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V.
Marshall's Brilliant
Speech to Senate
(From tho Washington Star, March 4.)
Voicing his faith in tho government of tho
Unitod Statos as set up "by tho forefathers, Vice
Prosldent Marshall, just before concluding his
duties as presiding officer of the Senate today
doliverod tho following address:
"Vory shortly I shall have ended my official
life as tho constitutional presiding officer of this
body. That moment, when it arrives, will not
mark my demotion into tho ranks of the average
American citizen, for I never arose above them.
"I sprang from the loins of men who helped
to lay a tho foundations of tho republic. At my
birth my father placed upon my baby brow the
coronal of a free-born American citizen. In my
youth I was taught that if I woro.it worthily, no
prince nor potentate nor electorate could add
to or detract from tho honor of that royal
coronet. m
"I may have failed, but I have tried to keep
tho faith. I have never doubted that, so far as
tho principles of civil government are concerned,
'he pillars of Hercules rest upon the Declaration
jf Independence and the Constitution of the
United States. To my mind there is no beyond.
nho forms under which tho principles of the re
public aro administered may need changes to
moot changing conditions, but the underlying
dea does not, for truth is unchanging and
eternal. What was so when the morning stars
sang together will bo so when the Angel of tho
Apocalypse appears.
"I yonturo to express this .much of that Idea:
A government dedicated to the inalienable rights
of man to life, to liberty, and to the pursuit of.
happiness can And its perfect accomplishment
only in representatives bravo and strong enough
to rise above the ambitions, passions, and preju
dices of individuals and groups. Representative
governmoht was intended to guarantee those in
alienable rights of men through the enactment
and enforcement of laws calculated to preserve
and promote equal and exact justice to all men.
Religions dio .becauso priests mumble their
yfirpods, but havo no faith in their gods. Govern
ments go to wreck because their statesmen shout
aloud their shibboleths, but let a friendly enemy
pass the ford.
"I freely grant the right of this people to
hango our form of government and to adopt
other basic principles, but, if it is to be done,
!ot it be done decently and directly, so that all
of us may know it. The old faith has already
too many sleek and smiling Joabs asking of ft
Is it well with thee, my brother?'
"While the old order endures let representa
tives represent the old ideals; lot it be under
stood that they are not mere bellboys, subject
to calls for legislative cracked ice every time
tho victims of a debauch of greed, gambling or
Improvidence feel the fever of frenzied need
"The life is more than meat and the body
more than raiment. It is of minor importance
who holds the wealth of the nation if the hoarts
of all its people beat with true historic American
throb. The clothes may mark but the clothes
cannot make the gentleman. The economic re
habilitation of Ameirca is of vast moment, but
the rehabilitation of the ancient faith which
upheld Jho ragged Continentals, emerged in
pristine glory from the throes of civil war, and
hurled Us smiling and undaunted face upon the
fields of France, is a far greater work
"It is enoughperhaps too much, 'who am
I to suggest, even with shame-faced timiditv
anything to you? For eight long years, crowded
with events which have forever changed tho
currents of the world's history, I have been with
you. I como to the end of them with a feelimr
of heartfelt gratitude to you all for those little
nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and
charity which-have marked your friendship' and
.good will. You have been good to me. The
odor of your friendship will sweeten any air
that I may breathe. Not one of you can wish
for himself a kindlier fate than I would 'give
you if I were omnipotent. feXVe
"I go, but you remain. I leave with the same
Inarticulate cry in my soul with which I caSe
to you: My country. It is no new nor unuS
cry for the American, but it has, I fear, myS
concepts. To some it means broad acres and
fertile fields; to many, opportunity fornerarSini
preferment; to a thoughtless few! the ??? to
utter every vagrant word which finds lodgment
in a mind diseased; to tho half-educated hat
democracy should be governed as soon by the
infant's cry as by tho prophet's warning. But
to mo it is but tho composite voice of all tho
good and wiso and self-sacrificing souls who
trod or tread its soil, calling for that liberty
which is law-encrowned, preaching that doc
trine which seeks not its own., but tho common
good, and, above all, warning us by the memory
of the dead and tho hope of tho unborn to close
our ears to' tho raouthings of every peripatetic
reformer who tells us that the way to santify the
republic is to remdvo every landmark which has
hitherto marked the boundaries of national and
individual life.
"It Is no now religion we need. Our creed
should be: One Lord, one faith, one baptism
tho Lord of Justice, who was with Washington at
Valley Forge, Grant and Lee at Appomattox,
Pershing on tho fields of France, the faith that
under a republican form of government alone,
democracy permanently can endure; tho baptism
of that spirit which will not be content until no
man is above the penalties and no man beyond
the protection of our laws.
"Let him who goes and him who stays re--member
that he who saves his life at the loss
of his country's honor loses it, and he who
loses his, life for the sake of his country's honor
saves it."
Harding's Problems
(Continued from Page 3).
coal strike at the beginning of the winter the
number of those owning stock in the companies
and working in the mines did not equal one mil
lion men, and, counting five to a family, not more
than a total of five millions of the population.
The other ninety-rfive millions would have suf
fered if the strike had continued. The time is
not far distant when this large third party,
known as the public, will receive greater con
sideration than it has in the past. The strike
and the lockout are only defensible as a last
resort and when no other -remedy can be found.
And the strike and lockout, even when necessary,
aro" very clumsy weapons and likely to bring
suffering upon innocent as well as guilty.
Many remedies have been suggested, one of
them, arbitration, has been urged with consid
erable persistence. Where arbitration is volun-.
tarily agreed upon by the parties to the dispute,
no objection can be found to it, but compulsory
arbitration is not likely to be favored in this
country it does ndt seem to be in harmony with
our institutions. We would find it difficult to
compel anyone to work for wages which he
deemed insufficient or under conditions he
deemed unjust, just as we would find it difficult
to compel an employer to conduct his business
at a loss. But compulsory investigation is an
entirely different thing. We have thirty treaties
that provide for the compulsory investigation of
international disputes and the idea was embodied
in the covenant of the League of Nations. And
it may be added, this is one provision to which
no one objected.
Tho idea can be applied to labor disputes.
That is, a commission on which each side will
have representation could investigate and report
to the public without having power to bind tho
parties by any finding. Public opinion can be
relied upon to reconcile differences when all the
facts are known at least public opinion will
settle a large majority of the cases and thus re
lieve both the parties to the dispute and the
publ c generally of the evils that follow a sus
pension of any line of business. Such a system
would be valuable for that which it prevents
well as for that which it accomplishes. When
we have machinery sufficient for the settlement
of industrial disputes, animosities will be less
ened because neither side will consider it neces
sary to arraign the other in advance of th
adjustment of differences. Just as the substitu
tion pf reason for force in the settlement of in
ternational disputes prevents the stirring un of
passion and the inflaming Qf prejudice in ad
vance of war, so the substitution of InvesUgatfon
for strikes and lockout will reduce to a m nlmV
dmicuuit inesa tbat now make8 oS3SS
Fifth. Agriculture demands the immediate
attention of tho administration. The cattl
raisers are at the mercy of the Backer? til
wheat and cotton growers are a ? theSoV?
the gamblers and all the farmers are a tSl
mewy of the middle men and the trusts The?
need legislation to insure them a Si IvZ
for their products and to provide at roafonabE
sar they need to -sniss
Tho sixth problem which will confront Presi
dent Harding is the enforcement of prohibition.
While thero has been a very large decrease in
tho consumption of intoxicants and a very ma
terial improvement in conditions, there is still
organized opposition to the enforcement of the
Volstead act. Such difficulties as w now have
arises chiefly from two sources, first the tempta
tion to make money out of an illicit traffic ana,
second, the hope of weakening the law by legis
lation. It is important, therefore, that the new
attorney-general shall give the law-breakers to
understand that his oath of office will not be
violated. Any weakening on the part .of the
Department of Justice would inaugurate a reign
of terror, any concession mado to those who defy
tho law would increase the difficulties of en
forcement. '
The second thing necessary la the closing of
the door of hope. The new Congress was elected
nearly a year after tile prohibition, law went into
effect and nearly two years after the amendment
was ratified. The wets polled their maximum
strength in 1920, and, in spite of all they could
do, the drys havo a large majority in both
houses. Congress will probably have an oppor
tunity to speak emphatically on tho subject at
an early date. The more emphatic the pro
nouncement, the sooner prohibition will be
accepted as the settled policy o.f the country.
In speaking of enforcement, it must not bo
overlooked that the smuggling of liquor in from
the outside will increase in relative importance
as internal sources of supply dry up. We shall
soon have to deal with an international question
raised by the use of adjacent .foreign territory as
a base for conspiracies against our prohibition
.Jaw. We must go to the limit in preventing
American citizens from forming on foreign soil
conspiracies against their own government, and
then foreign governments will be nnabje to re
sist our appeal when we ask them to prevent the
use of their territory by others who conspire to
violate the prohibition law, just as they .refuse to
allow their territory to be used by pirates for
the purpose of preying uppn the commerce of our
coasts.
These are but a few of the. grave questions
that President Harding will meet at the thresh
old when he enters the presidency. Democrats
will be patriotic enough to wish him every
possible success because Democrats, as citizens,
will share in the good that flows from a wise ad
ministration, and the Republicans, on the other
hand, cannot desire less because they know that
a failure on the part of the president to act
wisely, will invite defeat at the polls. The voters
may call themselves Republicans or Democrats,
hut they are more interested in their . country
than they are in any party and more ready now
than ever before to make their votes express
approval or disapproval. W. J. BRYAN.
IiETTERS FROM COMMONER READERS
The following letters are self-explanatory:
Maquoketa, Iowa, Feb. 21. Mr. J. B. Keath-
loy, Brownsville, Tenn. My Dear Sir:' I wish to
congratulate you on your classical letter in the
February Commoner. It has the true ring of a
mAdmmi?e.t0 stand by and defend THE
GREATEST LEADER OF THE AGE, who has
been on tho firing line .since 1896. I have had
his picture (24x30) hanging in the store since
that date. Respectfully yours, J. L. Scholl.
Brownsville Tenn., Feb. 24.-Editor Com
moner: I will thank you to have, this brief com-
55 i5 o Erln,ted in The Commoner, together
with Mr. Scholl's congratulation herewith, with
, 2Pe ?f, nterestlnS others in backing up a
?JHL ? "?' and a statesman who realizes the
7 o L ftud? a?d 8ervice ln hs great work for
tS J f ' hIs disJussion of the protective
SS? doctrIn.eas congressman in 1892, Mr.
E mortal zed himself in the estimation of
nnnf n?eem0?r?tS' i" linked me to Him aSWith
dS?ffln ? characterizing in substance, the
. ffjtptaef tariff protection as legalized robbery.
ti. n THE COMMONER ;
is Wui lmmoS' now starting its 21st yepr,
lion's Th? min?y' dIscuasmg Political Ques
thZ' v J?.Vrlnc,lpleB !t has advocated in all
and StoS SJave been written into Constitutions
as a whnio y Btates, as well as the nation
conttitutfon SfUP ed?al amendnts to the
transcan w aid ""7 than a dozen statutes of
d?rinh?iBlfmf0ptance enacted thereunder
during, the last ten years. Equality, Chicago,
a waTtw v,he ereat warriors of the world, and
UatVd0 ldaS tod la. simply
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