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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1922)
."; y . The Commoner JUNE, 1922 11 Dr. Clark's Estimate An annreciation of the man, the orator, the , ifmS the Christian, by Rev. Francis B. 8i,atl nresident of the United Society of Chris gjVdwvor and of the Worlds Christian En deavor Union.) a fuli-orbed man is William Jennings Bryan. Tm doubtful if our country ever possessed a irSt nolitical leader, unless it were Lincoln, Sn had so few weaknesses and so-many ad mirable qualities I am flaking- of character 7. "the boy orator of the Platte' now "the sage S Miami." Even' the great- Washington, ihouKh of late years ho has been made almost a demigod, was by no means the warm, eager' friend of all men, ever pulsating with life and good cheer, that Mr. Bryan' is. But comparisons o.f this, sort are odious. There can be but one Washington, but one Lin coln I doubt if there can be another Bryan. I know that some of my Republican friends, their minds still clouded by the slogans and the prejudices of past campaigns will scoff and jeer at such a classification as'T'have suggested. But, brushing away the clouds 'of political prejudice, consider for a little the jsubect of my sketch from different angles. I cannot be accused of partisanship, for I am, always have been, a Republican (with scratch ing reservations). :i AS A MAN Whatever you think of nis, politics, what flaw can you find in Mr. Bryan's character? He has been in the spotlight longer than any equally prominent man in recent American history. Has any meanness been proved' against him? Thou sands and thousands of people, in and out of his own party, whose political enmity he has in curred or whose shady plans he has exposed, would have been glad to' besmirch him, and have not been able to do so.' Like Samuel Wil berforco, who. when asked T)y an enfant terrible, "Why do they call you .Soapy Sam?" replied, "Because, my dear, I have been in hot water so often and come out clean." Mr. Bryan has been in hot water often enough; but no mud thrown at him has ever struck. His modesty and good nature have always struck me as supremely admirable qualities. He has been abused unmercifully, but he has never been soured by calumny. He has been praised inordinately as the savior of his party and his country, but flattery has never made" him any thing but the simple, kindly, Democratic gentle man that ho is. His sense of humor has never been corroded by failure. He jokes about his defeats for the Presidency, and waxes merry over his "sixteen-to-one" campaign. He is the best loser the country has evpr known, and every one loves a good loser after the dense fumes of political prejudice have blown away. Chief Justice Taft alone of our great men shares this quality with him in its perfection. No, Mr. Bryan's head has never been turned by adulation, or his soul warped by unmerited hatred. His every-day Democratic modesty is shown in many ways. 'I remember when he headed the procession o.f the St. Paul Christian Endeavor Convention in an automobile he in fisted on getting out that an older man might Mae while he walked. And in outlast great gath ering in New York he would have preferred to walk rather than ride, as I 'also would, had it not been that the leading automobile wooild then nave looked strangely untenanted. i recollect, after breakfasting with him and wrs. Bryan at Washington when he was Secre cy of State, I left behind me an old glove of l"le worth. He took pains to send it to me by iue next mail with a kindly note in his own nana, which he is fond of using instead of dic S"nS a letter when writing to his friends. "A mtle thing," do you say? but it is suqh little heart thoughtul kindness that show a big failu 0t5er matters, which many consider venial ,.""'. Mr Bryan shines conspicuously' among "r Public men. attlX? yo,u evor hear a vulgar or shady story "".riDuted to him? .Did you ever hear him in intn a profano word or an irreverent remark nnmS1? of llls speeches, or of his indorsing a luuucal program of doubtful morality? He of L VQ been mistaken in- his political views, DoXr?ei but ovor and over he has risked his litiini future, and wrecked his immediate po in; "y Prospects, by advocating or not advocat leaiW masures for which his party or its the iwai00d Not his significant Silence in A Tn ,Pi;e8lential -campaign. Is un pltfon speaker Mr. Bryan's supremacy "Questioned. Very few of tha great" orators U natlonal hiBtry have reached his heights as. a commander of the multitude. James Otis! RuTus cloT' atrlck Henry, Daniel Webster Tamp, rtt HenJ!7 9lay' Abraham Lincoln James G. Blaine, Woodrow Wilson, have all been men of tremendous oratorical ability; but none of them has surpassed Mr. Bryan's nower to move an audience. Witness his great speech when as a reporter for a daily paper he gained his first nomination to the Presidency, a most surprising result wmcli placed an unknown man, barely beyond the legal Presidential age, at tho head of one of the great political parties, and which almost swept him into the Presidency. His oratorical powers have never waned. His recent speeches at the World's Christian En deavor Convention were as finely phrased, as eloquently delivered, as wittily pointed, as mov ing in their appeal, as any in his long career. Moreover, his speeches read well, a great test of tho true orator. Many a man has stirred the passions of a crowd by his personal magnetism or his vituperative violence (something in which Mr. Bryan never indulges; but, when ycu come to read his speech, it is nothing but troth, "a clanging gong," "a tinkling cymbal," "mere sound and fury, signifying nothing." I have read several of Mr. Bryan's speeches recently. It would-be difficult to find a flaw in his argu ment, if you accept his premises, or a misplaced word in his fluent diction. They all have the supreme virtue of simplicity and lucidity. You know exactly what he means and why he says it. He never utters a turgid sentence, and he never blinks an unpopular truth. The popular estimate of Mr. Bryan's power with an audience is found in the frequently heard expression when other orators are alluded to, ."Mr. So-and-So could hold his own on the platform with Bryan." What other public speak er is unconsciously honored by serving as the standard for popular oratory against all comers? In Vachel Lindsay's poem one can hear the roar of the multitude as they call for "Bryan, Bryan, Bryan, Bryan," and will be satisfied with no one else. His poem refers to ope of Mr. Bryan's early speeches, which he heard In Springfield, Sangamon County, 111., where Lin coln made some of his great speeches. "When Bryan came to Springfield, and Altgeld gave him greeting, Rochester was deserted, Divernon was deserted, Mechanicsburg, Riverton, Chickenbristle, Cotton Hill, Empty; for all Sangamon drove to the meet ing In silver-decked racing-cart, Buggy, buckboard, carryall, Carriage, phaeton, whatever would haul, And silver-decked farm-wagons gritted, banged, and rolled With the new tale of Bryan by the iron tires told." AS A STATESMAN Here very likely some of my friends will dif fer from me in my appraisal. I do not claim that Mr. Bryan is infallible in his judgments. But what statesman is? Who, judged in the licht of after-events, has'made fewer mistakes? He stood for prohibition when it had few friends and a multitude of scoffers. The nation has adopted his views and incorporated them in the Constitution of the United States. He stood for an income-tax and was abused for his views as though he were a highwayman robbing the poor rich people of their money. The income-tax has been adopted by national and state governments. Without it we would never have stood the strain of the world war During his brief term of office as Secretary of State he concluded treaties of peace with thirty nations; treaties which would have pre vented the recent world war, had they been nSvSrsally adopted; treaties that would have Scented th T nations from ever declaring war P r?T ? JnnnthB of delay and investigation had until mo-aths of o:e fflMnceMtoBSove by arbitration the reSWmous'-sixteen-to-one" controversy, TLtZt 7oikjeefLpoTkht- as Washington once wrote opular ineas- self when he undertooK son i m many ure, does not look so crajr , t arG bo twenty-five years ago Some econom ginni if BrVan wafvery far wrong. Many so rawch, It Bryan -wub has sponsored of the policies 8fur0pUTar stage have been jr of h,s old Cl However his political opponents ipay deride him as statesman, as they do overy opponent, I do not believe any ono will over seriously dis pute our claim that he is a Chrlfltion gentleman of the very first order. Consider tho provoca tions which red-hot political campaigns fur nish. Mr. Bryan has a sharp tongue, but he has never used it as a dagger to plunge Into tho heart of his opponents to tho ruin of their ropu- tations. Ho has never chgagod In unseemly broils with words or fisticuffs, as have somo of our politicians. When suffering under tho mis understanding and reproach of tho nation as' in his disagreement with President Wilson In 1915, ho has borne it all in silence without striking back as ho might have done. "' His kindly interest m. every ono who has any claim on his attention fs also a noticeable char-, acteristic. Ho likes mon and women and Iittlo children because they are human, and all arot God's children, a sign that ho is a "great hu man" himself. Consideration, humanity, lack of self-assertion, and genuine brothorlinoss are qualities that: have endeared him to all who know him. Whatever else Mr. Bryan is or is not, ho Is a Christian, first and last and all tho time, week days and Sundays. In many respects he is tho greatest preacher in the country. His sermons are as convincing as they are eloquent, and there are no subjects Into which ho throws him self more whole-heartedly than those which re late to tho religious life, of Jesus Christ and His great salvation. It is a wonderful thing for America that a man as conspicuous In politics should be no loss conspicuous as a Christian. in confirmation of what he considers his greatest mission let mo quote in closing what ho himself says about his chief Interest In life. Tho quotation is from an address on "Tho Bible and Its Enemies." "I make a great many speeches on many different subjects, but there is a same ness about them all. I try to uso different illus trations, and possibly if one has not analysed them ho might think they wer;o quite unlike. I have used this illustration: Every part of tho rim of a wheel is supported by a spoke that leads down to tho hub; the wheel would bo nothing but for the hub. So with my speeches; though they have touched the circumference of the wheel at many points, there has always been a spoke leading down to the hub; and that hub is the creed of Christ. Whether I speak on poll tics, on social questions, or on religion, I find the foundation of my speech in tho philosophy of Him who spake as never man spake; who gave us a philosophy that fits into every human need and furnishes" the solution for every prob lem that can vex a human heart or perplex the' world." PUBLIC SPEAKING To , University of North Carolina,4 Chapel Hill, North Carolina. My dear Sir: An swering your inquiry I beg to say that no ono can select a subject for another unless tho speak er has ample time to prepare himself on tho subject selected. My plan is to find out what the student is interested in and advise him to use the most important of the subjects that are on his heart. It takes longer to get up steam in a man than it does in an engine and steam is as necessary to him as to the engine. Eloquence is tho speech of ono who knows . what he is talking about and means what ho says. Of course you can prepare an essay on most' any subject not so with an oration. You can not feel deeply about trivial things. If you are a student in the university you have doubtless reached an age when there is something which stands out in your thought as tho most import ant thing to be done. It may affect the life of individuals, like religion. It may affect the wel fare of society, or it may pertain to government and national or internatonal policy. Take some thing that you can put your heart into, then prepare yourself. Get all the information that you can. Saturate yourself with a knowledge of the subject, then put it in shape, going iogicalr ly from the fundamental proposition to the vari ous branches of the subject, closing with an ap peal. The important thing Is to have something to say. If you give information and give it in such a way as to make people know that you feel what you say, they will listen and they too will feel, if yoi' are right and the subject is im portant. ' Be careful about your delivery. -Commence In a conversational tone and then you will have room to rise when you want to increase the em phasis. Talk tc tho audience as you. would talk to a group of individuals, increasing the force, not by loudness but by earnestness. Very truly yours, W. J. BRYAN. a ill ""dm ,vj 1 n - i 1 ' .A ii Lf&xl S.