been restrained by party ties from giving me their votes. I have been a hired man for four years, and, now that the campaign is closed, I may be pardoned for saying that as a public servant I have performed my duty to the best of my ability, and am not ashamed of the record made.

"I stepped from private life into national politics at the bidding of my countrymen; at their bidding I again take my place in the ranks and resume without sorrow the work from which they called me. It is the glory of our institutions that public officials exercise authority by the consent of the governed rather than by divine or hereditary right. Paraphrasing the language of Job, each public servant can say of departing honors: 'The people gave and the people have taken away, blessed be the name of the people.'

"Speaking of my own experience in politics, I may again borrow an idea from the great sufferer and say: 'What, shall we receive good at the hands of the people, and shall we not receive evil?' I have received good even beyond my deserts, and I accepted defeat without complaint. I ask my friends not to cherish resentment against any who may have contributed to the result. If my election would have brought good to the State, those who have aided in the defeat will suffer as much as we; if my defeat has brought good to the State, we as citizens shall enjoy the advantage in common with those who secured it. If they were

conscientiously striving to carry out what they believed to be right, we cannot criticise them, because each citizen has a right to contend in politics for the measures and men desired by him, and he is in duty bound to do so. If our opponents were actuated by unworthy motives, they will suffer more than their victim. Instead of finding fault when it is too late to apply a remedy, let us rather prepare for the work before us. I have advocated fusion because I believe it necessary to bring the reform forces of society together in order to overcome a united and insolent opposition. I still advocate fusion as the only possible road to the great reforms needed.

"The enemies of good government, the beneficiaries of class legislation, act as one man, with unlimited means at their disposal. The common people have only their votes, and they must cast them together or suffer defeat. In this State, fusion, while only partial, has elected Judge Holcomb and thus secured the defeat of as corrupt a ring as ever cursed the State. That is a great victory for this year. Where else have the Democrats and Populists won such a triumph? Let us rejoice that by our combined efforts we have elected an honest man as Executive of this State.

"The friends of these reforms have fought a good fight; they have kept the faith, and they will not have finished their course until the reforms are accomplished. Let us be grateful for the

progress made, and 'with malice toward none and charity for all' begin the work of the next campaign.

"Those who fight for the right may be defeated, but they are never conquered. They may suffer reverses, but they never suffer disgrace.

"Yours truly,

"W. J. BRYAN."

CHAPTER IX.

BRYAN AT ARLINGTON.

On May 30, 1894, at Arlington, Washington, D. C., Mr. Bryan delivered the Memorial Day Address, which was listened to by the President and his cabinet, and many members of Congress. This address was admitted by Mr. Bryan's most bitter opponents, to be one of the best of memorial day productions. On this occasion Mr. Bryan said:

"With flowers in our hands and sadness in our hearts, we stand amid the tombs where the nation's dead are sleeping. It is appropriate that the chief executive is here, accompanied by his cabinet; it is appropriate that the soldier's widow is here, and the soldier's son; it is appropriate that here are assembled, in numbers growing less each year, the scarred survivors, federal and confederate, of our last great war; it is appropriate, also, that these exercises in honor of comrades dead, should be conducted by comrades still surviving. All too soon the day will come, when these graves must be decorated by hands unused to the implements of war, and when these speeches must be made by lips that never answered to a roll call.

"We, who are of the aftermath, cannot look upon the flag with the same emotions that thrill you, who have followed it as your pillar of cloud by day and your pillar of fire by night, nor can we appreciate it as you can who have seen it waving in front of reinforcements when succor meant escape from death; neither can we, standing by these blossom-covered mounds, feel as you have often felt when far away from home, and on hostile soil you have laid your companions to rest; but from a new generation we can bring you the welcome assurance that the commemoration of this day will not part with you. We may neglect the places where the nation's greatest victories have been won, but we cannot forget the Arlingtons which the nation has consecrated with its tears.

"To ourselves, as well as to the dead, we owe the duty which we discharge here, for monuments and memorial days declare the patriotism of the living no less than the virtues of those whom they commemorate.

"We would be blind indeed to our own interests and to the welfare of posterity, if we were deaf to the just demands of the soldiers and his dependents. We are grateful for the services rendered by our defenders, whether illustrious or nameless, and yet a nation's gratitude in not entirely unselfish, since, by our regard for the dead, we add to the security of the living; by our