Figure 4. — Political campaigns offered farmers and small-town dwellers a brief period of excitement. The 

 hats of his Nebraska audience, here, suggest the interest which the \oung orator aroused among the common 

 people. {Courtesy .Xebraska Stale Historical Society.) 



Other political celebrations, such as that held at 

 Minden in early October, were on a more modest 

 scale, but even here the occasion was described as 

 "a big democratic rally and torchlight procession, 

 headed by a band and enthusiastic crowd on the 

 streets." *'' 



Much of the political work was carried on by 

 devoted party laborers and candidates who went out 

 to the people, meeting with them in crossroads school - 

 houses or tiny villages, without the excitement of 

 banners and bands and parades. One Democratic 

 candidate for the state legislature from Lancaster 

 County spent so much time stumping the countryside 

 that he was hardly known in Lincoln, the county 

 seat.*" These traveling speakers were, to a consider- 

 able degree, the forgotten heroes of rural politics. 



Ibid., October 4, 18f 

 Ibid.. October 26, U 



Many of them hoped for rewards — patronage appoint- 

 ments or help in obtaining local elective offices, but 

 there were never enough rewards to satisfy all the 

 party faithful. While some party inen ser\-ed simply 

 out of loyalty, the recruitment of effective speakers 

 was an endless problem for the party leaders, particu- 

 larly in the Nebraska Democracy, since the party had 

 been perpetually out of oHice. 



This was the setting of William Jennings Bryan's 

 first political triumphs and his rapid rise to political 

 prominence. Bryan quickly made known his interest 

 in campaigning, and he entered at once into the 

 battle. Once enrolled, his particular combination of 

 talents — as an entertainer, a debater and exhorter, a 

 phrasemaker skilled in the popular idiom, and an in- 

 spirational speaker of great ability — coupled with his 

 tremendous physical endurance, made him one of the 

 indispensable stars in the Nebraska Democratic galaxy. 

 The years of training in local politics at Jacksonville 



PAPER 46: BRYAN THE C.-\MP.\IGNER 



57 



