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The Commoner.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
I
Vol. 6. No. 25
Lincoln, Nebraska, July 6, 1906
Whole Number 285
CONTENTS
4"Thk White Man's Burden"
Mb. Bryan's Letter
. t What Men will do for Gold
Aweux Crimes ijy Powerful Men
Distinguished "Calamity Howlers"
Protecting tjie Birds
Mr. Armour's Complaint
What is the Answer?
Comment on Current Topics
Home Department 7
Whether Common or Not
News op the Week
THE COMMONER AND "FIRST VOTERS"
A Lexington, Ky., reader wrote to The Com
moner as follows: "I notice that the American
Protective Tariff league is sending out circulars
'which read: 'Kindly give us the names and
addresses, etc., of one -person who willcast his
first .vote in the congressional election" of. 1906.
We wish to . forward' literature7 onthe subject. rof
protection. Ask your neighbors to co-operate in
this work.'
"Now, I suggest that every Commoner reader
make it his duty to send to The Commoner
office the name of one person who, at the next
election, will cast his first vote, then a sample
copy of The Commoner could be sent to that
person. v x
"I also suggest that every Commoner reader
make it his duty to secure at least one of these
'first' voters' as a yearly subscriber to The Com
moner. If we can get these young men to read.
The Commoner regularly we need not fear for
their political future."
The Commoner hopes that this suggestion
will be acted upon by Commoner readers gener
ally. It is important that the "first voters" be
impressed with the value of democratic prin
ciples in popular government.
In order to encourage the campaign among
"first voters," The Commoner will be sent for
one year for sixty cents to any one who is to
cast his first vote at the congressional elections
of 1906 and whose name, accompanied by the
subscription price, reaches The Commoner office
prior to election day in November, 1906.
Any one desiring to avail himself of this
opportunity must state in his letter that the one
in whose name the subscription is forwarded
will cast his first vote at the 1906 elections, and
Is therefore entitled to this rate.
JJJ v .
. PRISON REFORM
' Authorities atthe Illinois state penitentiary
at Joliet have abolished the lock step and now
prisoners march to and from their cells in mili
tary formation. The striped "clothing has also
been abolished and ' the prison authorities
say that great benefits have been derived from
the reforms.
Naturally the striped clothing and the old
fashioned lock step become very obnoxious to
the prisoner. There is enough in the very fact
of his incarceration to remind him of his fall,
and it Ib to be hoped that all over the country
a systematic effort will be made to establish
the necessary reforms in the treatment of pris
oners. "Wherever improved methods have been
adopted, the prison authorities declare that they
would not willingly return to the old tystem.
V
Uncle Joe THINKS He Has If Doped
GQ
THE WHITE MAN'S BVR&EW
Mr. Bryan's Address Before the American-
Society on July Fourth
&.
:?&:
"Take up the White Man's burden .
In natience to abide. i'?
V
Speaking on "The White Man's Burden," be- claim, and take for my text 'The WhiteJSlaa'a
fore the American Society at London, July 4, Mr. Burden.'
Bryan said:
"The memory of the evening spent with the
American Society, Thanskgiving day two and a
half years ago, is such a pleasant one that I es
teem myself fortunate to be ableNto accept the
"invitation so kindly extended by our distinguished
ambassador, Hon. Whitelaw Reid, to be your guest
on this occasion. Our English friends, under
whose flag we meet tonight, recalling that this is
the anniversary of our nation's birth, would doubt
less pardon us if our rejoicing contained something
of self-congratulation, for It is at such times as
this that we are wont to review those national
achievements which have given to the United
States its prominence among the nations. But I
hope I shall not be thought lacking in patriotic
spirit. if, Instead of drawing a picture of the past,
bright with heroic deeds and unparalleled in pro
gress, I summon you rather to a serious consider
ation of the responsibility resting upon those na
tions which aspire to premiership. This line of
thought is suggested by a sense of propriety as
well as by recent experiencesby a sense of pro
priety because such a subject will interest the
Briton as well as the American, and by recent ex
periences because they have impressed me not
less with our national duty than with the super
iority of western over eastern civilization.
"Asking your attention to such a theme it Is
not unfitting to adopt a phrase coined by a poet to
whom America as well as England can lay some
In patience to abide,
' To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride, h"
Tlv nnan anonrh nrwl almnln
An hundred times made plain,
To seek another's profit,
And work another's gain."
"Thus sings Kipling and, with the exception
of the third line (of the meaning of which I am riot
quite sure) the stanza embodies the thought which
Is uppermost In my mind tonight No one can
travel among the dark-skinned races of the Orient
without feeling that the white man occupies an
especially favored position among the children of
men and the recognition of this fact is accom-
panied by the conviction that therg, is a duty In
separably connected with the advantages enjoyed.
There is a white man's burden a burden which
the white man should not shirk even if he could,
a burden which he could not shirk even if ho
would. That no one llveth unto himself or dieth
unto himself has a national as well as an indi
vidual application. Our destinies are so inter
woven that each exerts . an influence directly or
Indirectly upon all others.
"Sometimes this influence is unconsciously
exerted as when, for instance, the good or bad
precedent set by one nation In dealing with its
own affairs is followed by some other nation.
Sometimes the influence Is Incidentally exerted as
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