United States, William J. Bryan has met and discharged every duty as it arose and discharged that duty with credit to himself. Like Lincoln he was tried and found "not wanting" in small things, and like Lincoln, if he shall be tried, he will be found "not wanting" in great things. Like Lincoln he had the confidence and the love of all men who knew him well, and like Lincoln he will, if given the opportunity, extend that confidence and that affection until it embraces the people of the entire Union.

Mr. Bryan's career will not be regarded as meteoric by one who analyzes that career carefully. He has developed as political conditions have developed. He has grown in public estimation steadily and strongly, first in the hearts of the citizens of his own home, then of his own State, and finally into the broader national field which he entered in the discharge of his duty as an eloquent advocate of popular government.

In his work on "Abraham Lincoln and Men of War Times," Col. A. K. McClure says, "It was the unexpected that happened in Chicago on that fateful 18th of May, 1860, when Abraham Lincoln was nominated for President of the United States. It was wholly unexpected by the friends of Seward. The campaign in Pennsylvania was really the decisive battle of the contest. A party had to be created out of inharmonious elements and the commercial and financial interests of that State were almost solidly against us. I cannot

recall a commercial man of prominence in the city of Philadelphia to whom I could have gone to solicit a subscription to the Lincoln campaign with reasonable expectation that it would not be refused. Of all our prominent financial men I recall only Anthony J. Drexel, who actively sympathized with the Republican cause."

That condition, in some respects, at least, may be similar to the conditions of 1896. But in spite of all obstacles Lincoln was elected, because he represented principles dear to the hearts of the people; because in his public and private life he had so lived as to win for himself the love and the esteem of his fellow-citizens.

It is said of Abraham Lincoln, that he never shirked a duty; that he was a man who knew his countrymen well and sympathized with them thoroughly; that he was equal to every emergency with which he was confronted. The same may be said with equal truth of William J. Bryan. If Mr. Bryan shall be elected to the Presidency, the fathers and mothers of America may point with pride to the fact that the White House is occupied by a man whose public service is dedicated entirely to his people's interest, and whose private life is without a flaw. The ideal President of an ideal Nation he will be; one whose ear will be "tuned to listen to the heartbeat of humanity," one who will regard his office as a sacred trust to be discharged in the hope of accomplishing the greatest good for the greatest number.

CHAPTER III.

BRYAN IN NEBRASKA.

Mr. Bryan located in Lincoln, Nebraska, in October, 1887. From his Illinois home he had gone to Lincoln on law business, and while there he had met his old schoolmate, A. R. Talbot, Esq. Mr. Bryan was so captivated with the little city that he entered a law partnership with his old schoolmate, under the firm name of Talbot & Bryan. Returning to his Illinois home he closed up his affairs there and with his family removed to Lincoln, where he has since resided. At that time Lincoln was what is known as a "Republican stronghold." The few Democrats in Lincoln soon discovered that a man of more than ordinary ability had come among them, while the men of other political parties learned that their new fellowcitizen was one capable of gracing any community. Mr. Bryan devoted himself to the practice of his profession, and he soon became a favorite in all circles. Invitations to address literary societies, college associations, town meetings, and political gatherings came fast, and Mr. Bryan soon established for himself a local reputation, not so much as an orator as for a logician. It did not require long for this reputation to spread over the

State, and when Mr. Bryan was elected as a delegate from Lancaster County to the Democratic State Convention, in 1888, he was in great demand. Newspaper reports of that convention contain the following paragraph: "The youngest voter in the convention was Mr. Bryan, a bright young Democrat from Lancaster County. Mr. Bryan was rocked in a cradle made of hickory, and while he never cast a vote for Old Hickory,' he has, since his majority, never cast a ballot for any presidential candidate who did not represent the principles of true and tried Democracy." The same report contents itself with this reference to Mr. Bryan's first convention speech in Nebraska: "Mr. Bryan of Lancaster County was then called. He came forward and delivered a spirited address in the course of which he said, that, if the platform laid down by the President in his message upon the tariff question was carried out and vigorously fought upon in the State, it would, in the course of a short time, give Nebraska to the Democracy. He thought that if the Democrats went out to the farmers and people who lived in Nebraska, and showed them the iniquity of the tariff system, they would rally around the cause which their noble leader, Grover Cleveland, had championed."

The limited newspaper reference to Mr. Bryan's speech on this occasion did not do justice to either the effort or the manner in which it was received

by his auditors. As a matter of fact it created the greatest amount of enthusiasm, and the young orator impressed his personality indelibly upon the public mind of his adopted State. Mr. C.V. Gallagher, then Postmaster of Omaha, approached Mr. Bryan, and complimenting him upon his effort said: "Young man we will send you to Congress." Although Mr. Gallagher did not pretend to speak with authority, his words were in the nature of a prophecy, and the Democrats of the First Congressional District did send William J. Bryan to Congress two years later.

At that time the great leaders of Nebraska Democracy were Dr. George L. Miller, the founder of the Omaha Herald, and now Collector of Customs for Omaha, James E. Boyd, who subsequently became Governor of the State, and J. Sterling Morton, now the Secretary of Agriculture. The Nebraska Democracy had for many years been split into factions by what was known in common parlance as the "slaughter-house" and the "packing-house" Democracy. On one side Mr. Morton and his followers were arrayed, while Dr. Miller and Mr. Boyd were the leaders of the other faction. The rank and file of the party, while true in the factional contests to their leaders, had become weary of the discord and turmoil within their own party ranks, and for this reason perhaps, they turned more readily to the new man who had come among them. At that time no one