170 The Campaign of 1896 



an overcoat or an undershirt, an issue which any 

 Populist statesman finds readily comprehensible, and 

 which he would recognize at first glance as being 

 strong before the people. It needs a certain amount 

 of mental subtlety to appreciate that it is for one's 

 interest to support a man because he is honest and 

 has broad views about coast defences and the navy, 

 and other similar subjects; but it does not need any 

 mind at all to have one's prejudices stirred in favor 

 of a statesman whose claim to the title rests upon 

 his indifference to the requirements of civilized 

 dress. 



Altogether Mr. Watson, with his sincerity, his 

 frankness, his extreme suspiciousness, his distrust of 

 anything he can not understand, and the feeling he 

 encourages against all the elegancies and decencies 

 of civilized life, is an interesting personage. He 

 represents the real thing, while Bryan after all is 

 more or less a sham and a compromise. Mr. Wat- 

 son would, at a blow, destroy all banks and bankers, 

 with a cheerful, albeit vague, belief that thereby 

 he was in some abstruse way benefiting the people 

 at large. And he would do this with the simple 

 sincerity and faith of an African savage who tries 

 to benefit his tribe by a sufficiency of human sacri- 

 fices. But Mr. Bryan would be beset by ugly doubts 

 when he came to put into effect all the mischievous 

 belief of his followers, and Mr. Sewall would 

 doubtless be frankly miserable if it ever became 

 necessary for him to take a lead in such matters. 

 Mr. Watson really ought to be the first man on the 



