""
The Commoner.
WILLIAil J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.
4. N..8.
Lincoln, Nebraska, MarcH n, 1904.
Whole No. 164.
HE WISDOM OF DOING RIGHT
ST fQnnnsil rlfkl ItmnA 1 Kfn T).t nf 1 fi.1reriTi
0 Win nn thrf Ifitli rF lnaf Trmnth Aa H la
possible lor him to go Into every community
mnlfA n vprhnl nrntnnt ncralnst. tho nlann of
to reoreranizern thfa Rnepch la ronroduced that
rt readers of The Commoner may be fully in-
rmea as to tne line or argument pursueu. in
tnlanat.lnn of thn first naraerranh of thn ftna'nnh
may be added that a gentleman by the name ot
lunam j. uryan mtroaucea tne speaicer ana
Pernor Jennings occupied a seat on the plat-
i.)
Mr. Chairman. Ladies and Gentlemen: I am
jry glad to be here If there is any state in
Men l ougnt to ieei at nome it certainly is a
ite in which I can be introduced to you by a
in wno nas my nrst ana last names, ana in a
tte whose governor has mv middle name. I am
Ire because I am interested in national politics,
iu l mignt say, to relieve an irom emDarrass-
nt, that I como at my own invitation. I come
Florida as I have gone elsewhere to discuss
Ibiects in which I feel an interest. I shall sneak
jyou upon the same line that I followed when
poke in New York a few weeks ago, where I en
ged the hall and introduced myself. I am not
Inlnor to nresent to von anv neculiarlv southern
ferine, or a western 'doctrine, but a democratic
trine. I4 am clad that there is a democracy
It is as broad as the nation a democracy that
r do prociaimea in any part or tnis country;
a uemocracy tnat is not as oroaa as me na
Ifl not a demoeracv that can hone to draw to
lf tho. patriotism and intelligence of the
saerican neonle. As L understand democracy, it
fa'ans the rule of the people a democracy that is
inued upon the aoctrme or numan urottiernooa
l democracy that exists for but one nurnose.
bri that the defense of human rlchts. That kind
l democracy can bo proclaimed wherever man
res, and is willing to respect tno rignts or nis
llow-man.
I am clad to be here because we are entering
ion a campaign of vital Interest to the deinoc-
lp.v and to the American neonle I nm inter
red in that campaign; and I think I am in a
pa position to talk politics now in a Detter
?sition, in fact, than I have been lor a good
hilo. In several campaigns I have bepn a can-
idate. I was a candidate for congress in 1890
id. therefore, when I spoke people might have
taught that I was personally interested in the
action. I -was a candidate again in 1892 and
ere again I spoke under the disadvantage of be
lt a candidate . In 1894" I was a candidate for the
Inate and when I canvassod my state they might
pain nave tnougnt tnat i ana a perauum luwirai
i. thn rocnit Tn 1R0R T whs a candidate for the
residency and then, too, they might have felt
lat my zeal was due to my personal interest in
ie election. In 1900 also I was a candidate, and
jo nfinniR who then listened to me listened to
e as to one who aspired to office; but I come
H von now not as a candidate, and yet more in
vested in the result of the election, more inter-
Bted in the triumph of aemocrauc principles man
cevflT- wna wiifio t wan mvself a nominee I am
lot only a private citizen, but I can prove by
rery gold paper in the Unitea states tuat i nave
ccellent nrosnects of remaining a private citizen
il the rest of my life. And now because, as a
Itizen, I attempt to speak the sentiments that
re in my heart, they say tnat i am rymB w uiu
itn Thmr opftm tn ho vcrv much afraid of dicta-
Ron. Those who have stood on the outside of
fen rmrtv nn.-i trfpd tn dictate to it for eight years
re afraid that some one on the inside of the
iarty may attempt to make suggestions to the
arty now. The anxiety tnat tney ieei ia u.c
arty be dictated to reminds me of something I
fead a short time ago. A man was all crippiea
IP; ho was limping and had nis arm m u wiut,
?. i.i -i .oAo. ama ono nairan. "What
iu jjhxuuus on uia iuv;o. wm " - -
the matter?" and he repnea, i wwj uuiit,
. downstairs and my, wife told me to bo careful,
ut I wpn't allow any woman to dictate to me."
' fie would- not be careful just because his wife
cautioned him to be careful, and some ot these
peoplo feel about as much exercised. I ask them
to be honest but they would rather suffer than
fellow such advice. Now, my friends, I am not
trying to dictate;"Tram not in a position to dic
tate. "What authority have I, or what power, to '
coerce anybody? If I was the head of a railroad
corporatipn I might have .the power to coerce or
to withdraw employment from those who would
not vote as I desired; if I was a manufacturer and
employed a large number of men I might do what
many manufacturers did in 1896, nameiy, glye the
employes a choice between voting a given ticket
and idleness. But whal power have I? 1 have
none, and I have no desire to dictate. 1 have no
power to grant favors to you; if anybody does
what I advise, he must do it, not from hope of
reward from me, but from hope of reward from
his own conscience. I have no power, I repeat,
to confer favors on you; I have no power to give
you office. If I had that power there would bo
many men with mo who are now talking about
harmony and the reorganization of the democratic
party..
fvVhat is it that they are afraid of? I will toll
you. If a group of men are assembled in a room
contemplating larceny and a little child comes in
among them and sas, "Thou shalt noL steal,'..' he
will put them all to rout. They will not be
afraid of the child, but they will bo afraid of the
doctrine that he proclaims. And so, it Is not be
cause I have power to coerce, or to command, or
to dictate, but because the doctrine of honesty is
a doctrine that the reorganizes have never yet
dared to meet and which they will not meet In
this campaign. I want to preach the doctrine of
honesty and I want to preach it, fust, because it
is right and because people ought to do right
without stopping to count the conseuuonres; and,
second, because J believe that in doing right we
lay the best foundation for complete and perma
nent success. So, whether you reason from the
standpoint of expediency or from the standpoint
of principle, you will be broughl to an honest
course In this campaign. You have hard some
say that I am disturbing the harmony of the
- party. I have had men within the last few days
tell me that Instead of criticising things that I
believe to be wrong, instead of pointing out dan
gers that I believe to exist, I ought to "pour oil
on tnc troubled waters" I have examined the oil
that they want mo to uso and find that ltis
Standard Oil. I am not willing to use that kind
of oil I am not willing to harmonize on that
basisVJ
I desire to present to you what I believe to
bo a moral issue and to appeal to you to fight this
battle upon the moral Issues involved. I want to
appeal to you to make the democratic partv the
" champion of morality in politics. I want you
to help to put the democratic party in a position
where it will arouse the conscience of the Ameri
can people the conscience which is the most po
tent power" in the world when it is once awakened.
What we need today in this country is not so
much the convincing of republicans that their
policies are wrong as the convincing of republicans
that if in power wo would do differently. A great
many republicans are convinced that commercial
ism has paralyzed their party and is paralyzing
the country, but when you point out what tho
republicans are doing the answer comes back,
Would you not do the same thing if your party
was in power? And, my friends, they use the ut
terances of men who call themselves democrats
to give the lie to every promise of reform. They
use" the conduct of these co-called democrats to
convict U3 of hypocrisy and insincerity When
men tell me that the time ought to be spent in
trying to' persuade and coax people to come into
the democratic party regardless, pf their scpnvic-
Uons and regardless of their conduct when they
come in, I am reminded of; a story told on a min
ister. He was talking about a revival In his
church and somebody asked him how many ho
added to tho roll. Ho suid, "I did not add any.
; I struck off 150." When men tell me that wo
must surrender our principles; that we must
make our party satisfactory to thoc who do not
. believe in democracy, or in a government of tho
. people, by the people, and for the people, 1 telJ
them that what wo need is not bo much to get In
men who arc not democrats as to drive out of the
party those who pretend to be democrats, but
whoso conduct is a living lie. Just as the church
is stronger when it expels men whoso llvta belie
their profession as a church is stronger when it
is composed of a few, but all of them try'ng to
live up to thoir profession than when composed
of more, but of persons woakor In character, so
a party is stronger if It has fower members and
all of them trying by their lives to exemplify the
principles written in their creed. I believe it Is
possible for the democratic party to win, and not
only that, but for the democratic party to win a
. victory that means something for the American
people. You ask me how it can be done? Here ia
a plan: Whenever a democratic official betrays
his trust do not apologize for him; brand him
and drive" him" out of the party and make him
join the republican party or go oR alone, They
cannot investigate boodling in a city now with
out catching democrats in tho net; they cannot
investigate boodjing in a legislature without gath
ering in democrats; they cannot investigate
boodling anywhere but what they find aomo dem
ocrats who are Involved like tho republicans, and
these men do more to hurt the democratic party
these men do more to injure our chances of suc
cess than any plank that was over put into a
platform.
I have had an experience like tals, and after
you have had it a few tiroes you will ag-ee with
me; I have been talking to an audience and point
ing out what the republican party had done that
was hostile to the intercuts of the people and I
have had some well dressed fellow to answer
back, "Well, you had control of the government
from 1892 to 1896, did you ?o any better?" And I
have had to answer, "No, wo did Just as the re
publicans do," and then I have told why, be
cause tho victory of 1892 was secured through tho
influence of the great corporations and with the
campaign fund that they contributed. Our party
having won its election in that way wab mort
gaged to the syndicates apd for four years our
administration betrayed the party and betrayed
the people for tile same roason that tho republi
can party has betrayed the people. And when I
have pointed out these things they'have called mo
a disturber of the peace and one of the corpora
tion papers, tho Nashville Banner, that used to
claim to be a democrat, but has not been work
ing much at its profession for some time-Tit
' criticised mo and said that If I did know that
there was an enormous campaign i'und collected
and expended "in 1892 I ought not to say any
thing about it, but that I ought to let the republi
cans find that out. I am more interested than a
republican in finding out and criticising demo
cratic wrong-doing, and why? Because I am in
terested in the democratic party. There is not a
man in this country who has more reason to bo
interested in the democratic party than I. What
man in this country has received more at tho
- hands of the democratic party than I? What man
owes more to tho democratic party than I owe,
and what man by his history and training ought
to be more thoroughly democratic than I am?
My father was a democrat and his father and hia
father's father; my mother and her parents on
- both sides were democrats. Ag far back as. the
history' of the family goes It has b.en demo
cratic, and my wife's family on both sidca was
democratic. I envy my boy because he has ona,
? i '
y
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