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 WILLIAM JENNINGS BBYAN 65 to the dignity of deliberative oratory. Through the Chau- tauqua and the lyceum he has awakened sluggish citizenship, and weakened the bonds of party slavery. He is more than the spokesman of a party; he is an evangelist of national righteousness. Mr. Bryan is not only an orator, agitating the murky waters of injustice, but a constructive statesman, translating theory into accomplished fact. Although long identified with the minority party he has lived to see many of his most cher- ished principles enacted into law. During the four years in Congress he was an advocate of tariff reform. The recent law is largely the expression of the tariff policy which he has upheld for more than twenty years. When the income tax was forced upon Congress by the Farmers* Alliance wedge, the Nebraska statesman was one of its sponsors and deliv- ered one of the strongest speeches made in Congress in its be- half. It, too, is an endorsement of his practical statesman- ship. It is impossible to speak with certainty as to Mr. Bryan's comparative place among those who have held the first posi- tion in the president's cabinet. In the short time that he has been Secretary of State, he has made the larger interests of hu- manity paramount to the sordid claims of commerce and five percent. The character of every man, whatever his rank, has some- where its source of strength or weakness. The foundation of the character of William Jennings Bryan is his faith in Chris- tianity. Religious by inheritance and training, these convic- tions have been fortified by contact with the world. An active member of the church, and a sincere subscriber to its creed, he expresses his religion very earnestly through his everyday Jife. On numerous occasions Mr. Bryan has testi- fied that ChrLstianity has been the source of whatever good he has been able to accomplish. Mr. Bryan declares that as a result of early religious influ- ence, he has always hated the vices of intemperance, gambling and profanity.* May not this explain his uncompromising at- titude toward certain present-day questions? He has been