Rrtiri(l'l ft
The Commoner.
:
vxai
I'
- ' Mi"1
Mr. Bryan and President Taft
FOES BUT FRIENDS
If ono may paraphrase Kipling's immortal
line, no matter what their politics, there is no
party bar when two strong men come face to
face. So it waB in Lincoln Monday, when Wil
liam II. Taft, successful candidato for the presi
dency in 1908, met face to face William J.
Bryan, unsuccessful candidate for the same offlco
at the samo time. The meeting of these two
great mon was cordial, and, in view of past cir
cumstances, most graceful.
Rising from his place at the right of the
President at the Lincoln luncheon, Mr. Bryan
said:
"Lincoln is honored today by the presence of
the highest official In the -world. The president's
position is greater than a king's. His authority
is more vast than any civilized people would in?
trust to a hereditary ruler, and lie holds the
place, not by accident of birth, but by the suff
rage of his countrymen. Though in campaigns
ho is the leader of a party, he is, after election,
the chiof executive of the nation, and his arm
wields the strength of 90,000,000 people.
"Lifted by voters to this position of supreme
command, he becomes the most exalted of our
public servants. It is fitting that we, a group of
the sovereigns whom he serves, should pay our
respects to him and to the office which he holds.
I ask you to rise, fill your glasses with the
beverage upon which the Almighty has set the
seal of His approval, and drink to the health
of President Taft, and may God give him wis
dom to discharge aright the onerous duties im
posed upon him."
In response to Mr. Bryan's happy toast, the
president said:
"I would be wanting in an appreciation of fine
courtesy if I did not express my thanks to your
distinguished fellow-citizen, Mr. Bryan, for join
ing in the welcome to me here in Lincoln. I
have had occasion to say in times past that no
roses are so beautiful as those that grow over
the party wall, and to be received by Mr. Bryan
this time Is a pleasure which I must express.
"Mr. Bryan and I differ on some subjects, but
the ono on which I am going to speak this after
noon world peace is one on which we agree.
But whether we agree or disagree, I have had a
ten-year personal acquaintance with Mr. Bryan,
and I hope he will join me in saying that it al
ways has been a pleasure to meet each other
under any circumstances."
Such glimpses as these of the kindly and
pleasant personal relations of men who are poli
tically as far apart as the poles are refreshing.
It was a non-partiBan gathering at Lincoln, and
It was altogether fitting that these two great po
litical foes should have made it clear that parti
Ban strife should not breed personal ill-will.
Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch.
A GRACEFUL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In his speech at Lincoln, President Taft gave
Mr. Bryan credit for suggesting to him one of
the Important provisions of the treaty prepared
,by Secretary Knox and Ambassador Brice. The
.Lincoln News gives the following report of Mr.
Taft's speech:
"Mr. Taft said that -William J. Bryan had
given him his first idea of that clause in the
treaties which provides lor the appointment of
a" joint high commission to define the jurisdic
tion of the proposed arbitration court. This
plan received the avowed approval of the presi
dent, and he devoted a considerable part of his
address to its defense. The commission is to
consider every question which can not be settled
otherwise. This commission is to have a year
for investigation. This provision for a year's
Investigation was suggested by Mr. Bryan. He
called at my office in Washington at the time
the treaties were being discussed and urged that
such a provision would be beneficial. We agreed .
with him, and the provision was placed in the
treaty. When Mr. Bryan's name was mentioned
the crowd applauded enthusiastically, and the
president was forced to pause for several
seconds."
Mr. 'Bryan appreciates President Taft's gene
rosity Jn giving him credit for the suggestions.
It was first made in The Commoner 'in the spring
of 1905 and was afterwards at Mr, Bryan's re
quest embodied in a resolution adopted by the
peace congress at London in 1906 and still
later in New YoTk and Edinburgh. Mr. Bryan
wrote to President Taft in June, 1910, bringing
the matter to his attention and then called at
tho White House to urge the plan in April of
the present year.
On another page will be found a speech de
livered by Mr. Bryan at the London peace con
gress in support of the plan. He believed that
investigation is almost sure to bring about a
peaceful settlement of disputed questions. The
trouble has been that nations have gone to war
while angry and before the peace forces of the
respective countries could bring pressure to bear
upon those in authority. If our treaties can
secure investigation, war will become a remote
possibility.
TAFT AND BRYAN
Perhaps the measure of popular favor is
something that may not be reached by compari
son, but it is certainly an incident of which note
may wisely be taken in all calculations of popu
larity. Considerable stress has been laid by the Taft
press upon the popular acclaim accorded him
during his trip through the central west, the
supposed home of progressive statesmen and
the fountain head of progressive sentiment, and
the applause that has been accorded his
utterances.
Undoubtedly the coming of the president has
everywhere been given recognition fitting the
event. No man who stands at the head of this
democratic nation through the selection of the
people can hope to be able to enjoy any solitude.
The public wants to know, and is quite sure to
find out, just how each hour and minute of his
time is occupied. It is a' privilege to look upon
a president, and one which the average citizen
will go far to enjoy, regardless of the identity
or personality of the man who bears the title.
It is interesting to note how he may some
times be received by his constituents as com
pared with the receptions accorded other cele
brities. It was somewhat surprising to learn
that while the president was delivering his
speech at the conservation congress so many who
had assembled to get a glimpse of his person
and enjoy the privilege of hearing him got up
and walked out while he was speaking that it
excited public comment and public protest
against the discourtesy. It was a deplorable dis
courtesy to a president, though it certainly was
not intended to be such. t
It may be interesting ' to many, and rather
gratifying to most Nebraskans, to note that
another sort of treatment was accorded to an
other man who enjoys chiefly the distinction of
having been three times defeated for president,
one of them by President Taft. Here is how
the Kansas City Times imparts the information:
"Fifteen years after he was first defeated in
the race to be president of the United States,
William Jennings Bryan, thrice defeated for the
highest honor of the nation, returned to con
vention hall last night and received the greatest
reception of any speaker at the conservation
congress.
"Mr. Bryan appeared at the entrance to the
back of the stage when William Hoynes, dean
of the Notre Dame school of law, was speaking.
The audience almost to a man rose from the
chairs and yelled for the former leader of tho
democrats. As the first yell died down a second
waB started and that was followed by stamping
of feet.
"The efforts of J. B. White, who presided, to
quiet the cheering audience with the gavel were
futile. Men and women waved their handker
chiefs while they were taking another breath
and tho yelling started again. Then Mr. Bryan
rose from his chair, walked to the edge of the
rostrum In the great hall where ho was nomi
nated in 1900 for the Becond time, raised his
hand and told the audience to listen to the other
speakers because they had something that he
wanted to hear."
Are we to conclude from this that the man
who enjoys the confidence of the masses is apt
to excite the least clamorous expression of popu
lar favor? If we can reach such a conclusion
then we are equipped to believe that the demon
strations that mark tho Taft meetings are
prophetic of his re-election. If we' can't adopt
that sort of philosophy we must conclude that
there is something out of kilter in Taft's stand
ing with the people. Lincoln (Neb.) Star.
"F. A. R" AND MR. BRYAN
"F. A. R.," the former Washington corres
pondent of the Sun, in an interesting communi
cation in tho letter column recently criticises
VOLUME 11, NUMBER 40
In his usual able and vigorous way a recent
Sun editorial attributing to Mr. Bryan "dis
tinguished ability," "great service to the coun
try," "high ideals" and a "pure and reproach
Ipss" private life. He disclaims knowledge of
anything wrong in the colonel's private life
but challenges the Sun's statements with
reference to the other matters, and wishes to
know what are the proofs of his ability, what
service he has performed and which of his many
ideals deserve to be termed high.
Mr. Bryan has shown ability by his keen in
sight in many public questions. His speeches
on the tariff were among the .best heard from
any public man in the days when he was given
to discussing that question. His discussions of
other government and sociological problems
have been such as to attract the attention of
men in all countries, so that when he traveled
abroad a few years ago he was greeted as no
other American citizen not having held tho
presidential office has ever been greeted. He
struck the tine note in the Philippine question
as soon as it got to be a question, and no demo-
crat surely can say that he was wrong about it.
Democrats believe that this country had no right
to force its government upon those people, and
that It should withdraw from the islands as soon
as possible, meantime making it plain that such
was the intention. Mr. Bryan has presented his
views with such marked rbllity on many other
questions that even when he was wrong, as he
has been all too frequently, he was able to con
vince thousands, and among them other men of
real ability, that he -was right. No mere "phrase
maker" can maintain himself so long in the high
opinion of the world as Mr. Bryan has done.
He has performed great service to the country
in teaching the people that the public should
know before election what the candidates had
spent and were about to spend; that the people
should choose their own candidates for office,
unhampered by boss dictation in short, that
the people should really rule the country. He
has taught and was teaching it while others
were denying that the government had the
right to control the great corporations, and that
it was its duty to do so. He has had a' great
deal to do with bringing about the change in
public sentiment in the matter of taxing in
comes, to the end that the men who enjoy the
swollen fortunes of the country should be forced
to pay a just proportion of its running expenses.
He was among the leaders of the new thought in
politics which is sweeping over the country,
breaking the grip of those who have been dic--tating
elections in their own selfish interest and
enlarging the powers and stirring up the interest
of the masses.
His .ideals are high, as shown by his con
tinued . advocacy of clean government, his un
conquerable belief -in the right of the laborer
to the enjoyment of the fruits of his toil, and
the unfaltering faith he exhibits in the final
triumph of popular government over the ills
with which it is beset, -by teaching the people
to .think for themselves .and act for themselves,
and by educating them on public questions that
they may think and act intelligently.
The Sun knows that Mr. Bryan has made
serious mistakes in certain directions, but that
does not prove that he is lacking ability in all.
Because he has shown a lack of equipoise in
dealing with those who have disagreed with him
recently is not sufficient reason to forget the
high character of the man, and the fact that,
however he. may have lost the -way on occasion,
his generat'eourse has been toward the right, or
toward the right as he saw it. Baltimore Sun.
TWO GOOD MEN
Editorial in St. Louis Globe-Democrat (rep.):
Nothing has occurred recently which will please
the country more than the exchange of courtesies
between Mr. Taft and Mr. Bryan at Lincoln, Neb.
Mr. Bryan was chief of ceremonies for Lincoln.
We don't know whether he was the chairman of
a committee, or whether he was toastmaster at
the banquet, but where he sat was the foot of
the table, which is the only part of a table as
conspicuous as its head. And Mr. Bryan was
at the foot, wherever he was, only because th
loyalty of Lincoln wished to make him as promi
nent as the guest who sat at the head of the
festal board.
In this there would be a fine propriety, leav
ing an impression that, in the thought of Lin
coln, Nob., the man at the head was not there
because he had defeated for the presidency tne
man at tho foot, but because he was the guest
of Lincoln and of that citizen of Lincoln whom
he had defeated. And Mr. Bryan entered grace
fully into that spirit of the occasion. Hls J70!;
were not perfunctory or ceremonious. He uia
'I'M
x I !
'lifL . V .
