had prepared Bryan for this opportunity, and he was 

 quick to grasp it. 



At first, he seems chiefly to have been a supporting 

 speaker, an entertainer, rather than a leading Demo- 

 cratic orator. During a lull in the Democratic State 

 Convention at Omaha, Bryan filled in when other 

 possible speakers were occupied. In a "spirited 

 address," he predicted his own course in the ensuing 

 campaign : 



He thought if the democrats went out to the farmers 

 and the people who live 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.** 



Again, at the grand Democratic rally and pole-raising 

 ceremony at Weeping Water, Bryan, the "chosen 

 spokesman" of Lincoln, spoke only after the more 

 prominent Democrats were exhausted. Late in the 

 evening, the opportunity came: "At this juncture 

 the crowd being unwilling to disperse W. J. Bryan of 

 Lincoln was introduced and so captivated his hearers 

 that they hung upon his words for over an hour, and 

 when the speaker wished to stop they would not have 

 it so, but begged him to go on." *' At Columbus, on 

 July 20, he was the "speaker of the evening," deliver- 

 ing a "masterly address," a "clear and forceful" 

 tarifif argument, illustrated "by apt stories and bright 

 quotations," to a large audience of citizens and 

 Democrats."" Appearing at Fremont in August, 

 Bryan spoke "without any apparent effort . . . pre- 

 senting the tariff question in a straightforward and 

 honest manner with frequent humorous illustra- 

 tions . . . ." ^' 



By September, he was devoting his full time and all 

 his bountiful energy to the campaign, carrying the 

 message of tariflf reform to large rallies and tiny 

 hamlets. As his reputation spread, Bryan received 

 invitations to speak throughout the state. A resident 

 of the small town of Sutton pleaded with him to speak 

 at that town: 



The Boys all prefer you If Possible . . . We want to 

 have a big time & It will do you no harm in the future 

 perhaps. {No Politics You know).^^ 



« Ibid., May 3, 1888. 

 <9 Ibid., August 6, 1888. 



50 Ibid., August 15, 1888. 



51 Ibid., August 13, 1888. 



5- Bryan papers, letter from W. Keller to Bryan, October 29, 

 1888. Many such invitations are contained in the Bryan 

 papers; see, for example, letter from J. H. Morchead, Barada, 

 Nebraska, to Bryan, September 6, 1888. 



In late September, Bryan was invited to travel under 

 the direction of the State Central Committee, an 

 invitation which he apparently accepted.'''' He also 

 received occasional requests for information on par- 

 ticular campaign issues, the Democratic platform, or 

 President Clev-eland's position on certain points.^* 



Bryan's vigorous, rather informal speeches seem to 

 have created much enthusiasm among his supporters. 

 One man wrote. 



Your speech here last Saturday night did a great deal 

 of good — demoralized the Republicans fearfully. They 

 sent off yesterday for 123 torches and are going to try 

 to eclipse our meeting in numbers, enthusiasm, &c.^5 



To some admirers, he was known as ''''Bryan the Invin- 

 cible."^^ Following a debate at McCook, one Dem- 

 ocrat summed up Bryan's impact upon his audience: 

 By your personal magnetism you won all hearts & by 

 the force of your logic & argument you vanquished the 

 enemy, and you gave us the day — Our fair minded re- 

 publicans admit this. 5" 

 Toward the campaign's end, Bryan spoke successfully 

 in a number of joint debates.^* He did not let up in 

 his attack, giving a speech on November 3, three days 

 before the election: 



His presentation of the campaign issues was the ablest 

 of the year. Mr. Bryan is one of the finest campaign 

 orators in the west.^' 



Despite the Democratic defeat at the polls, one of 

 Bryan's admirers telegraphed him: 



Congratulations on your splendid victory, Dem[ocracy] 



honors you and will ever remember your magnificent 



campaign.*" 



53 Ibid., letter from Euclid Martin, treasurer of the Demo- 

 cratic State Central Committee, to Bryan, September 26, 1888. 

 In August, at the Democratic State Convention, Bryan was 

 nominated for both lieutenant-governor and state auditor, but 

 he refused both nominations. 



5' Ibid., letter from Ed. P. Smith, .Seward, Nebraska, to Bryan, 

 July 26, 1888. 



55 Ibid., letter from W. S. White, Palmyra, Nebraska, to 

 Bryan, September 3, 1888; letter from C. D. Casper, David 

 City, to Bryan, September 16, 1888. 



5" Ibid., letter from Thomas Colfer, McCook, to Bryan, 

 September 21, 1888. 



57 Ibid., October 8, 1888. 



5' Omaha Daily Herald. October 5, 13, and 22, 1888. 



59 Ibid., November 5, 1888. 



" Bryan papers, letter from R. A. Batty, Hastings, Nebraska, 

 to Bryan, November 5, 1888. It would be difficult to estimate 

 the number of speeches given by Bryan during the campaign of 

 1888, but more than 30 are listed in the Omaha Daily Herald 

 between July and November. Probably the actual number was 

 60 or more. 



58 



BULLETIN 24 1: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



