His Birth , His Credit
Boyhood able Career
a > nd First In Congress
Yea.rs In
wlrk
Law and In
Politics . * . Journalism
His Birthplace. Salem. HI.
By ROBERTUS LOVE.
[ Copj-right. 190S , by Robertus Love. ]
E has spoken face to face be
yond all question to more
hearers thau has any ottter
man in the world's history , "
says one who traveled with William
Jennings Bryan during the presiden
tial campaigns of 1SDO and 1000. and
there is no doubt as to the truth of the
statement
The purpose of this article in briefly
to sketch the life of Mr. Bryan up to
the age of thirty-six , when he wtv. *
nominated by the Democratic party fo :
the presidency of the United States. It
Is a life possible only to American pol
itics , and. whether or not Mr. Bryan
shall reach the presidency , it is au interesting -
teresting chapter in United States po
litical history.
The town of Salem , 111. , is the birth
place of Bryan. Judge Silas L. Bryan ,
a substantial , intellectual settler from
Virginia , was his father. Maria E15a- : j
beth Jennings was his mother's maiden
name. The child was born March 19.
18GO. Judge Bryan lived on a farm
near the edge of town. He had nine
children , of whom William Jennings
is the fourth. The boy grew up out
doors , drinking the daily medicine of
sunshine and the open air. His phys
ical constitution , a marvel of robust
ness and energy , came by Inheritance
I
the party leaders offered him the nom
ination for the lieutenant governorship
of Nebraska. He declined' the offer ,
but made a stumping campaign for the
ticket throughout the state.
The next year , 1S90 , the young De
mocracy thrust upon the young De
mosthenes from Illinois the nomination
for congressman from the First dis
trict J. Sterling Morton , who in his
time was father of Arbor day a d a
member of President Cleveland's cab
inet , had been defeated in the race for
congress from that district in 18SS by '
a Republican majority of more than
o.OOO votes. Scarcely anybody expected - !
ed young Br3an to win. He was not ,
so very sanguine himself , but he made
an oratorical campaign and defeated i
Congressman Conuell by nearly 7,000
votes. In Omaha , where Council lived.
Bryan was sneered at as "that Lincoln !
boy. " It was the reaction against the
new McKinley tariff that elected Bry
an that and the silver tongue of the
Lincolnr ad.
So at thirty Bryan was chosen to the
national house of representatives. He
j delivered his first speech in the house
1 the 12th of March , 1S92 , on the subject
of free wool. Senator Burrows of
Michigan , temporary chairman of this
year's Republican national convention ,
declared that it was the best speech on
the tariff he ever had heard. News-
WILLIAM J. BRYAN , FROM HIS LATEST PHOTOGRAPH.
and was nurtured by wholesomeami
healthful environment in boyhotvl
Bryan attended the public schools in
Salem until he was fifteen , when IK'
entered Whipple academy at Jackson
ville , 111. Two years later he matricu
lated in Illinois college , in the same
clt3r , from which institution he was
graduated with honors at the age of
twenty-one. During his college course
his oratorical abilities made him prom
inent in middle western collegiate life
lie wou the honor of representing his
school in the state contest of college
orators. He won that contest "and rep
resented Illinois In 1SS1 at the inter
state oratorical contest , held at Gales-
burg. 111. , where he achieved second
honors. He was class orator at gradu
ation.
Jacksonville has a female seminary
In that school Miss Mary E. Baird was j
a student while'young Bryan was in J
Illinois college. She was from Perry.
111. , and was of excellent family and
an ambitious student. A bright young
man and a bright young woman at
tending college in the same town some
times emphasize the aphorism that like
attracts like. Perhaps th t explains j
why Bryan , after attending the Union J
Law college in Chicago and reading i
law at the same lime in the ofnce of !
Judge Lyuian Truinbull. tha celebrated
associate of Abraham Lincoln , returned - j
turned to Jack : onville to begin the j
practice of hi.piv.'ession. . P.ryan and j
Miss Baird were married shortly after j
his return. Mrs. Bryan studied law in j
order to assist her husband in his proj j
fesslonal work. After the Bryans re
moved to Lincoln. Neb. , in 18S7 Mrs.
Bryan was admitted to the bar. Mr.
P.ryan became junior partner in the j
"
law firm of Taibot & Bryan. He believed - j
lieved there was more opportunity for i
a rising young lawyer in a new state i
rt belief assuredly well grounded in his !
own case.
Bryan plunged into politics in the
spring of ISf'S. nud that became hs life
vocation instead of the law. lie was
elected a delegate to the Democratic
state convention at Omaha , where he
made a "speech strongly advocating
free trade : also ! : m : ' < ' a rcputtlou :
ns a speaker. lie w ; only twenry-
eijht years old , y t the - . t-ry next year
apers of all political persuasions call
ed it a masterpiece. The chairman of
the ways and means committee wa
William M. Springer of Illinois. Spring
er was so delighted with Bryan's free
wool talk that he procured the appoint
ment of the young Nebraska n on his
committee. Old gray beards have sat in
the house for a generation without
achieving that coveted honor. Here
was a youngster member so honored in
his first term. And when Bryan was-
returned to congress for a second tcr.u
he was continued ou that most impor
tant committee.
In the interim the Nebraska district-
had been reapportioned so that Omaha
was eliminated from the First tlistrk- !
The district in its new shape was con
ceded to be Republican by about y.HOU
Judge Allen. W. Field of Lincoln. on <
of the ablest and most popular IJepub
licans in the state , was nominated to
run against Bryan. lie resigned from
the bench , so sanguine of success wa- ;
he , but Bryan beat him by 1-10 votes.
When President Cleveland called an
extra session of congress in the sum
mer of 18513 to push through the repeal
of the Sherman silver bullion purchas
ing act of ISiX ) , the Democratic presi
dent of the old school unwittingly gave
to the man of destiny In the new school
of Democracy au altitudinous stepping
stone toward the presidency. Bryan of
Nebraska , aged thirty-three , delivered
In the house ou the 10th of August a
speech against the repeal of the pur
chasing clause of the Sherman act.
The whole house and most of the sen
ate heard It. When Bryan ceased
ppdaking he was picked up by enemies
and friends alike and borne around the
hall on the shoulders of enthusiasts
who liked a ripping Tine oration when
they heard it regardless as to whether
It suited their politics. Nobody dis
puted that it was the greatest speech
of the extra session. . '
Bryan declined a renominatiou for
congress lu 1S04 and became editor of
the Omaha World-Herald. He'wanted , '
to go to the "United States senate. The
World-Herald business office made a
contract run daily on the editorial
page two columns .of "stuff , " liaid for
by Republicans , which was inimical to
Bryan's prospects. Bryan resigned the
,1
editorship after a fierce legal fight
ngalnst the advertising contract. He
was nominated for the senate by the
| unanimous vote of the state conven
tion , despite the fact that many of
i them disagreed with him ou the silver
coinage issue. With John M. Thurs-
ton , tbe leading Republican candidate
i for the senate , Bryan engaged in two
' joint debates , having challenged Thurs-
i ( on. The forensic- duels took place in
Lincoln and Omaha. The tariff was
( lie sole topic of discussion. P.ryan
I defended the Wilson tariff , which as a
member of the ways and means com
mittee he had helped to create. At
Lincoln the enthusiasm was such that
Bryan was carried from the platform
outside and down into the street , where
howling mobs of "overllow" admirers
awaited him. Thurston was elected by
LVo , X
3IKS. ILLIAII H. I/EAVTTT.
the legislature. Mr. Bryan remained a
private -citizen. lie had challenged
William McKinley also to a joint de
bate on the tariff , but tiie Ohio tariff
builder declined. Mr. McXiuley was
destined to meet the Nebraskan in a
broader contest a little later.
In the meantime Mr. Bryan was
happy at home with his little family ,
the helpful wife and three children.
The children now are grown up. Ruth
is Mrs. William II. Leavitt and has
made her father a grandfather. Wil
liam junior is eighteen , and Miss Grace
is a budding belle of seventeen years.
Young Mrs. Loavitt herselfis some
thing of a politician. She has been
elected a delegate to the Democratic
state convention in Colorado , her home
being in Denver. Young William is a
student in the Nebraska State univer
sity at Lincoln. Miss Grace , who in
the event of her father's election to
the presidency will become "the young
lady of the White House , " is at home
with her estimable mother on the
Bryan farm near Lincoln , known as
"Fairview , " where the head of the
family some years ago built a hand
some residence. Prior to that the fam
ily had occupied a modest cottage in
Lincoln , where Mr. Bryan returned to
his law practice after his unsuccessful
campaign for thu senator-ship.
When in 1S9G the lie-publican conveu-
tiou which nominated McKinley for
president met in St. Louis. William J.
Bryan held no' office whatever. He
still had a connection with the Omaha
paper , and he went to St. Louis as a
press correspondent. At the Planters
hotel the clerk looked over the plainly
garbed young man who signed "W. J.
Bryan" on the register and made him
pay in advance. The clerk put Bryan
in a room with seven Kepnbli.-aus. Un
der date of June i ; > a correspondent of
the New York Tribune sent to his pa
per from St. Louis this highly inter
esting paragraph :
Ex-Conjrro.ssinan William J. Bryan , the
loader of the free silver wing of the Ne
braska Democracy , was one of yester
day's arrivals. The appearance of Mr.
Bryan in a hotel corridor in consultation
with several Republicans from free silver
states of the far west excited much com
ment. In response to a question concern
ing his mission Mr. Bryan remarked. " 1
have nothing to say now except that
these gentlemen and I will be found next
November voting the same ticket. "
Senator Henry M. Teller of Colorado
and others wore the free silver Ke-
publican leaders indicated by the Trib
une correspondent. It was an. accurate
arrss GP.ACE BP.TAX.
prediction by Mr. Bryan that they
would be voting the same ticket with
him in November , for they walked out
of the Republican national convention
when the gold standard platform was
adopted and aligned themselves with
the free silver Democracy.
But neither the New York corre
spondent nor the free silver seceders
nor the Nebraska correspondent and
free silver loader himself could fore
tell that the seceders would vote for
William Jennings Bryan : is the presi
dential candidate on the ticket which
ivas to be nominated at Chicago a few
( reeks later.
"Cross of Gold His Renomina-
and Crown of nation In 1900.
Thorns"--Kow The Dominant
a Wonderful Spirit of the
Speech Won a Democracy For
Presidential Twelve Years.
Nomination . ' . Bryan In 1908
Mrs. William J. Bryan.
By ROBER.TU5 LOVE.
[ Copyright. 1COS. by Robertus I.ove.J
'HEN the Democratic national
convention met at Chicago in
1SOG one of the4 delegates
from Nebraska was William
Jennings Bryan , a young man of thir
ty-six , a private citizen of the city of
Lincoln. His prior political career
comprised two terms in congress , lie
had been his party nominee for a Unit
ed States senatorship in a Republican
legislature.
The national Democracy had broken
away from Grovcr Cleveland , whom it
had elected president twice and who
was then in office. The split was on
the money question. Cleveland had
called a special session of congress to
repeal the silver bullion purchasing
act. The mass of the party stood for
the free cojnago of silver , chiefly at
the ratio of 10 to 1. The Cleveland
wing stood for the single gold stand-
J. BRYAN IN 1SDG. j
"You shall not press down upon the
brow of labor this crown of thorns. You
shall not crucify mankind upon a cross
of gold. "
ard. The mighty chasm widened at
the convention. Congressman Richard
P. Bland of Missouri. "Silver Dick. "
the old war horse of the fiee silver
coinage movemen , was the logical aiul ;
apparently the inevitable candidate for
j
the presidency. His nomination seemed - j
ed to be a certainty until a thing happened -
pened hitherto unprecedented in Amer- j
lean politics.
Bryan of Nebraska , known as "thu
silver tongned orator" and "the hey !
orator of the Platte. " mounted the platform - j
form and delivered a brief but bold j
and masterful speech. II is vibrant j
voice rang out over the heads of the
15.000 persons in the vast hall , pene
trating with clarion intonation to the
farthest corners. The customary "I > -
roar of a .great political con vent ion ,
which the strongest of oratorical lungs ,
as a -ile. ; cannot que'l entirely , was
hushed into unbreathing awe. No such
*
eloquence ever before had been heard
in a national convention. The man
and the occasion had met. and the man
had mastered the occasion. The ad
dress was an impassioned appeal for
bimetallism and an exalted glorifica
tion of the new Democratic ( jnanciai
doctrine. When the orator closet ! with
his epoch making metaphor of "the
cross of gold and crown of thorns"
the cMithusiastic approbation of his
sentiments and of the man himself
was.indicated by a whirlwind of ap
plause beyond description.
And William Jennings Bryan was
nominated for the presidency of the
United States.
Flashed to the remotest reaches of
the nation , the news was the most son-
saliona-1 political titbit that ever toolc
the wires. Bryan was but one year
above the minimum age required by
the constitution of the United States
for a president While some of his
speeches in congress a few years be
fore had given him a momentary repu
tation , he was practically unknown to
the nation at large , and particularly
so to the great eastern section of the
country. Never before had a great
party nominated for president a man
living west of the Mississippi river.
Never before had so young a man
been nominated. Never before had an
orator won the great prize by a single
speech. Democrats. Republicans. Pop
ulists , everybody wondered how the
newcomer would conduct himself iu
the campaign.
Presently the wonder turned to
ama7.er.HMit Young Mr. Bryan was a
campaigner there was no doubt as to
that He injected into American poli
tics a presidential campaign such as
the nation never knew before. Men
called it a whirlwind campaign , and
such It was. The whirlwind road was
the railroad , and it carried the candi
date up and down and across the land
upon au amazing schedule of traveling
and talking. Mr. Bryan traveled ip
that campaign more than IS.UOu miles
and delivered considerably more thai )
2,000 speeches. lie made forty-nine
speeches In one day In New York
state. Thirty-five addresses , short and
long , were delivered by him oil several
days , while it was an ordinary thing
for him to address twenty crowds at
twenty different towns iu twenty
hours. The candidate showed a phy
sique and a voice that stood the tre-
( nicndous strain with marvelous endur
ance. As the campaign progressed and
the fame of P.ryan spread people got
to sitting up all night and traveling
many miles just to hear the phenome
non speak.
Bryan's first appearance in the east
was on the 12th of August , when he
delivered his speech of acceptance of
the nomination. Madison Square Gar
den was packed with a suffocating
mass of men and women , though it
was one of the hottest days ever known
in New York and a dozen persons had
died from sunstroke during' the day.
j Bryan read that speech from manu
script , a disappointing thing , for it de
tracted greatly from his eloquence.
But the candidate was Avell aware that
great issues hinged upon his utterances
j on that important occasion , and he did
not care to trust himself to the un
curbed enthusiasm of the moment.
With Arthur Sewall of Maine , the
vice presidential candidate , Bryan went
down to defeat at the November elec
tion , though he had been nominated
also by the Populist party , with
Thomas E. Watson , of Georgia as the
vice presidential candidate on that
ticket. McKinley and llobart went
into oillce. and there were those who
predicted that Bryan was forever elim
inated from the Democracy.
JPour years later at the Democratic
national convention in Kansas City
Mr. Bryan was renominated by accla
mation. There was absolutely no other
candidate suggested for the nomina
tion. For vice president Adlai E. Ste
venson of Bloomington. 111. , who had
been vice president during Cleveland's
second term , was named. The war j
with Spain and our consequent acquisi-1
tion of the Philippine Islands had
brought new issues into politics , but
the silver plank was reinserted into
the Democratic platform. Mr. Bryan
declining to stand for the nomination
without it. It was expressly declared
_ j fc _ i - M.
. - - - _ _
f _ -ml r- --T
Again.thereat cast lag'.ie.i .l
candidate tv..i
smashed the western
aomoiiiac denunciation , thou-.i umj
> < lafce Incrcaso
ery
time there was a
In personal respect for Mr. Brynn. lie
had proved himself to be by n . means
the amir Uistlc rev-
the wild visionary ,
Dlutionist. the dangerous fanatic , which
the opposition in his own party had
pictured him as betas In JS9C. when
lie Democracy split open and the less
er section thereof nominated a "gold
Democratic" ticket , with General John
M. Palmer of Illinois and General Si
mon B. P.uckner of Kentucky as the
standard bearers , thus contributing to
Bryan's defeat In the first campaign.
In" the campaign of 1000 the Demo
cratic seceders simply voted the McKinley -
Kinley and Roosevelt Republican tick-
NEW PICTURE OF MR. AND MRS. BRYAN.
in the platform , however , that imperial
ism was the paramount issue of the
campaign. The Democracy opposed the
forcible subjugation of the Filipinos
and the control of the archipelago in
the colonial style of the British empire.
Mr. Bryan made another whirlwind
campaign , even breaking his own rec
ord for traveling and speechmaking.
I pk s i
!
IAM j. EIYAT , JR.
3e was fortj * years of age and in the
iill flush of magnificent manhood.
During the four years since 4SOU he
lad done much political speaking and
vriting.he had lectured many times
n other topics , he had traveled abroad
; nd studied other governments and
ouditions of people ; also he had be-
onie Colonel Bryan , havinrj gone to
amp during the Spanish war as cole
icl of a Nebraska regiment
Sin. BKYAN Ef THE 1900 CAHTAIGJT.
et A second time Bryan went down
to defeat , but gracefully and with
good cheer.
lie was at his home In Lincoln on.
election day. ate an early dinner , went
upstairs at about G o'clock and slept
soundly until 11 , when he came down
and discovered that he was badly
beaten. He smiled to the assembled
reporters , returned to his bed and slept
soundly until morning. It was' said
by those present that he evinced not
the slightest sign of disappointment
Mr. Bryan did not seek the nomina
tion In 1904. He was quite willing for
the disaffected wing of the Democracy
to name the ticket just to see If that
element could do better than the other.
He attended the convention In St.
Louis as a delegate , made an amazing
fight for a platform upon which he and
his supporters could stand and won the
fight by sheer force of brain and
brawn. He arose from his bed on the
early morniug of the last day of the
convention , though threatened with
pneumonia , and just as the dawn was
breaking over the city he delivered
in that convention to the vast throng
which had waited and sweated and
fretted all uight long just to hear him
a speech which for pathos and power
and thrill no inveterate convention fol
lower ever heard equaled. The Demo
cratic ticket. Judge Alton B. Parker
i 1 of New York and ex-Senator Henry G.
Davis of West Virginia , was defeated
in November inexpressibly worse than
was Bryan hi either of his campaigns.
The discovery of vast deposits of
gold in Alaska and elsewhere since the
free silver campaigns has eliminated
the money issue from politics. Mr.
Bryan has accepted this fact and now
stands upon other Democratic Issues.
Despite all opposition , he has domi
nated the national Democracy for
twelve years. For several years past
he has given expression to his views
in the weekly journal , the Commoner ,
which he established at Lincoln. He
has removed to a fi e farm near Lin
coln , built a commodious residence and
become known throughout the world
as the "great American commoner. "
titular successor to Henry Clay. He
has traveled around the world and
written his impressions for a syndicate
i f American newspapers. He has been
for years the most popular and highest
paid lecturer on the American lyceum
and Chautauqua circuits. U Is said
that his income from lecturing alone
is as much as $30,000 a year , the presi
dent's salary.
Mr. Bryan is a total abstainer from
alcohol and tobacco. He is a member
of the Presbyterian
church
and never
works on Sunday , save to deliver
i\ re
ligious address now and then. Hla *
ideal is morality , personal , political
and civic. The Bryan of 1QOS looks
older than the Bryan of 1890 , but he lane
no less vigorous and
virile than ho was
when his voice flashed across the con
tinent from the Chicago convention hall.
