A Word as to
Candidates
It is impossible to consider the relative avail
ability of candidates until we know what issues
are likely to be paramount. As the issues will
be framed by congress and as congress does not
convene until December, it will be well into the
winter before anyone can discuss intelligently
the personnel of the next campaign. There are
certain general principles, however, that should
govern no matter who may be a candidate. The
first is that the question of location plays a less
important part than in times past. It does not
matter so much whether the candidate comes
from the east, west, north or south as it does
that he shall stand for the things that the peo
ple want. Neither does it matter whether the
candidate is prominent or not. There is nothing
like a campaign to make a man known. An ob
scure man who will grow as the people become
acquainted with him would be better than a
prominent man whose popularity would decrease
with investigation.
The attitude of the candidate upon the liquor
iss*e is important. He nnfst be dry and in favor
of enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment
and the laws passed for its enforcement. The
Democratic party cannot encourage lawlessness
or enter into partnership with the lawless ele-#*
ment of society. It woul^be fatal to do so if
only men voted—it woul<W)e absurd to expect
the women to vote for such a candidate.
Our candidate must be with the people as
against Wall Street That issue cannot fail
to be prominent in the next campaign, owing
to the influence big business has exerted over
the present administration. If the Republican
leaders, with over two-thirds of the House and
nearly two-thirds of the Senate, could not show
the people with big incomes the favoritism that
was attempted and could not pass the ship sub
sidy bill, how can Democrats expect to win
without a straightforward, unequivocal declara
tion in favor of the disinherited masses and the
victims of the profiteer?
It is difficult at this time to estimate the rela
tive importance of the international issue. The
President has set out to secure co-operation with
other nations in the promotion of peace. Hq is
right, as far as he goes, and to the extent that
he succeeds the importance of international
questions will be lessened. It is quite likely
that we shall, before the next election, be par
ticipating in the international councils—reserv
ing, of course, the right to independent action.
No surrender of our right to decide questions
of war will be advocated by either party.
"Neither government ownership of railroads
nor government ownership of coal mines is
likely to play an important part in the next
campaign, but the right of the people to regu
late the railroads and to regulate the mines also
will have to be admitted or fought out.
W. J. BRYAN.
LIBERTY ANI) LAW
On another page will be found a cablegram
reporting Premier Mussolini of Italy as saying
that the people are tired of liberty and want
law and order. Mussolini is so new to public
life that this blunder may be due to a misunder
standing of government rather than to a disre
gard for liberty. There is no conflict between
liberty and law; in fact, liberty and law are not
only consistent but they are indissolubly linked
together.
Our Declaration of Independence sets forth
certain self-evident truths; first, that all men are
created equal; second, that they are endowed
with inalienable rights. These are fundamental;
they are the basis of liberty and the source of
love of liberty—a sentiment which has been in
the heart of man from the creation.
The second and the fourth of these self-evi
dent truths relate to government; that it is es
tablished among men for the purpose of secur
ing to them the enjoyment of these inalienable
rights, and that governments derive their just
powers from the consent of the governed. If
Mussolini does not understand that law and
liberty travel together, he has something very
important to learn. If, however, he knows the
relation between liberty and law and puts law
above liberty or considers government as a thing
independent of liberty, he will prove dangerous
to human progress in proportion as he has in
fluence.
It may be that his bloodless victory was due
to the fact that the plutocratic element—an ele
ment to be found in «very country—saw in him
a valuable ally. If it proves to be true that he
is in sympathy with the reactionary forces of
society and the champion of great capital in
its assault upon human rights, the plunderbunds
of other countries will be looking for a Musso
lini to lead the masses into the slaughterhouse.
W. J. BRYAN.
THE ISSUES OF 1924
April 11, 1923.—Mr. Lester Markel, Sunday
Editor, The New York Times, New York City.
My dear Sir: Responding to your request, I sub
mit a brief answer to the question: "What will
be the issue in 1924?”
It is the business of newspaper men to ask
questions and it is a pleasure to answer them
when an answer is possible. It is easier, how
ever, to be far-sighted in asking questions than
in answering them. One can ask without limit
but in answering one is restricted to what he
knows, or thinks he knows. The future itself
refuses to answer questions and those who do
venture to answer must be very cautious if they
have any regard for their reputation,.because no
one knows what a day may bring forth in poli
tics.
The issue—or I think it is better to say, issues
—of 1924 will be determined largely by what
the next session of congress does and by what
is done in Europe between now and the conven
tion. We have the domestic questions with us
always; in each campaign we have a paramount
issue—the issue that is made paramount by*
events. Domestic issues absorb attention except
when the American people are compelled to lift
their eyes above the domestic horizon and sur
vey the world at large. At home there are four
questions that are being widely discussed, al
though no one can now estimate their relative
importance, and of course there will not be un
animous agreement as to their relative impor
tance even when election day arrives.
First, I would put the condition of the Ameri
can farmer. He is suffering more than any other
class and the farmer makes up one-third of the
nation in population. The price level is dis
jointed; the farmer buys upon a level nearly
fifty per cent higher than the level upon which
he sells. This is ruinous and, in time, spells
bankruptcy. No other question is likely to influ
ence the farmer’s thought and political action as
much as this question.
The second question affects the laboring class,
the next group in si-ze to the agricultural group.
There are certain readjustments necessary to in
sure equity to the laboring men, but the most
disturbing feature of the situation is the increas
ing antagonism between labor and capital—the
class consciousness manifested by members of
both groups. The attitude of the government is
alarming to the laboring men and this alarm has
been increased by the recent decision of the Su
preme Court in which five of the court denied the
right of congress to fix a minimum wage—three
judges dissenting and one not taking part in the
decision. This is another of the five to four de
cisions and still further intensifies the desire of
the masses for legislation or Constitutional pro
vision which will make it impossible for a bare
majority of the Supreme Court to nullify legis
lation on questions which are more political than
judicial in their character.
The third issue deals with the curbing of the
profiteer. Those who are in position to organ
ize can charge what the traflie will bear and are
doing so while those who can not organize are
the victims, not only of natural conditions but of
the artificial conditions which monopoly creates.
Something must be done; it remains to be seen
whether the situation will be relieved by the ac
tion of the next congress or aggravated by its
failure to act.
Taxation is the fourth domestic issue. Mr.
Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury, is already sug
gesting a further reduction in the surtax—a
policy which puts the pecuniary interests of the
rich above the necessities of those not so well
to-do. It is shifting the burden of taxation from
the backs of the strong to» the backs of the weak.
As the Democrats and the progressives com
bined will have a majority in both houses, it is
not likely that any such reactionary policy can
be successful.
There will, of course, be many other issues but
I mention the above as issues that affect very
Urge groups and which will, therefore, have
strong public opinion back of them. When we
know what the issues are we shall be in posi
tion to discuss candidates. Events make issues
and issues mak* candidates.
Vary truly yours,
W. J. BRYAN.
Making Banks Safer
The Bank Guarantee Law has compelled
banks to feel an interest in each other; since
they are joined together in the protection of de
positors they are interested in insuring each
other’s solvency. I venture to suggest three
things that will lessen the number of failures
and thus lessen the assessments made to pay de
positors of failed banks.
First; there should be laws, state and nation
al, making it a penal offense for any bank official
or bank employee to speculate upon the stock
market or the produce market. No gambler can
be trusted; the facf that a bank employee de
sires to gamble is conclusive proof that he is not
the kind of a man to trust with the handling of
other people's money. Even-if he were a per
fectly reliable man at the beginning of his gamb
ling, his honesty would not last long. For his
own protection, as well as the protection of the
bank, he ought to be restrained from specu’a
tion. The public has just as much right to pro
tect banks from the menace of the gamblers and
speculators as a powder factory has to prohibit
the carrying of matches by those working with
powder.
The second law needed is a statute requiring
the capital and surplus combined to bear a rea
sonable relation to deposits. The capital and
surplus furnish the margin that protects the de
positors. A bank requires a borrower to have
property in excess of the face value of his loan
—enough more to give him margin for shrink
age. Bankers ought to live up to their own
rules and give depositors a margin in the way of
surplus sufficient for protection against possible
shrinkage in loans.
The third law is even more necessary that the
first and second above mentioned. Bank officials
should be held personally liable for the violation
of rules made for the protection of the bank’s
solvency. The laws, state and national, limit the
amount that can be loaned to one person or firm,
but there is no penalty fixed for the violation of
the law. Bank officials are continually violating
this law under the pressure of influence or inter
est. It is sometimes difficult for a bank official
to refuse the demand of a powerful customer. A
criminal law would give him something to bacK
up against. He could say to a man desiring to
borrow more than the law permits, “I cannot
accommodate you at the risk of being sent to the
penitentiary.” The borrower ^sometimes gives
the bank official an indirect pecuniary interest
in the loan. A criminal penalty would give the
official strength to resist such temptations. No
one will question the wisdom of the laws above
proposed, or the need of them. Why will leg
islators allow banking influence to prevent the
enactment of such legislation?
W. J. BRYAN.
BENTLEYVILLE SETS EXAMPLE
Professor C. G. Pearsall of Bentleyville, Penn.,
asked the students of the junior and serior high
schools of that city, numbering four hundred, to
join with him in signing a total abstinence
pledge. Three hundred and seventy-five of the
four-hundred signed with him. It was a splen
did example. His action will be brought to the
attention of the high schools of the country and
professors and teachers will be urged to lead
their students to pledge themselves to abstinence
from intoxicating liquor as beverage. This is
the ‘most effective way to aid enforcement of pro
hibition. It will not take long to dry up wet
spots if the churches and schools build up total
abstinence sentiment back of the prohibit on
amendment. W. J. BRYAN.
ON DANGEROUS GROUND
If the execution of Vicar Butchkavithc was
due, as seems probable, to hositility to religion
in general, it is the surest evidence yet gi^en of
the irresponsible character of those in authority
in Russia.
Tolstoy defines religion as the relation that
man fixes between himself and his Maker, and
adds that morality is the outward manifestation
of religion. If morality rests on religion, as I
believe it does, then the entire absence of re
ligion destroys the foundation upon which civil
zation rests. W. J. BRYAN.
The robin and the summer hat are pretty fair
harbingers of spring, but the average man is not
likely to believe that it is really at hand unless
there are predictions in the newspapers that the
mine operators are about to have their men
strike on them again.
