Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (March 11, 1904)
"" The Commoner. WILLIAil J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 4. N..8. Lincoln, Nebraska, MarcH n, 1904. Whole No. 164. HE WISDOM OF DOING RIGHT ST fQnnnsil rlfkl ItmnA 1 Kfn T).t nf 1 fi.1reriTi 0 Win nn thrf Ifitli rF lnaf Trmnth Aa H la possible lor him to go Into every community mnlfA n vprhnl nrntnnt ncralnst. tho nlann of to reoreranizern thfa Rnepch la ronroduced that rt readers of The Commoner may be fully in- rmea as to tne line or argument pursueu. in tnlanat.lnn of thn first naraerranh of thn ftna'nnh may be added that a gentleman by the name ot lunam j. uryan mtroaucea tne speaicer ana Pernor Jennings occupied a seat on the plat- i.) Mr. Chairman. Ladies and Gentlemen: I am jry glad to be here If there is any state in Men l ougnt to ieei at nome it certainly is a ite in which I can be introduced to you by a in wno nas my nrst ana last names, ana in a tte whose governor has mv middle name. I am Ire because I am interested in national politics, iu l mignt say, to relieve an irom emDarrass- nt, that I como at my own invitation. I come Florida as I have gone elsewhere to discuss Ibiects in which I feel an interest. I shall sneak jyou upon the same line that I followed when poke in New York a few weeks ago, where I en ged the hall and introduced myself. I am not Inlnor to nresent to von anv neculiarlv southern ferine, or a western 'doctrine, but a democratic trine. I4 am clad that there is a democracy It is as broad as the nation a democracy that r do prociaimea in any part or tnis country; a uemocracy tnat is not as oroaa as me na Ifl not a demoeracv that can hone to draw to lf tho. patriotism and intelligence of the saerican neonle. As L understand democracy, it fa'ans the rule of the people a democracy that is inued upon the aoctrme or numan urottiernooa l democracy that exists for but one nurnose. bri that the defense of human rlchts. That kind l democracy can bo proclaimed wherever man res, and is willing to respect tno rignts or nis llow-man. I am clad to be here because we are entering ion a campaign of vital Interest to the deinoc- lp.v and to the American neonle I nm inter red in that campaign; and I think I am in a pa position to talk politics now in a Detter ?sition, in fact, than I have been lor a good hilo. In several campaigns I have bepn a can- idate. I was a candidate for congress in 1890 id. therefore, when I spoke people might have taught that I was personally interested in the action. I -was a candidate again in 1892 and ere again I spoke under the disadvantage of be lt a candidate . In 1894" I was a candidate for the Inate and when I canvassod my state they might pain nave tnougnt tnat i ana a perauum luwirai i. thn rocnit Tn 1R0R T whs a candidate for the residency and then, too, they might have felt lat my zeal was due to my personal interest in ie election. In 1900 also I was a candidate, and jo nfinniR who then listened to me listened to e as to one who aspired to office; but I come H von now not as a candidate, and yet more in vested in the result of the election, more inter- Bted in the triumph of aemocrauc principles man cevflT- wna wiifio t wan mvself a nominee I am lot only a private citizen, but I can prove by rery gold paper in the Unitea states tuat i nave ccellent nrosnects of remaining a private citizen il the rest of my life. And now because, as a Itizen, I attempt to speak the sentiments that re in my heart, they say tnat i am rymB w uiu itn Thmr opftm tn ho vcrv much afraid of dicta- Ron. Those who have stood on the outside of fen rmrtv nn.-i trfpd tn dictate to it for eight years re afraid that some one on the inside of the iarty may attempt to make suggestions to the arty now. The anxiety tnat tney ieei ia u.c arty be dictated to reminds me of something I fead a short time ago. A man was all crippiea IP; ho was limping and had nis arm m u wiut, ?. i.i -i .oAo. ama ono nairan. "What iu jjhxuuus on uia iuv;o. wm " - - the matter?" and he repnea, i wwj uuiit, . downstairs and my, wife told me to bo careful, ut I wpn't allow any woman to dictate to me." ' fie would- not be careful just because his wife cautioned him to be careful, and some ot these peoplo feel about as much exercised. I ask them to be honest but they would rather suffer than fellow such advice. Now, my friends, I am not trying to dictate;"Tram not in a position to dic tate. "What authority have I, or what power, to ' coerce anybody? If I was the head of a railroad corporatipn I might have .the power to coerce or to withdraw employment from those who would not vote as I desired; if I was a manufacturer and employed a large number of men I might do what many manufacturers did in 1896, nameiy, glye the employes a choice between voting a given ticket and idleness. But whal power have I? 1 have none, and I have no desire to dictate. 1 have no power to grant favors to you; if anybody does what I advise, he must do it, not from hope of reward from me, but from hope of reward from his own conscience. I have no power, I repeat, to confer favors on you; I have no power to give you office. If I had that power there would bo many men with mo who are now talking about harmony and the reorganization of the democratic party.. fvVhat is it that they are afraid of? I will toll you. If a group of men are assembled in a room contemplating larceny and a little child comes in among them and sas, "Thou shalt noL steal,'..' he will put them all to rout. They will not be afraid of the child, but they will bo afraid of the doctrine that he proclaims. And so, it Is not be cause I have power to coerce, or to command, or to dictate, but because the doctrine of honesty is a doctrine that the reorganizes have never yet dared to meet and which they will not meet In this campaign. I want to preach the doctrine of honesty and I want to preach it, fust, because it is right and because people ought to do right without stopping to count the conseuuonres; and, second, because J believe that in doing right we lay the best foundation for complete and perma nent success. So, whether you reason from the standpoint of expediency or from the standpoint of principle, you will be broughl to an honest course In this campaign. You have hard some say that I am disturbing the harmony of the - party. I have had men within the last few days tell me that Instead of criticising things that I believe to be wrong, instead of pointing out dan gers that I believe to exist, I ought to "pour oil on tnc troubled waters" I have examined the oil that they want mo to uso and find that ltis Standard Oil. I am not willing to use that kind of oil I am not willing to harmonize on that basisVJ I desire to present to you what I believe to bo a moral issue and to appeal to you to fight this battle upon the moral Issues involved. I want to appeal to you to make the democratic partv the " champion of morality in politics. I want you to help to put the democratic party in a position where it will arouse the conscience of the Ameri can people the conscience which is the most po tent power" in the world when it is once awakened. What we need today in this country is not so much the convincing of republicans that their policies are wrong as the convincing of republicans that if in power wo would do differently. A great many republicans are convinced that commercial ism has paralyzed their party and is paralyzing the country, but when you point out what tho republicans are doing the answer comes back, Would you not do the same thing if your party was in power? And, my friends, they use the ut terances of men who call themselves democrats to give the lie to every promise of reform. They use" the conduct of these co-called democrats to convict U3 of hypocrisy and insincerity When men tell me that the time ought to be spent in trying to' persuade and coax people to come into the democratic party regardless, pf their scpnvic- Uons and regardless of their conduct when they come in, I am reminded of; a story told on a min ister. He was talking about a revival In his church and somebody asked him how many ho added to tho roll. Ho suid, "I did not add any. ; I struck off 150." When men tell me that wo must surrender our principles; that we must make our party satisfactory to thoc who do not . believe in democracy, or in a government of tho . people, by the people, and for the people, 1 telJ them that what wo need is not bo much to get In men who arc not democrats as to drive out of the party those who pretend to be democrats, but whoso conduct is a living lie. Just as the church is stronger when it expels men whoso llvta belie their profession as a church is stronger when it is composed of a few, but all of them try'ng to live up to thoir profession than when composed of more, but of persons woakor In character, so a party is stronger if It has fower members and all of them trying by their lives to exemplify the principles written in their creed. I believe it Is possible for the democratic party to win, and not only that, but for the democratic party to win a . victory that means something for the American people. You ask me how it can be done? Here ia a plan: Whenever a democratic official betrays his trust do not apologize for him; brand him and drive" him" out of the party and make him join the republican party or go oR alone, They cannot investigate boodling in a city now with out catching democrats in tho net; they cannot investigate boodjing in a legislature without gath ering in democrats; they cannot investigate boodling anywhere but what they find aomo dem ocrats who are Involved like tho republicans, and these men do more to hurt the democratic party these men do more to injure our chances of suc cess than any plank that was over put into a platform. I have had an experience like tals, and after you have had it a few tiroes you will ag-ee with me; I have been talking to an audience and point ing out what the republican party had done that was hostile to the intercuts of the people and I have had some well dressed fellow to answer back, "Well, you had control of the government from 1892 to 1896, did you ?o any better?" And I have had to answer, "No, wo did Just as the re publicans do," and then I have told why, be cause tho victory of 1892 was secured through tho influence of the great corporations and with the campaign fund that they contributed. Our party having won its election in that way wab mort gaged to the syndicates apd for four years our administration betrayed the party and betrayed the people for tile same roason that tho republi can party has betrayed the people. And when I have pointed out these things they'have called mo a disturber of the peace and one of the corpora tion papers, tho Nashville Banner, that used to claim to be a democrat, but has not been work ing much at its profession for some time-Tit ' criticised mo and said that If I did know that there was an enormous campaign i'und collected and expended "in 1892 I ought not to say any thing about it, but that I ought to let the republi cans find that out. I am more interested than a republican in finding out and criticising demo cratic wrong-doing, and why? Because I am in terested in the democratic party. There is not a man in this country who has more reason to bo interested in the democratic party than I. What man in this country has received more at tho - hands of the democratic party than I? What man owes more to tho democratic party than I owe, and what man by his history and training ought to be more thoroughly democratic than I am? My father was a democrat and his father and hia father's father; my mother and her parents on - both sides were democrats. Ag far back as. the history' of the family goes It has b.en demo cratic, and my wife's family on both sidca was democratic. I envy my boy because he has ona, ? i ' y H l;iiftftjrtii-rL"f i'l"fl
