On the electoral college campus
Uncle Sam and William Jennings Bryan, wearing caps and gowns, attend the graduation ceremonies at the “Electoral College.” Bryan is holding a book titled “Reveries of a Candidate.” Caption: Chairman Sam of the Board of Trustees — Why, hello, Bryan! I thought you graduated back in ’96. / Bryan — No; I was conditioned that year in Free Silver. / “Well, you went out in 1900, surely.” / “Nope; that year I was conditioned in Imperialism.” / “Gee whiz! Well, what are you doing here now?” / “I’m taking a special course in Government Ownership and the Initiative and Referendum.”
Comments and Context
The criticism of William Jennings Bryan or one of many “knocks” inside and outside the Democratic Party, as he prepared for a third presidential run, was that his ideas were old. They seemed revolutionary and, to some voters, dangerous in 1896, his first run. Indeed he incorporated planks of the Populist platform as a Democrat, and some of his proposals were as old as the Grange and other radical agrarian movements.
