of Mr. Bryan would bring about financial
and commercial disaster, hence they, almost regardless of previous party
affiliations, practically united in an effort to defeat him.

The State of Nebraska, therefore, will always occupy a prominent place
in the history of the country, because,--though young, small, and
politically weak,--it has produced the most remarkable man of whom the
Democratic party can boast. It has also produced a number of very able
men on the Republican side, such men, for instance, as C.F. Manderson,
and John M. Thurston,--who both served the State in the United States
Senate, and made brilliant records. But Mr. Bryan had an advantage over
these two when he stood before a popular audience in Nebraska, because
they had been identified with the railroad interests, while he had not.

That Mr. Bryan is a strong man and has a wonderful hold upon his party
is shown by the fact that he has been three times the party candidate
for the Presidency. While it may be true that he can never be elected to
the Presidency, it is no doubt equally true that while he lives no other
Democrat can become President who is not acceptable to him and to his
friends.

In one respect at least, Mr. Cleveland and Mr. Bryan were very much
alike. As already stated, Mr. Bryan is a Democrat. The same was true of
Mr. Cleveland; and yet they were as radically different as it is
possible for two men to be. They were not only different in temperament
and disposition, but also in their views and convictions upon public
questions,--at least, so far as the public is informed,--with the
possible exception of the tariff. There was another question that came
to the front after the Spanish American war,--the question of
"Imperialism,"--upon which they may have been in accord; but this is not
positively known to be a fact. Indeed, the tariff is such a complicated
subject that they may not have been in perfect accord even on that. Mr.
Cleveland was elected President in 1892 upon a platform pledged to a
tariff for revenue only. The Democrats had a majority in both Houses of
Congress; but when that majority passed a tariff bill, it fell so far
short of Mr. Cleveland's idea of a tariff for revenue only that he not
only denounced it in strong language, but refused to sign it. Whether or
not Mr. Bryan was with the President or with the Democratic majority in
Congress in that fight is not known; but, judging from his previous
public utterances upon th