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The Commoner.
JULY 8, 1910
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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.
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