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I?-?-0"?0?0"*-?">?-e"0"*-?,*0?0#'0-*-C'?'C I The Early Lif ? icickick*66*6 <> foMca ite^znz*** Hi* Blr1h| ^ i?Q*o*o*o^o*040*{KP40*^m By RODBRTUS LOVE. [Copyright, 1903, by RobortuB Ixjvo.J 'WW ES has spolceu face to faco to F1 I yond nil question to ino ^ J[ hejirers than hus any oth man In the world's history L says one who traveled with WlUia & Jennings Bryan during tho preside ? tlnl campaigns of 189G and 1900, ai there Is no doubt as to the truth of tl statement. The purpose of this article Is brlel to sketch the life of Mr. Bryan up the age of thirty-six, when ho w nominated by the Democratic party f the presidency of the United States. Is a life possible only to American pi I1 ltlcs, rind, whether or not Mr. Bryi Khali reach the presidency, It Is an 1 foresting chapter In United States p lltlciil history. The town of Salem, 111., Is the blrt place of Bryan. Judge Silas L. Brya (a substantial, Intellectual settler fro Vlrglula, was his father. Maria Kllz beth Jennings was his mother's maldt name. The child was born March 1 1800. Judge Bryan lived on a far ^ near the edge of towu. He had nli children, of whom William Jcnninj is the fourth. The boy grew up ou doors, drinking the dally medicine < sunshine nnd tho open air. Ills phy ical constitution, a marvel of robus ness and energy, came by inherltan !> WILLIAM J. BRYAN, FRO and was nurtured by wholesome a healthful environment in boyhot Bryan attended the public schools Salem until he was fifteen, when entered Whipple academy at. Jacks< vllle, 111. Two years later ho matrl< lated In Illinois college, In tho sai city, from which Institution ho w graduated with honors at tho ago twenty-one. During his college coui his oratorical abilities made him pro lnent in middle western collegiate 11 lie won the honor of representing 1 school In tho state contest of colic orators. lie won that contcst and r< resented Illinois In 1881 at tho lnt state oratorical contest, held at Gal burg, 111., where he uchieved seco honors. lie was class orator at grat atlon. Jacksonville has a female semlna In that school Miss Mary 13. Balrd v a student while young Bryan was Illinois college. She was from Per 111., and was ol' excellent family a an ambitious student. A blight you man and a bright young woman tending college In the same town son times emphasize tho aphorism that II attracts like. Perhaps, that oxplal why Bryan, after attending the Uni Law college in Chicago and read! law at the same time in the oillco Judge Lyman Trumbull, the colebral associate of Abraham Lincoln, turned to Jacksonville to begin t practice of his profession. Bryan a Miss Balrd were married shortly afi his return. Mrs. Bryan studied law order to assist her husband In his p fesslonal work. After tho Bryans moved to Lincoln, Neb., in 1887 M Bryan was admitted to the bar. A Bryan becamo junior partner in t law firm of Talbot & Bryan. He 1 lieved there was more opportunity i a rising young lawyer In a new stah a bollef assuredly well grounded in 1 own caste. Bryan plunged Into politics in t spring of 188S, and that became his 1 vocation Instead of tho law. lie w elected a delegate lo the Demoera state convention at Omaha, where made a speech strongly fulvoeatl free trade; also he mado a reputatl as a speaker. IIo was only tweni eight years old, yet tho very next y? e of W J. Bryan j journa||,m ? il?M, III. V (the pnrty leaders offered him the nomination for tbo lieutenant governorship ie- of Nebraska. lie declined the offer, re but niado u stumping campaign for tho er ticket throughout the state. The next year, 1890, the young Dem mocrncy thrust upon the young Dcu mosthenes from Illinois the nomination id for congressman from the First distie trlct. J. Sterling Morton, who in his time was father of Arbor day and a ly member of President Cleveland's cabto Inet, had been defeated in the race for us congress from that district In 1888 by or a Republican majority of more than It 8.000 votes. Scarcely anybody expect>1 ed young Bryan to win. lie was not in so very sanguine himself, but he made n- an oratorical campaign and defeated io- Congressman Council by nearly 7,000 votes. In Omaha, where Council lived, h- Bryan was sneered at as "that Lincoln n, boy." It was the reaction against the m now McKinley tariff that elected Brya an?that and the silver tongue of the 2ii Lineolniau lad. 9, So at thirty Bryan was chosen to the in national house of representatives. He ie delivered his first speech in the house 58 the 12th of March, 1892, on the subject it- of free wool. Senator Burrows of of Michigan, temporary chairman of this s- year's Republican national convention, it- declared that it was the best speech on co tho tariff he ever bad heard. News'5K ' ; < v - ^? . . < V ' ... ' - ... , ' I' v:;;\v * - ' **#?1 r ' ' ?../j .... ' J * ' . - ;/ ?. / k >; / j M HIS LATEST PHOTOGRAPH. nd papers of all political persuasions called it a masterpiece. The chairman of h? the ways and means committee was he William M. Springer of Illinois. Spring>n er was so delighted with Bryan's fret -u- wool talk that he procured the appointee ment of the young Nebraskan on his committee. Old graybeards have sat In of tho house for a generation without achieving that coveted honor. Here m- was a youngster member so honored in fe- his first term. And when Bryan was ll,H returned to congress for a second term !g? he was continued on that most imporaP" taut coimnittee. or" In the Interim the Nebraska districts ea" had been reapportioned so that Omaha ?nd was eliminated from the First district. lu* Tho district in its new shape was conceded to be Republican by about 3,BuO. ry* Judge Allen W. Field of Lincoln, one 'as of the ablest and most popular Repubin licans in tho state, was nominated to ry, run against Bryan. lie resigned from nd the bench, so sanguine of success was ng lie, but Bryan beat him by 1-10 votes, ttt- When President Cleveland called an rie" extra session of congress In the sumike mer of 1893 to push through the repeal ins of the Sherman silver bullion purchason ing act of 1890, the Democratic prosing dent of the old school unwittingly gave of to the man of destiny in the new school :ed of Democracy an ultltudiuous stepping re- stone toward tin? presidency. Bryan of he Nebraska, aged thirty-three, delivered nd in tfn? house on the 10th of August a ler speech against the repeal of the pur n chasing clause of the Sherman act. ro- The whole house and most of the senre ate heard It. When Bryan ceased rs. speaking ho was picked up by enemies Jr. and friends alike and borne around the ho hail on the shoulders of enthusiasts who liked a ripping fine oration when or they heard It regardless as to whether >? It suited their politics. Nobody dlslis puted that it was tho greatest speech! of tho extra session. ho Bryan declined a renom(nation for Ife congress In 1891 and becamo editor of as the Omaha World-Herald. He wanted tie to go to the T'nlfed Stales senate. The ho World-Herald business ofiico made a ug contract to run dally on tho editorial on page two columns of "stuff," paid for' ty- by Republicans, which was Inimical to av Bryan's proupects. Bryan resigned tho editorship after a ilorco legal fig! against tho advertising contract, I was nominated for tho senate by tl unanimous vote of tho state eonvo tion. despite the fact that many < them disagreed with him on the silv coinage issue. With John M. Thui ton, the leading Ueptfbllean Candida for tlie senate, Bryan engaged In tv Joint debates, having challenged Thui ton. The forensic duels took place Lincoln and Omaha. The tariff wi the Hole topic of discussion. Bryt defended the Wilson tariff, which as member of the ways and means coi ill it tee he had helped to create, i Lincoln tlie enthusiasm was such th Bryan was carried from tlie platfor outside and down into the street, whe howling uiobs of "overflow" admire awaited him. Thurston was elected 1 MRS. WITjIJIAM II. LEAVITT. the legislature. Mr. Bryan remained private citizen. lie had ehallengi William McKinloy also to a Joint d bato on the tariff, but tho Ohio tar builder declined. Mr. McKinley w destined to meet the Nebraskan in broader contest a little later. In the meantime Mr. Bryan w happy at home with his little famil the helpful wife and three ehildrr The children now are grown up. Ku is Mrs. William 11. Leavllt and h made her father a grandfather. W liam junior is eighteen, and Miss <?ra is a budding belle of seventeen years \oung Mrs. Leavitt herself is son thing of a politician. She has be elected a delegate to the Democrai state convention in Colorado, her hoi being In' Denver. Young William Is | student in tlie Nebraska State unlv< ; sity at Lincoln. Miss CJrace, who | the event of her father's election the presidency will become "the youi lady of the \ybite House," is at hoi with her estimable mother on t Bryan farm near Lincoln, known "Fairview," where the head of \ family some yours ago 6uii{ a Iiai some residence. Prior to that the fa il.v had occupied a modest cottago Lincoln, wliere Mr. Bryan returned his law practice after his unsuecessl campaign for the senatorshlp. When in ISOd the Kepubllcan conv< tion which nominated McKinley 1 president met in St. Louis, Williinn Bi,\an held no ollice whatever. ] still had a connection with the Oma paper, and lie went to St. Louis a.? press correspondent.. At the iManti hotel the clerk looked over the pinli garbed young man who signed "W. Bryan on the register and made li pay in advance. The cleric put 15r\ in a room with seven Republicans. 1 dor date of June Id a correspondent the Now York Tribune sent to his per from St. Louis this highly lnt estlng paragraph: Ex-Con^ressinan William J. Hryan loader of tho free silver winy of the' 2 'ornska democracy, whs one of yest clay h arrivals. Tho apponranco of ] Bryan in a hotel corridor In consultat with several Republicans from freo sil states of tho far west excltcd much c< mont. In response to a question conce ing his mission Mr. l.irynn remarked have nothing to say now except t these gentlemen and I will bo found n November voting the samo ticket." Senator Henry M. Teller of Color; and othoi's wore tho free silver publican leaders indicated by the Ti une correspondent. It was nil accur ! V"- v / MISS OI?ACE TinYAN. prediction by Mr. Bryan that ti. would be voting the same ticket w him in November, for they walked < of the Republican national conventl when the gold standard platform u adopted and aligned themselves w tho free silver Democracy. But neither tho New York cor spondont nor tho freo silver secedt nor the Nebraska correspondent a free silver leader himself could fo tell thai, (lie seceders would vole \ William Jennings Bryan as the pro dential candidate on tho ticket whi was to bo nominated at Chlcugo u f( weeks later. EI Bryan and tti cr I y AkAA ' ** 5 i "Cross of Gold : ? a and Crown of l|p ^& aa o Thorns"-How ^Blg^ 1,1 9 a Wonderful ^Bp|| u. ? Speech Won a v] I Presidential .. m A Nomination ru Y Mm. WIUUct r3 gfO'Cwnwnj'O'O-O'O'O'O'O >y By ROBERTU9 LOVE. (Copyright, 1908. by RobortuB L?ovo.] WHEN tho Domocratlc national convention met at Chicago in 1SD0 one of tho delegate.*) from Nebraska was William Jennings Iiryau, a young man of thirty-six, a private citizen of tho city of Lincoln. Ills prior political career comprised two terms In congress, lie i had been his party nominee for a Unlti ed States senutorshlp in a Republican 1 legislature. Tho national Democracy had broken I away from (irover Cleveland, whom it I j had elected president twice and who I f was then In olliee. The split was on f the money question. Cleveland had called a special session of congress to repeal the sliver bullion purchasing act. The mass of the party stood for tho free coinage of silver, chlelly at the ratio ol' 1(1 to 1. The Cleveland wing stood for the single gold stand|jl J no i .is u ifr /' no j10 WILLIAM J. RKYAN IN lflOG. "You shall nut press clown upon tho brow of labor this crown of thorns. You lj9 slmjl O^t crucify mankind upon u cross j id- or Bold.1r - \ | !l" ai\t. Tho mighty chasm widened at 1 'n tlio convention. Congressman Richard ; /? 1'. Hland of Missouri, "Silver Dick," | tho old war horse of the free silver coinage movement, was the logical and *n" apparently tho Inevitable candidate for ^or the presidency, ills nomination seemed to be a certainty until a thing hap'1? pened hitherto unprecedented In Amer',!l lean polities. 1 a r.ryan of Nebraska, known as "the urs silver tongned orator" and "tho boy ^.v orator of the 1'latle," mounted Hie plat*' form and delivered a brief but bold 1 and masterful speech. Ills vibrant an voice rang out over the heads of tin.' ^n* lo.UMt) persons In the vast hall, penetratlng with clarion Intonation to the l>:1" farthest corners. The customary up<?r" roar of r\ great political convention, which tho strongest of oratorical lungs, tl>? as a rule, cannot quell entirely, was hushed Into unbreathlng awe. No such \'ir, eloquence ever before had been hoard ion In a national convention. The man vor and the occasion had met, and the man '"n~ had mnstcrexl tho occasion. The ad"l dress was an Impassioned appeal for hat bimetallism and an exalted glorlticaeXt tion of the new Democratic financial ide <^<)C^1''ne- When the orator closed with his epoch making metaphor of "the ^ cross of gold and crown of thorns" ' tho enthusiastic approbation of his t e sentiments and ot tho man himself was indicated by a whirlwind of applause beyond description. % And William Jennings Hryan was ? nominated for tho presidency of the I United States. J Flashed to tho remotest reaches of the nation, the news was tlie most son# Rational political titbit that ever took I the wires. Bryan was but one year l olxjvo tho minimum ago required by 1 tho constitution of tho United States for a president. While some of Ills H speeches In congress a few years he1 fore had given him a momentary repuH tatlon, be was practically unknown to || the nation at large, and particularly g 1 so to tho great eastern section of the I country. Never before had a great | party nominated for president a man ;| living west of tho Mississippi river, a Never before had so young a man I boon nominated. Never before had an | orator won the great prize by a single I speech. Democrats, Republicans. I'op? ulists, everybody wondered how the " newcomer would, conduct himself In the campaign. Presently tho wonder turned to iey amazement. Young Mr. Hryan was a campaigner?-there was no doubt as to >u' that Tie injected into American poll'on tics a presidential campaign such as 'ns tho nation never knew boforo. Men Ith called It a whirlwind campaign, nnd such It was. Tho whirlwind road was re" tho railroad, and It carried the candlirs date up and down and across the land M(1 upon an amazing schedule of traveling and talking. Mr. Ilr.van traveled In or that campaign more than 18,000 miles f:'" and delivered considerably more than <"'1 2,000 speeches. lie made forty-nino )W speeches In ono day In New York Btato. Thirty-five addresses, Bhort and 1 0*0?*Q-*0 ? Q-?-0-*C-*-QK>?-OjC>8<>?-C e Presidency ************ 9 His Renomina- I ^^0 nation In 1900. 6 ? The Dominant A Spirit of the v Democracy For V 8^ Twelve Years. J Bryan In 1908 5 k J. W|tA. V long, wero dolivered by him on seven days, whllo It was an ordinary thin for him to address twenty crowds ?i twenty different towns In t wont hours. The candidate showed a phi shine and a voice that stood the tr< mendous strain with marvelous endui unco. As the campaign progressed an the fame of Ilryun spread people to sitting up all night and traveltn many miles just to hear the phcnoim non speak. Bryan's first appearance In (he ca> was on (ho 12(li of August, when h delivered his speech of acceptance v the nomination. Madison Square ?J:n den was packed with a sutVoratiu mass of men and women. though I was one of (he hottest days ever know In New York and a dozen persons ha died from sunstroke during tho da.\ Bryan road that speech from mam script, a disappointing thing, for It d( true ted greatly from his oloquonet Hut the candidate was well aware th;i great issues hinged upon his utterance on that important occasion, and ho dl not care to trust himself to (lie ur curbed enthusiasm of tho moment With Arthur Bewail of Maine, th vice presidential candidate, Bryan wen down to defeat at the November ele< tion, though ho had been nominate also by tho Populist party, wit Thomas E. Watson of Georgia as th vice presidential candidate on thu ticket. McKInley and llobart wen Into otllce, and there wore those wh predicted that Hryan was forever olln: inatcd from the Democracy. Pour years later at the ]>cmocratl national convention In Kansas ('it Mr. Bryan was renominated by aecli mation. There was absolutely no otlit candidate suggested for the noinln: tion. For vice president Adlai 10. St vonson of Hloomlngton, ill., who ha been vice president during Cleveland second term, was named. The w< with Spnln and our consequent acquis tion f tho Philippine Inlands hit brought new Issues into politics, hi the silver plank was reinserted inl tho Democratic platform, Mr. llrya declining to stand for the nominate without It, It was expressly declan 'Hf \ t\ ' '<>'v V\! ' pf Jlfp ^4! V'T; 3 HEW PICTURE OF I In that convention 10 the vast thro j which had walled and sweated a I fretted all night long .lust to hear h ! a speech which for pathos and pov, j and thrib no inveterate convention r lower ever heard equaled. The I >011 era tic ticket, .Judge Alton 11 Pari of New York and ex-Senator Henry I>avls of West Virginia, was defeat in Novemlier Inexpressibly worse th was Hryan in either of his cainpaigi The discovery of vast deposits gold In Alaska and elsewhere since ( free silver campaigns has clitnlnal I the money Issue from politics. I Hryan has accepted this fact and in stands upon other Democratic Issn Despite all opposition, he has doi I natod the national Democracy I ; twelve years. For several years pi he has given expression to his vie in the weekly journal, tho Common j which lie established at Lincoln. 1 has removed to a line farm near 1,1 coin, built a commodious residence a i become known throughout the woi as the great American commonoi titular successor to llenry Claw 1 has traveled around thu world ai j written his Impressions for a syndica j of American newspapers. IIo has hoi j for years the most popular and hlghc paid lecturer on the American lyeou j and Chautauqua circuits. It is sa : thot his income from lecturing aloj is as much as $50,000 a year, tho prei I dent's salary. j Mr. Hryan is a total abstainer fro alcohol and tobacco. lie Is a month ; of the Presbyterian church and nov j works on Sunday, save to deliver a r llglous address now and (lien. II Ideal is morality, personal, politic i eivie. The Hryan of 100H lool older than the Hryan of 1800, hut lie no less vigorous and virile than lie wi when his voice Hashed across the co: tlnent from tho Chicago convention hal ( ' Again the? great east lashed and smashed (ho western candidate with 1 demoniac denunciation, though that ? j time thero was a very largo lucroaso | la personal respect for Mr. Bryan, llo [ had proved himself to ho by no means . ' the wild visionary, the anarchistic revi olutionlst, tho dangerous fanatic, which ( tho opposition In his own party had pictured hltn as being In 18(10. when 1 the Democracy split open and tho less? j or section thereof nominated a "gold ( I Democratic1' ticket, with General John : M. Palmer of Illinois and General 81' j rnon II. Ruck nor of Kentucky as tho > standard bearers, thus contributing to t Rryati's defeat In the tlrst campaign. In tho campaign of 1900 tho Democratic secedors simply voted tho McI Kinlcy and Itoosevcit Republican tickit i |V:-' r** X/v-ffi/*? -t teailf?* i fi ?. b^<:^r 94km l.\j (* Mil. lUlVAN IN THIS 1000 CAMl'ATON. 1ot. A second time Rryau went down 0 to defeat, but gracefully ami with ^ good cheer. lie was at his home in Lincoln on ,1 election day, ate an early dinner, went jj upstairs at ahout 0 o'clock and slept: y soundly until 11, when ho came down Lt and discovered that ho was badly beaten. lie smiled to the assembled ? reporters, returned to Ids bed ami slept soundly until morning. 11 wns said by those present licit be evinced not |i; the slightest sign ol' disappointment. v Mr. Rryau did not seek the noinhutJ. i lion In IPtil. He was quite willing for .,.i the disaffected wing of the nomocracy l( | to name the tleket jn-d to s<m> If that. ... j element eouid do better than tho other. ,1 . He attended the couNculioti in St. s | I.ouls as a delegate, made an amazing ... tight for a platform upon which ho and .1 | his supporters could stand and won tho ul i light by sheer force of brain and 1( I brawn. He arose from hisjicd on tho l() j early morning of tho last day of the |(| j convention, though threatened with | pneumonia, ami Just as the dawn was breaking over the city ho delivered J(| i I [| ^ W Wke1:^: '/ 1/ v-ff. .?sg > ??<<:' N ft - ;' i Jj illl MS9m\\ \\ ffiteKS! h . .'.vciw MR. AND MRS. BRYAN. J. n!> in tho platform, however, that impertulUlj ism was tho paramount issue of tho i|n campaign Tins I >enioeraoy opposed tho . ,.. forcible subjugation of the Filipinos ( I and the control of the archipelago In colonial style of the Hritidi empire, i Mr. Rryau made another whirlwind (j campaign, even breaking his own rec|)(j ord for traveling and spoochmaklng. i I 1 ^ I/' , ' : W \ ,?. p . . \ It' yV- . ' ; /-. . I,, ft! . < !'|j '|r -Tv>V , ^' WIT.MAM J. T1HYAN, JH. m lie was forty years of ago and in tho (,r f ti 11 flush of magnificent manhood. cm' ' During the four years since 1800 ho 0. had done much political speaking and js writing, ho had lectured many times a 1 f?" other topics, lie had traveled abroad c.s and si tidied other governments and j.j conditions of people; also he had bcls come f'olonel Rrj'.in, having gono to !- > camp during tho Spanish war aft colo1. nel of a Nobraska regiment. /