ever
forget the spectacle. In the political history of
the last quarter century he has played always
a prominent part, and by his activities, success
ful, has left his imprint on his generation
"With Mr. Bryan's departure, Nebraska loses
its most eminent citizen. It present anguish
is tempered by the fact that it lost him eight
years ago when he went to establish his resi
dence in Miami, Florida, retaining only a citi
zenship for voting and fighting purposes in this
state. There has been some gossip in the public
prints to the effect that the near future may find
him an aspirant for high political honors in the
commonwealth that is now his home. However
that be, Nebraskans will join in wishing him
well. They will hope and expect to see him
from time to time, as he journeys back to the
old home to keep the boys in order or
know the reason why. But there are thousands,
we suspect, of the greying generation who wili
delight to think of and rememler him. not as
the Bryan of Baltimore, or of the Wilson cabinet.
or of the trying war days, but as the Bryan of the
nineteenth century, with raven locks, frame of
oak, clarion voice, the shining face of an arch
angel when his hopes were high and his ambi
tion pierced the heavens. If his age be honor
able, his youth was glorious. It is as "the
young Nebraska lion" of the old campaign song
he presents an unforgettable picture."
JUST COULDN'T RESIST IT
Welcome, Citizen William Jennings Bryan'
The famous Commoner announces to the world
that his legal residence is Florida.
Which means Miami.
He had done everything -except this.
Mr. Bryan and his family have been spending
the greater portion of their time at their home
in Ivliami. His address six months in the year
has been here. He .transferred his church mem
bership to th Presbyterian chuTCh of Miami last
winter.
And now he will vote in Miami.
One more citizen who knows politics and who
will vote right.
He says' the change was made on account of
his wife; not the first famous person who is
recorded as having said "The woman, she did
it." But Mr. and Mrs. Bryan occupy "Villa
Serena" and not "The Garden of Eden," which
spoils the analogy.
Miami welcomes citizenship of this character.
It is a constructive citizenship the kind that
helps to lift to higher ideals and if Mr. Bryan
is a beneficir.ry in this latest move in his remark
able career, Miami, is doubly to be congratulated.
Miami, Florida, Metropolis.
BRYAN AT LARGE
Mr. Bryan's technical change of residence ans
wers a question which Nebraska people are askpd
wherever they go. Is Bryan going to run for
president again?
He is not. No major party within Mr. Bryan's
span of years will seriously consider a Flonda
man for president. Mr. Bryan is now a Florida
citizen. He becomes such knowing that the
change puts the presidency out of reach even
were there a chance that otherwise it might come
within reach. Florida may send him to national
conventions as Nebraska has done. It, might
conceivably send him to the senate, as Nebraska
has never done. But the time to nominate and
elect a southern president is yet considerably
in the future.. In view of the present extraor
dinary paucity of vital figures in the Democratic
party, it was not impossible thrt Brayn of Ne
braska might have come into vogue again by
ij4 or 1930. There is no such possibility for
Bryan of Florida. Mr. Bryan has wiped out any
aream of the presidency which may have re
mained to him.
Sentimentally, Nebraska cannot but regret the
loss of its title to Mr. Bryan. Nebraska hasn't
oeen a Bryan province much of the time. It has
been stubborn in -taking its own views of politi
cal matters despite the presence of his strong
personality. Bryan lias suffered particularly the
1 n.s his own party. His hardest fights, be
ginning with his' youthful wars with the Morton
element of his party, have been inside Nebraska.
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