Show little bandwagon band wagon journeys JouR meys by L T MERRILL A 9 y aa 7 f y yf aay y f el A 1928 western newspaper union 30 bryans bryana entrance EVER until william jennings NEVER arvan made ills his cross of gold speech at the chicago democratic convention of 1890 had any american won a presidential nomination merely on the alie strength of a single piece of his own convention oratory the convention plea that garneld made against retention of the unit rule that would have permitted the nomination of grant for a third term in 1880 may have moved many to cast their votes for him as a dark horse in that year but garfield had in addition a record as a leader in congress which the boy orator of the platte had bad not established in his short serece sen ice in the house of representatives senta tives the fact that bryan got into the con convention bention at all was a fortunate turn of fate tor for him ile he was admitted as a nebraska silver delegate only when the nebraska Kebr aslia gold delegation had bad its credentials rejected putting it out of the convention entirely the democracy in SO 00 went to its convention leaderless it was divided into two factions gold and silver on the money question president Clev elands sharp differences with his party bad deprived hini of any considerable following tin tho convention would not even indorse hii lit aimin n tabu though gb senator of new york representing the eastern gold faction strove vat valiantly bantly to have it indorsed endorsed Indor sed not a single delegate cheered at the mention of the presidents name the attempt to insert a simple plank commending the honesty economy courage and fidelity of the present democratic national administration gave mr bryan his chance senator hill slid and others 9 spoke oke ineffectually in support of the plank mr bryan came forward to the platform to reply the tumultuous multitude before him felt the magnetic thrill of his presence lie ile was wan serene self pos hessed and splendidly conscious af of his own power as aa he faced the crowd the commotion was hushed as he began to speak in his mellow penetrating voice in defense of a cause as holy as the cause of liberty the cause of hurn humanity anity the convention that had been stilled in his presence followed with tense eagerness his bis eloquent periods that rose to a climax in ills his derora atlon with its famous closing sentence you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold it was a speech such as bryan had been giving for several years before gatherings out on the prairies where the populist tide was rising with almost a seething religious fervor but never had he had such buch an occasion as this to wield the spell of his eloquence over a great gathering of thi the leaders of his big party the huge auditor auditorium lura had rocked to raigh mighty ty shouts as he reached high points in his address each sentence of his closing paragraph was punctuated with a crash of applause As he finished the scene was indescribable the tumult was like that of a great thundering sea he had bad met the mood of the gathering he had played upon the heartstrings heart strings of the persons before him their emotions gave vent toa tempestuous roar of acclaim senator hills plank was rejected with cries of derision and the tree free silver platform was adopted by a vote of more than two to one the leaderless leader lesa convention had found its leader and its master spirit on the fifth ballot next day william jennings bryan the little known youthful son of the west was made the standard bearer of the party of whose radical wing he had become the inspired cham champion plon the last great political battle of the century was a one with populist fervor setting the emotions of the west aflame and rousing tear fear in the alie east probably no roan in civil life lisa has succeeded in inspiring so much terror without taking life as bryan observed the nation at the close of the campaign fervor and tear fear made the vote an large one but when the tumult subsided william mckin ley was found to be a half million votes ahead in a total of some thirteen millions an unexpectedly decisive result for what was in many respects the most eventful political struggle that america had witnessed since the first election of president lincoln |