Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (July 8, 1910)
f wtifrr- tf f The Commoner. JULY 8, 1910 f-r r xrc suit; that ho would bring peace by fighting for it. Let tho other announce that he did not intend to do any injustice to anybody, and that he would not assume that anybody was going to do injustice to him, and that he was not going to arm "himself. Ho might go farther and announce that he would promise in advance not to resist any violence attempted against him or to punish any man or any woman who struck him. Which one would have the least scars at the end of ten years? My friends, I believe that If this nation announced to the world that it would not spend its money getting ready for wars that ought never to come, that it would rather try to prevent the coming of war; that as it did not intend, as some one has put it, to go out as a l)urglar it would not equip itself with burglary tools; that it had faith in the good intent of other people and that it expected other people to have faith in its good intent. Do you think our nation would suffer for that? Some one has said here I believe it was the , distinguished president of Columbia that when ever there is an appropriation to be made for battleships it is preceded by a vociferous dis cussion of a profitable kind of patriotism the spending of money for battleships. I am glad he said it. Every time there is something good and strong to be said I am always glad to have somebody else say it so I can quote it, I am so conservative, that whenever I wish to make a radical statement I always look for some man as an authority some one who stands higher than I do, and if I can find that he has said what I want to say then I can say it and hide behind authority. So I am glad that one of these college presidents says a thing like that because I can now quote that and it will be more effective than if I had said it first but what he said was sb. We have a navy league in this country; they have one in Germany; they have one in Great Britain and they hav.e one in France; and these navy leagues play one nation again the other. Whenever we build a battleship the picture of it is published in the literature of all the others and 'the building of that battleship is urged as a reason why all the other nations should build one more at least, and possibly two. Then when they get scared and build we get the pic ture over here and we must build another. That Is exactly what goes on and what has been going on for years. We are expected to get scared whenever another nation builds a battleship and then we are to build two and scare them until they build three and then get scared again and build four. That is exactly what is going on and I am satisfied that Dr. Butler put his finger upon the cause. It is this patriotism that finds a profit in building ships and getting ready for war, and then as soon as we get our ships built the very same men forget their patriotism and build ships for other nations with which to sink our ships if they get a chance. I have used this illustration: Suppose you had a lake I will not say this lake, because beautiful as it is it is not large enough for the purpose that I have in view in this illustration suppose you took a large lake and suppose that there were half a dozen farm ers or land owners probably I better say land owners, because the word farmer does not usu ally suggest eriough land to illustrate what I want to illustrate, so we will say land owners half a dozen land owners are around this lake and are living peacefully together, no trouble or sign of trouble. But a man who builds ships T goes to one of them and says :"You are foolish; . you are living here with no protection what ever. Don't you know that any of these men around you might build a battleship and attack " you, and you are defenseless. Now let me build t a ship for you and you will get ahead of them." Suppose the man was foolish enough to take the' advice. Just as soon as that ship was built the ship builder would go to the next neighbor and say: "Why, don't you see that man over there has a battleship? What is it for? Do you suppose he is building it for nothing? Have $ you any doubt he has designs on you? Where else can he use it except on this lake? You had better get ready. Now I can build you two." And if this man was foolish he would build two. Then what an argument the ship builder would have when he got to. the third man! "Why, there are two of them against you. They might combine and you are abso lutely at their mercy." Now, with that argu ment he could go all round that lake and after building ships for each one he could go back to the first one and say: "You are out of date. Look at the improvements since you built. And then you have only one and thes? other people have four. There Is nothing for you to do but mortgage your farm. Now you aro In for It!" Now that Is tho race of tho world, my friends, that is tho mad race of tho world. I have to bo parliamentary down east; out west I can speak with a llttlo more freedom and that makes it hard for mo to express my self on these subjects in tho language that is considered proper in these public meetings. (Mr. Smiley: You need not bo afraid hero.) Can I just imagine for a minute I am at home? (The chairman: O, yes.) Well, my friends, if this were a place where I could speak with freedom and say what I wanted to say if it were such a place I would say that the build ing of these great battleships, these preparations by Christian nations to fight one another, Is a challenge to tho Christian civilization of the world; that It Is Infidelity to tho doctrine taught by the Founder of tho Christian religion. Christ taught no such doctrine; he taught us the power of love, not tho power of the sword, and those who have tried to put Into practice this doctrine are tho ones who have suffered least from the use of force. I suppose that the most significant example in all this world today of one who preaches this doctrine of love, and lives as he preaches, is Tolstoy. He is not only a believer In the doctrine of love, but ho is a believer In tho doctrino of non-rcslstance, and thero ho stands proclaiming to tho world that ho believes that love Is a better protection than force; that ho thinks a man will suffer less by refusing to use violence than if ho used it. And what is tho result? He is the only man in Russia on whom the czar, with all his army, dare not lay his hand. Those who have gone out preaching the doctrine of force in Russia have gone into exile, but Tolstoy stands there and waits for them come; but tho power that is about him, the power that Is over him and the power that Is in him is proof against the violence of the czar. I believe It would be true of a nation. I be lieve that this nation should stand before the world today and tell the world that It did not believe In war, that It did not believe that it was the right way to settle disputes, that it had no disputes that it was not willing to submit to the judgment of the world and If this nation did it, it not only would not bo attacked by any other nation on the earth, but that It would become tho supreme power In this world. I have no doubt of it, and I believe that the whole tendency Is toward that. I believe that our nation can take a long step In advance now by announcing doctrines of this kind, announc ing that its navy will not be used for the collec tion of, debt; that wo do not Imprison people NOT AN IRIDESCENT DIIEA3I It is not true, Mr. President, that purity In politics Is an Iridescent dream. It can be made a reality through the Oregon system of pop ular government and by the overthrow of tho imperfect mechanism of party government which has evolved the bad system of machine rulo government. The remedy for the evils from which our national, state, and municipal governments have suffered is to restore the rule of tho people to restore the full powers of government to tho people by the Oregon system; to pass laws'by which the people can directly nominate, directly initiate laws they do want, directly veto laws they do not want, directly r.ecall public servants. The people are "safe and sane." The people are conservative and sound. The people are honest and intelligent. The people would vote for the public interest alone and would not vote for purely selfish Interests The people would not grant ninety-nine year or perpetual corporate franchises or legislative privileges of enormous value with out adequate consideration, Tho people would not deprive any persons of their just rights. Under the rule of the people the Issue of world-wide peace would be raised and would, by popular vote of all nations, be made ' a permanent international law. The people know more than their repre sentatives do, and aro less passionate and less liable to be led Into either Internal or inter national complications. The people are worthier to" bo confided in than any individuals trusted with temporary power. The people would be economical in govern ment. Under the rule of the people, with the right of recall, tholr public servants would be more upright, more faithful, more diligent, mor& economical, and more honest; the public ser vice would be purified; the bad example of cor ruption and extravagance in high places would bo removed and now and better standards of public and private conduct would prevail. The servants of tho people would then con cern themselves more in bringing about the reforms which tho people desire. From Sen ator Owen's Speech. for debt in this country, that wc do not lako men's lives because thoy owo In this country, and that, thoroforo, wo will not man battle ships and kill pcoplo because they owo people In this country; that wo will apply to Interna tional affairs tho samo doctrines wo apply to our affairs here; that If any ono In tho United States wishes to Invest money In another coun try ho should do so according to the laws of that country and bo subject to tho authority of that country. Then every country would bo open to American Investments, for that is tho kind of investments they would look for. Thoy have had enough of Investments which begin with the purchase of a little land, to be followed by a battleship that takes tho rest of tho coun try. I bellovo that from every standpoint this would be a proper thing. I believe that If our nation would announce to tho world that It stands ready to enter Into a treaty of peaco with every other nation, big or llttlo, providing that whenever thero Is any dlnputo which defies diplo matic settlement, that disputo shall bo submit ted to an impartial International tribunal for investigation and report if our nation did that I bellovo It would not bo a year's time until we would have treaties of peace of that kind with tho leading nations, and In two years' time with practically all of them. And when this nation had entered Into that kind of a treaty of peaco with other nations we would find tho examplo so powerful that it would result in similar treaties being made between other nations, and tho day of war would bo past. Every tlmo wo talk about arbitration they say: "But thero aro some questions that effect national honor and you can not submit that kind of a question to arbitration." Tho trouble Is that whenever a nation wants to fight It man ufactures a question of honor. It is like tho old doctor I do not know that you over had him In the oast, but wo used to have a doctor In tho west who, whonover he was asked to treat a disease which ho did not understand said that he could not treat that disease but that ho could give tho patient something that would knock tho disease into fits and that ho was "death on fits." So, my friends, when ever a nation wants to go to war, no matter what the subject is, It turns It into a question of "national honor" and goes to shooting. If wo could have an investigation of every con troversy that can not be settled by diplomacy, wo would separate the questions of fact from the question of honor, and I think wo would gonerally find that there was no real question of honor Involved when the questions of fact were settled. But I have run over my time (Members: Go on, go on.) No, I have so shaped my speech as to make It as near half an hour as possible, and if I go on I will have to commence over and make a new speech. I am very glad to 'have had this opportunity of meeting with you. I am glad to join with you In an effort to advance a movement In whose ultimate triumph I have absolute confidence, and when ono Is working for something which he believes is right and for something which he believes will triumph he is not so particular as to tho exact date of the triumph. A man who Is trying to get something that he knows to be wrong must get It right away, for he knows that, If ho does not get It soon, he can not get It at all; but when ono is working for something he believes to be right he knows that every hour will In crease tho chances of his triumph for ho be lieves that back of truth stands God with an arm strong enough to bring victory to his side. THE IMMORTAL MUSIC The soft, sweet notes of woodland birds, The croning of the lowing herds, The rustling zephyrs as they pass Across the treo tops and lush grass, Tho humming of the bees, the throng Of Insects with their evensong, The chirp of cricket and the note ., Of tree toads on the air afloat, The monotones of waters free, The murmurs of the forest tree, The rich crescendos of the gale, Staccato of tho rain and hail These are the songs our fathers stirred; These are the songs that Adam heard; These are the anthems that will be Unchanged through all eternity; The Symphony Divine, that rolls From heaven forth to human souls, To cheer the heart and ease earth's strife With promise of immortal life, ' John Kendrick Bangs In the Smart Set. SI si "f i r , J 1 4 i $S &