I was
distressed to learn that the eloquent Mr. Bryan had been defeated. I
knew little about the silver question, but the man's oratorical powers
had appealed to me, and my sympathy was aroused because he owned many
silver mines, and yet the price of the metal was so low that
apparently he could not make a living through the operation of them.
But, of course, the cry that he was a plutocrat, and a reputed
millionaire over and over again, was bound to defeat him in a
democracy where the average voter is exceedingly poor and not
comfortably well-to-do as is the case with our peasants in France. I
always took great interest in the affairs of the huge republic to the
west, having been at some pains to inform myself accurately regarding
its politics, and although, as my readers know, I seldom quote
anything complimentary that is said of me, nevertheless, an American
client of mine once admitted that he never knew the true inwardness--I
think that was the phrase he used--of American politics until he heard
me discourse upon them. But then, he added, he had been a very busy
man all his life.
I had allowed my paper to slip to the floor, for in very truth the fog
was penetrating even into my flat, and it was becoming difficult to
read, notwithstanding the electric light.
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