Life — December 28, 1916 — page 7: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Mr. Bryan Pops Up NE begins to notice a change in topics, Election is over. We know what happened and who is to be President. And then the war, It is still the greatest topic, but not quite what it was. Its greatest question is already settled! We know that Germany can- not conquer Europe. The details of impending history are of immense interest, but they unfold slowly, and while we watch for them to be revealed we sometimes think of other things, and even of our own af- fairs and our own future. Pops up again Brother Bryan, and is received with headlines on the front pages of the papers! Oh, wonderful William, who being but lately dead lives again, and being no longer dan- gerous to immediate Democratic suc- cess, opens his venerable valise in the flare of the naphtha light and spreads out a grand assortment of new reme- dies before a smiling crowd! William deserves the blue ribbon for resiliency. He is never discouraged, at least he never stays so. Now he is out to persuade the Democrats to adopt prohibition and woman-suffrage as na- tional party policies; to promote the establishment of a national newspaper run by the government to instruct the voters before elections; for continu- ance of state control of the railroads ; for abolition of the Electoral College, and for a change to make it easier to amend the Constitution, Mr. Wilson having won the election, along comes Brother Bryan crying, “Line up with me, fellows, and let us really do some- thing! It is funny, but Mr. Bryan is a na- tional institution of considerable im- He is the Billy Sunday of Billy is full of heresies. Car- portance. politics. dinal O'Connell says His ideas about the conduct of life are very primitive, and the world made over to suit him would be a shocking place. Moreover, he is a rather dreadful talker and a scandal to reverent spirits. Nevertheless, Billy seems really to have religion and to have a remarkable power to impart it. He reaches the wills of men and makes them want to be good. That is very important. When it comes to the details of being good he is not a safe guide. He is ignorant, he is vulgar, his experience of life is narrow, and no doubt he has defects in grace and infirmities of be- havior. So in the details of conduct he is far from being a wise guide. But his power to make people want to be good is a great thing, because people who really want to be good can usually so. feel their own groping way along to- wards righteousness and discover by experiment whether this or that recom- mended line of conduct is profitable or not. In like manner Mr. Bryan is weak on details, but a useful exhorter, He almost always heads right, but the recommends to folks to them to route he get he wants almost always the wrong road. he shows a purpose to concent a fight against rum. He wants na- tional prohibition and the abolition of the saloon. He has often been use- ful in getting things done right, by threatening to do them wrong and get- ting enough voters with him to give bite to the scare. So in this case his bogey of national prohibition may lead to good by stimulating better minds go is Now ate on where “Ol, MOTHER! WASN'T SANTA CLAUS GOOD TO PEGGY comicbooks.com