Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 July 1896 — Bryan as a Citizen. [ARTICLE]

Bryan as a Citizen.

He is Sized Up Bv Editor Rosewater. HBfc of Omaha. Editor Edward Rosewater, of the Omaha Bee, one of the best known editors of the country was requested by the New York World to furnish a candid estimate of Mr. Bryan’s character, ability etc. This Mr. Rosewater did, and over his own name published his estimate in the Omaha Bee, of Last Friday. The following is the concluding portion of the article, which is too longto be quoted entire. While gifted with oratorical powers of high order, Bryan lacks both depth and breadth. He is a popularizer of other men’s ideas rather than an original thinker, and has a catchy way of presenting his subjects to an audience. He is a comsummate actor, whose forte lies in appeals to sentiment nd emotion rather than in arguments and sound reasoning. He is a born agitater who never hesitates to employ the weapons of the demagogue to make a point. Bryan’s most vulnerable part is his lack of moral stamina and utter indifference to the maintenance of public integrity. W hile so far as I know his private character is unimpeachable he has never raised his voice or used his pen in denunciation of flagrant abuses of public office or betrayal of public trust, but, on the j contrary, has permitted the paper for which he is ostensibly the responsible editor to gloss over and defend embezzlement in public office, gross official negligence and corrupt collusion with public plunderere,aven where the offenders were foisted into office as republicans. From the professional standpoint Mr. Bryan may be considered a dismal failure. His legal pratice has never amounted to anything worth mentioning. His venture in the newspaper business has not been regarded as serious in these parts. While he has been nominal editor of the Omah<i World-Herald since September 1, 1894, he has in reality been a mere journalistic figure-head. His name has been paraded at the head of the weekly edition to draw free stiver delusionists, but was soon taken out ot the daily and has not been replaced. Instead of devoting time to the paper, he has been travelir g about the country five weeks out of six as the paid champion of the Bimetallic league. As a politician, Bryan has displayed no organizing ability. He is a good stump speaker and an effective campaigner. But that is all. If he has any executive capacity it has not yet manifested itself. He has never held any executive position and has never had an opportunity to exercise any faculty be may possibly possess in that direction. The best business men of Our ha, regardless of party, look upon him as a man of immature judgement who would constitute an extra hazardous risk as head of the national government.

E. ROSEWATER.