"Heap Big Talking Papoose" Bryan Visits Ogden and Union Station

William Jennings Bryan is famous for his "Cross of Gold" speech and portrayals of him in the film "Inherit the Wind," but few know, or care, that he could really rouse a crowd, if not an entire city, just by the power of his voice and presence.

He did precisely that to Ogden on July 21, 1897.

The Standard in 1897 made its political stance clear on its masthead.

Oh what excitement! Bryan had unsuccessfully run for president in 1896, but was still the darling of the Democratic Party. He was touring the country, fighting for "bi-metalism," a policy that linked the value of silver to gold at the ration of 16:1, which sounds boring (and is now, to be honest) but the monetary policy, if not the entire economy, was at stake.

It's complicated -- you can read the wikipedia article on it here (click) and even listen to him give a bit of the speech here (click) --  but the bottom line was that bi-metalism would mean more money in circulation, which proponents said would improve the economy. Bankers resisted bi-metalism because a strict gold standard gave them more control over the economy.

The Ogden Standard was fiercely in favor of bi-metalism because it was felt it would help the state's agriculture, at that time a major industry. When Bryan came through town on a speaking tour, then, Ogden -- which was also a Democratic stronghold -- pulled out the stops.

The entire town was invited to come to Union Station to greet him. A parade took him to the home of D. H. Peery which stood at the corner of 24th and Adams Avenue. Crowds fill the city's opera house, which stood where the later Orpheum Theater and, now, the Utah State Office Building, stands.

What a circus.

"A procession was formed with the Ogden City Brass Band in the lead," reported the Standard. "and the party was driven direct to the residence of D. H. Peery, Sr., who had placed his palatial residence at the disposal of Mr. and Mrs. Bryan. ... On either side of the carriages occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Bryan were platoons of bicyclists and following them came citizens in carriages. They came up 25th street with carriages three abreast,the sidewalks and streets lined with a cheering mass of humanity. The carriage line reached half a mile..."

Wow.

The Standard hailed Bryan as "the next president" even though he had just lost the election eight months before. More than 5000 residents went to the reception. The theater itself was packed. William Glasmann, who also happened to be owner and publisher of he Standard, was the master of ceremonies.

Bryan's speech was almost entirely transcribed by the Standard, quite the feat by whoever had to take the dictation and then write it all. There were no tape recorders then, but stenographers could keep up with anyone.

Reading the speech, even in your head, you can get a hint of the power he could wield with his voice and language. Politicians today read texts carefully vetted by an army of writers and focus groups, a process that guarantees a bland performance by even the best orator -- as President Obama, sadly, proves every time he opens his mouth.

Bryan, who was from Nebraska, hailed from an era when speeches were spoken with power, force and meaning.  The story doesn't mention it, but I'd bet he didn't even have notes, let alone a teleprompter.


"Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen: In talking to you tonight upon the subject of bi-metalism, I want you to understand that it is not my thought that you need to be convinced on the subject because I know that the people of this state have it fixed in their minds and are acquainted with the arguments which support our position,"  and then went on for several thousand more words, mostly, he said, just to reinforce their beliefs, to make them more ardent in their support.

 "No man can afford to rob his neighbor, either upon the highway or by legislation because he can never repay in money for the scorn, contempt and hatred cast upon him for his actions," Bryan concluded. The paper reports a call for "three cheers"  was like "wildfire, closing the meeting in a blaze of glory."

After the speech Bryan visited a nearby camp of the Washakie Indians, who made him an honorary member of the tribe. Glasmann introduced him by saying "Great Chief Washakie, I have with me a visitor who came from a country many moons away. He desires to make the acquaintance of the tribe of the Washakies. I take pleasure in presenting 'Heap-Big-Talking-Papoose of the Platte."

Heap Big Talking Papoose? Gotta love that, eh?

Bryan getting on a train in Ogden. This is the only photo the Union Station Archive has of his visit.

Dear Rob Bishop: Quit Wasting Time.

The House of Representatives, continuing it's policy of wasting everyone's time, voted yesterday, yet again, for the 56th time, to repeal "Obamacare."

Washington Post Columnist Dana Milibank had a great take on it today -- these votes are so pro-forma that even the Republicans are bored. (click)

With Congress  up to nothing, I was inspired to write to my own congressman, Rep. Rob Bishop, who I used to think had his heart in the right place, at least, but now I'm not so sure.

Still, you go to war with the congressman you have, not the one you want.  Here's my letter. If you want to do the same, click on this link ---- LINK --- and do the "contact me" thing.

Dear Rob,

I note with some dismay that the House of Representatives voted, yet again -- 56 this time? -- to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

I assume you voted for it because news reports say all the GOP voted for it. Whether you did or not, I have to express my dismay that you guys are, once again, wasting time.

There is lots to do, but all I am seeing is these time-wasters. Abortion bills, pipeline bills, this. Really?

May I please note that the late and much honored Betsy Lockhart, former Speaker of the Utah House, was one of the signers of a letter to the editor in your local paper, the Standard-Examiner, calling on Congress (which means you) to approve some sort of Immigration Reform?  This letter ran in the S-E last year. It was signed by all the leaders of both houses of the Legislature. So far you've done nothing.

I note the GOP is adamant to oppose President Obama's own steps in this regard, but I have yet to see House GOP counter-proposals.

Congress has yet to take action on the military situation in the Middle East. President Obama is sending increasing levels of involvement back to Iraq, and back to the Syrian-ISIL areas, and it is Congress' role to approve or deny him the power to do this.

I strongly believe we should not be involved at all,  that we should pull our forces out and let the middle eastern nations deal with their own mess. I am extremely distressed that Congress seems to be OK with letting the President do whatever he wants over there.

It doesn't matter what I think, it does matter what Congress thinks. When will you act?

As to the ACA/Obamacare, there are several reasons why I wish you'd find something else to do.

For one, it is NOT federal health care.  I wish it were and that it were a single-payer system. If the GOP were to propose replacing it by dropping the eligibility age for  Medicare to zero, I'd vote GOP for the rest of my life.

Absent a replacement, may I note, Rob, that I am on the Union Station Foundation board of directors in Ogden. We run Union Station for the city. We employe a number of people at Union Station, none of whom we can afford to give benefits.

Several of them now have medical insurance because of the ACA.

A couple weeks ago my wife and I had dinner at Two-Bit Street Cafe on 25th Street, and I strongly urge you to give it a try next time you're in town. The food is excellent and the owners, Penny and her husband, are a strongly local business, dedicated to making it on their own, pillars of the community.

While eating we chatted with Penny, who said she finally, at last, has been able to buy medical insurance, "Thank you Obamacare," she said.

So if you are going to repeal the ACA, Rob, please come to Union Station and tell our employees that you are canceling their medical insurance. Then go over to Two-Bit Street, have lunch (I'll buy!) and tell Penny the same thing.

I might suggest telling her after she cooks your food. When she gets mad she doesn't do her best.

Charlie Trentelman

Wartime Sacrifice -- Yeah, they used to do that.

World War II consumer pledge

Back  in 2001after 9-11, President George W. Bush was asked what Americans could do to support the effort.

"Go shopping," was his answer, and went on to discuss how the health of the American economy was critical, how we couldn't let terrorists keep us from living our normal lives, and so on.

I suspect he also wanted folks to shop so the economic activity would both make folks happy and provide taxes to pay for the war. Raising taxes, asking actual sacrifice, seems to be anathema to politicians these days, no matter what.

This had an unfortunate side-effect: Americans have not had to sacrifice for this war. A vast majority view it as nothing more than noise,  like peanut butter commercials.

O, yes, families of the 5,000-plus killed have sacrificed a bunch. And the families of the soldiers, airmen, Marines and seamen who've served in the wars have. Friends, relatives, too. But even adding all that up, I would wager fewer than 10 percent of Americans have been directly touched.

WWII booklet to rally public
support for the war effort

The standard-issue American with no direct family involvement - folks like me - has had it easy. My taxes haven't gone up, my ability to buy toys has not gone down. The supply of the food, clothing and modern gadgets so critical to my American Way of Life has never been interrupted or restricted in the least.

Does it have to be this way?

I have no idea.

How you can help win!

My father, who served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, was a bit dismissive of the rationing and other limitations put on folks during that scuffle. Some of the restrictions were mostly to make people aware, he said, not because of some dire shortage.  Was he right?

I know they rationed gasoline, not because gasoline was short (the US was a major producer then, too) but because driving wore out tires and rubber WAS short. Drives for scrap metal were an essential part of the war effort -- I saw one news article warning that the nation's supply of scrap was down to two weeks -- because scrap was a lot more easily converted into tanks and guns than iron ore was.

The nation's economy was different back then. World War II was war on a national scale. The entire resources of the country had to be shifted to war production from the very small pre-war state to enormous wartime state. That shift in national resources was bound to create shortages, changes, and disruptions.

Fighting the war at home

These days we already have a massive wartime infrastructure. The US spends more on the military than any ten other nations on the planet, combined. We're used to it. It's what we do, war or no war.

It's hard to see how they could change things.

That makes possible war without general immediate sacrifice. We'd all be better off if we weren't spending all that money on defense, but shifting a substantial portion of it back to peacetime production would, again, cause massive disruptions, job changes and so on. Look what just the demise of the Space Shuttle has done to Box Elder County.

How did they get the nation to go along with the changes the first time? What sort of national campaign would they have to run to make a similar shift today palatable?

These exhibits here are a hint. They made it a matter of patriotism, of national pride. The logic of living a thrifty life anyway is good, but showing how it can help win the war is even better.

In our collection here at Union Station we've got this nifty little booklet from a local natural gas company that talks about the "consumer pledge" and gives hints on how to conserve precious resources for the war effort: Don't toss leftovers, save fats for bomb production, learn to cook tougher cuts of meat, learn to get the most nutrition from your food.

There's a big section on maintaining your refrigerator and other home appliances and tools. It takes 600 refrigerators to make one tank, we are told, so make that fridge last!

Compare that to today where I was told, in all seriousness by the nice folks at Sears, that no matter what I did, I could count on my brand new fridge dying in 10 years because that's just how they're made
these days.

We also have a little 4-page recipe booklet published in 1941 by Family Circle with lots of information, and recipes, for sending goodies to our boys in the military training camps. This was in August of 1941, before Pearl Harbor, but a lot of folks forget that the US was already ramping up its war footing in 1941. Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack, but war was no surprise.

They were the ways, big and small, that folks at home supported the war, and they did. Bond drives
paid a third of the cost of the war. People scoured fields for milkweed to make life-vests for pilots. People sorted and fiddled with ration coupons and shortages and regulations because that was what it would take.

What would it take to rally the population today, to get it to buy war bonds and pay higher taxes, to endure shortages and husband resources?

More important, does any politician believe in a particular war they want to fight so much that they're even willing to try?