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The Commoner
WL. 16, NO. 9
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(The Commoner
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I8SUUI) MONTHLY
Kn tared at thcr Postofllco at Lincoln, NobraHkuj
an Hccond-cIuHK matter.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, CHARLES W. BRYAN
Kriltor and Proprlotor Anwoclato Ed. and Publisher
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9Q00
Destiny is not a mutter of chance, it is
a mattor of choico; it is not a thing. to 0
S bo waited for, it is a thing to be
3 achieved.
3
300W
Mr. Hughes talked to the people of Portland,
Oregon, in I ho ico palace. Yet thoy say political
campaign managers hayo no sense of humor.
Tho Washington statisticians figure it out that
Ma' cai'lta wealth the United States is now
A0Q0. A man of judgment ought to be able to
get two automobiles for that price.
Mho republicans are trying to drag tho wet
and dry issue into tho national campaign'.., At
least some of thorn are saying that Hughes is a
cr.ndidatowiti a, wungh.
NotoVeeeniB to care for the barber vote in
Ni campaign. Senator J. Hamilton Lewis 4s to
follow Candidate Hughes's trail across the coun
try and Mr. Fairbanks is to follow Lewis.
Betting In Wall street early in September was
G to 5 that Hughes would be elected. But then
Wa street is always a bettor indicator of what
Wal street hopes will happen than Wall street
uunivs will occur.
lho lion. .Robert Bacon ought to make a
formidable candidate for senator in the New
qrk republican primaries. Mr. Bacon has the
advantage over his opponent of having once been
a member of tho Morgan firm.
Tho republican campaigners are making what
thoy can out of the declaration of President
Wilson that there are times whon a nation is too
proud to fight, but what is really worrying them
is whether the G. O. P. is too proud to be licked!
tt Th rc?i8urcfs of Ulo national hanks of the
United States Increased over two billion dollars
Inst year. The bankors who believe that this is
only a temporary prosperity we are onjoylne
must have remarkable powers of self-deception.
The Brandegoe faction in Connecticut politics
Is endeavoriug to secure the consent of Former
President Taft to become a candidate for the
senate If Mr. Taft will consult the. 1912 elec
tion returns he will find it much safer to launch
his candidacy in Utah or Vermont,
c
W. L. Harding, tho republican candidate for
govornor in Iowa, declares that he is the "mud
road candidate." Whether this course is taken
to defy the automobile vote or merely to make
the going harder for his opponents is not made
clear. f
For the year ending June 30th last the depos
its in jthe national hanks of the country In
creased nearly 25 per cent, or over two billion
dollar?. It is too bad that this "temporary
prosperity" persists in interfering with the ar-
anu prospects or the republican party.
HHTH
mmm
The .Dixon -Libel ' ' ?nsssi
Tho following letter has been received from a
friend: ' :
"Dear Col. Bryan: Thos. Dixon has produced
an extravagant moving picture along the exact
lines of 'The Battle Cry of Peace.' I witnessed, its
scenes at a private exhibition yesterday. It will
ho shown at $1.00, $150 and $2.00 prices.
"It contains the most unncessary, and the
m,ost cruol insult to you that Dixon'd brain
could conceive. At a great 'Peaco meeting'
arranged by tho 'secret enemies' of the United
Slates, a man picked to resemble you, and who
does resemble you greatly, is shown as the prin
cipal speaker, and is .shown as delaying the
mooting until he is paid his price for speaking.
Ho insists on 'regular Chautauqua rates.' The
man who pays him says: "Then you are not for
'Peace at any price?' " Your Impersonator -is
mado ridiculous in other scenes.
"Of courso your recognizing this gratuitous
insult will simply play into tho fellow's hands,
and ray purpose In writing you is simply to in
form you (the picture will be seen by its mil
lion or two) so that If your friends can do any
thing about it tliey will have your opinion arid
wishes to guide them."
I appreciate tho generous-interest manifested
by ray friend, and tho letter gives me an oppor
tunity to explain to the readers of The Common
er why I hayo not taken notice of the libel.
A public man, who feels It his duty to attack
vested wrongs, must expect abuse from those
who find profit in supporting these wrongs. The
king's courtiers will, of course, defend the king
It is their business to feel offended by any at
tack mado upon him. Mr. Dixon is a. defender
of the special interests and it will doubtless net
him a large sum just now when a subsidized
press fs manufacturing war scares.
He broke into the campaign In 1896 orf the
same side and as full of venom as now. He
was one of the preachers who, by concerted 'ac
tion, rushed to the defense of Wall street in 'the
closing days of 1896. Tho New York World,
speaking of his sermon and. the crowd to which
ho spoko said:
"When he called Bryan 'a mouthing, slobber
ing demagogue, whose patriotism was all in his
jaw-bone,' tho audience howled."
Just ndw the manufacturers of munitions. and
tho papers subservient to them a're attempting to
frighten tho nation into a change of its charac
ter and policy.
- "The Battle Cry of Peace" was found so
profitable that Mr. Dixon couldn't withstand the
temptation to gather in a share of the shekels;
There are many reasons, any one of which Is
sufficient, why It would be unwise to attempt-to
punish him by law. ;
In the first place it would give advertisement
to his play, and this would be of pecuniary value
to him far beyond any damages that could .15e
expected.
Second, a suit, if successful, wnniri mit o, ,i
to a display of sordidness and malice which
must, in itself, more than counteract the person
al harm which the plan is intended to do.
Tho attempt which is now being made to
transform this nation from the world's greatest
moral force into a military power, following at
the tall end of the European procession, and re
lying for Its hope of peace upon, its ability to
terrorize the world, is supported by three pow
erful groups, namely, the manufacturers of
munitions, the militarists, and the big employ
ers, of laborthe latter want a great standing
army with which to overawe their employees If
these men, and the sycophants who fawn about
them, find It necessary to resort to such misren
resentation as Mr. Dixon is guilty of, the public
will be more quickly awakened to the real situ
ation, and thoso who aro attacked can afford to
endure the injustice, if it hastens tho reaction
which, when it comes, will sweep these S
patriots into oblivion. S0 slmm
Third As an additional reason I may add
that I could not take legal notice of Mr Dixon's
intended insulfewithout seeming to douh n,n
value of the life I have tried to lead t i.ihe
been before the public for twen?-five years III
in that time have passed through thrlTnresi
dontlal campaigns in which there lm w
lack of incentive for attack If those in n
of tho republican organization have beeS nif
to do me harm, I would be paying Mr Sivnn .le
undeserved .compliment if I X wSi,S
to accomplish. ' vu ueen unble
I shall continue in the future, as I have in n.
past, to advocate that which I believe tohJif
and for the good of the country. I accent hr?1
the public, responsibility for what l " saanS JT
I have confidence in that sense of i ,?'
which God has implanted in the human heart
a virtue which even Mr. Dixon and those whom
he represents can neither destroy nor dull
j W. J. BRYAN.
THE ARCADIAN ROAD
Mr. Horace G. Cupples, a civil engineer of u
Louis, has published a little volumo entitini
"Arcadian Highway," in which he outHnes a
plan for a highway eighty rods wide from Chi
cago to the gulf, with model farms and gardens
on each side. His dream is first to construct a
MODEL HIGHWAY; second, to furnish labor
for the unemployed in huilding it, and, third to
made tho land along the highway both beautiful
and useful.
It is an ambitious plan, and yet not impossible
of realization. Why not? The good roads move
ment is here, and here to stay. In time we shall
have international highways running in all di
rections, and it is natural that the beginning
should be made with one from New York to
San Francisco and from Chicago to New Orleans.
Then will follow highways from New York to the
southwest and from Chicago to the southeast
and to the northwest, etc. The hard road will
help to solve the railroad problem as well as
many other problems. If governmental action
is delayed the Cupples plan may serve to start
the work It might even be a toll road until tho
government is ready to take it over.
HUGHES'S HUMILIATING CONFESSION
A St. Louis Post-Dispatch correspondent
quotes candidate Hughes as saying:
"Some people think I should say what I shall
do to stop the practices that I am attacking,
I have frankly replied that I don't know. But
in that respect I've got nothing .on Wilson. He
doesn't know, either. I know that these prac
tices exist and I know that if 1 am elected pres
ident they shall not continue to exist."
This is a humiliating confession. "Isn't it
enough to make any American hang his head in
shame"? as Mr. Hughes is in the habit of say
ing. It is not necessary to give any weight to
his charge against the President, for if ho does
not know what ought to be done he is in no po
sition to criticize, but it is certainly a 100 per
cent confession against himself.
SENATORIAL COURTESY
The President, it is reported, will send Mr.
Rublee's name to the senate again. Good. Let
him keep sending until the senate drops its an
tiquated doctrine called "senatorial courtesy,"
by means of which ..senators stand together and
enforce a power entirely contrary to the spirit
of the constitution.
Ratification of appointments by the senate
was never intended to furnish senators an op
portunity for personal revenge. It was intended
to make more certain the appointment of com
petent and trustworthy officials.
Sand-bagging is no more honorable in the
senate than on the street; the President is right
in insisting that appointees be judged on their
merits and not be made the victims of personal
resentments.
NO WONDER ROOSEVELT'S MAD
It is not strange that it makes Mr. Roosevelt
mad to read over the President's remarkable
records of reforms. Mr. Roosevelt had more than
twice as long a time ia the White house as the
President has had, and yet he went out with but
a meager record in the way of remedial legisla
tion. It must provoke him to think that he
might have left as splendid a record as the
President made, but for two things: First, he
lacked the DESIRE FOR REFORM, and, second,
a republican congress would not have joined him
in the making of such a record. The President
HAD the DESIRE for reform and he had a dem
ocratic congress" inhearty sympathy with him.
Those republicans; who are trying to base a
criticism of the democratic admnistration on the
fact that It has- thrown republicans out of offi
cial positions arid placed democrats in their steau
seem to have forgotten that just such a PjJ11
was in the voters' mind when they changed the
administration.
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