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tho greatest stato in the union, speaking in a re
publican convention, presenting a candidate tor
the highest ollice Jri the gift of tho greatest re
public of history, this man tells us that all this
talk of peace is an idlo dream; that we must still
settle our destinies by our wars.
That is an insult to the Christian civilization
' of tho world. Does this doctrine represent tno
ideas and tho ideals of tho president? Many tear
it does, for of all tho presidents we have ever had
not one of them has possessed a tiihe of his mil
itary spirit and entnusiasin. Wo havo had great
soldiers In the white house. Washington was a
soldier, Jacuson a soldier, Grant a soldier; but
"Washington and Jackson and Grant combined
nover had tho love of power and of military dis
play that this one man combines in his disposi
tion. The Americans should place in the white house
a man who belloves in peace, instead of a man
who belloves in tho glory of the display of arms.
Mr. Roosovelt made a speech before the cadets at
WJst Point in which ho said that a good soldier
must not only be willing to fight, but anxious to
flght. Death is the tragedy of human Ike,- and ho
who takes human hie assumes an awful respon
sibility, and yet to say that a good soldier mast
not only be willing to flght, but anxious to iignt,
means that a good soldier must not only willing
to kill if need bo, but anxiousto kill, for fightiug
moans killing. Some in the heat of passion havo
taken human life. Tho government, in the en
forcement of the law, has taken human Hie, and
men In battle array, when they fought for what
they thought more important than human hie,
havo taJien human life. But what soldier that
ovdr knew service on the battlefield believes that
to be a good soldier means to carry around with
you, like a concealed weapon, a desire to tae
human life?
Tho president should Instruct our boys in tho
arts of peace, and not inspire them with a th.rdt
for war. Ho should not be so fond of war that
if loft to decido between peaceful means that must
occupy some time and brilliant exploits of war,
he should select tho exploits of war.
Wo had an example in the case of Panama, a
little republic. They sent one morning from tho
department at Washington: "Understand that
there is an uprising there." Tho answer came
back: "Not yet; expected this afternoon:"'1 And
in 'a few days we had a now reptifllic, and were
preparing to make a treaty with It. My' friends,
there was no necessity for trespassing upon the
rights of thoso republics there; no necessity tor
exciting alarm among the republics of Central
and South America. What if we had been deal
ing with a big nation Instead of a little nation?
Would we havo done the same? Answer, if you
will. If he had done that we would have been at
war, and it would have been at an enormous cost.
Would ho havo done it? How dare you say ne
would bully a little nation, but would not act the
same toward a big nation? Let us remove, by tho
election of Parker and Davis, the racd question,
the army question, the question of imperialism,
and substitute peace for war.
!
JJJ
the Ideal-The Real
. I have had people ask me why democrats seem
to be so interisejy in earnest about their democ
racy. I have had men say, "Why, w - some
democrats, democracy is a sort "of religion." My
reply .is that with every democrat who knows
what democracy means it is a religion, and when
you hear a good democratic speech it is so much
like a sermon that you can hardly tell the dif
ference between them. And why? ' Because a
good sermon is built upon the ten commandments,
tho sermon on the mount, and the eleventh com
mandment "Thou shalt love tl'" neifeor as
thyself." And a good democratic speech is built
upon the doctrine of human brotherhood, equal
rights, and self-government. When you get down
to bedrock you find that love of mankind is tno
basis of both, and democracy can never die while
there is in democracy a love of mankind. Democ
racy does not go as far, sometimes, as we would
like to havo it go, but, my friends, we must not
expect that wo will have everything as we wo-ild
like it. Ask a mother, as she holds in her arms
her baby boy, what her desire is, and she, will
tell you that she desires that his heart will be so
pure that it could be laid upon a pillow and not
leave a stain; that his ambition will b i so holy
that' he could whisper It in an angel's ear- and
that his life will be so clean that his mother, his
sister, his wife, his child? could read a record of
his" every thought. and act without a-blush. That
The Commoner.
is the Ideal that every mother has for her "child.
But asit her if she Is going to require that per
fection in him, and from her heart she will tell
you no; sho will say that is ner desire, bu: that sko
will maue him as good as sho can; that she will
follow his footsteps with a daily prayer; that her
blessing will rest upon him wherever he goes
throughout the world; and that she will hope,
hope, yes, hope that when he dies the world will
be better mat ho has lived. That is about all sno
can say to you. And so, my tnends, if you asK
me if my platform has all that 1 want in it, 1
say; no. You asit me if my candidate stands tor
all I would like to uave him stand lor, 1 answer
no. But shall I throw away the guod ne promises
because I can not get all that 1 want? By what
means can 1 secure more than 1 can secure through
the election of Parser and Davis? There is no
other way by which 1 can bring to my country at
this time more of good than will be brought
through their election. Reformers must oe patient.
It is a alow work, this worn of reaching humanity;
it is a slow work. I remember that just about'
the time that they reported from the Philippine
islands that the Filipinos had divided into squaas
and that these separate squads had hidden in tne
woods and formed maruading bandsjust beiore
that time 1 read in an encyclopedia that about a
thousand years ago the Anglo-Saxons were uoing
the same thing. A thousand years ago! We have
made progress but tnere is much ahead of us yet.
It is only two or three hundred jears ago that
we were burning witches; only a lew short dec
ades since we were persecuting people for con
science sake. We are doing better now, but we
are yet far from the goal. If they tell you that
we have reached a point where we arj so good
that we cap cross an ocean 7,000 miles wide in
order to lorce upon people belonging to another,
branch of tho Cnristian church the doctrines of
our uranch if they tell you that, answer Uiein
that as long as in any great American city jou
ecu get a larger crowd at $5 a ticket to see a
prize fight than you can get to listen to a sermon,
there is enough in this country yet to do without
crossing tne ocean. We must be patient,
I read a poem when I was in co.lege, one
stanza of wnich has clung to my memory:
Heavei Is not gained, by a single bound;..
We buiiu the ladder by which we nse . . l
From the lowly earth to, the vaulted skies
And modnt to itsTsum'mit round 'By rouna.
You asit me if the' democratic ladder reaches
to the Sx.xes? No, but as 1 Iook upward l see no
ladder whose top is higher than ours. I plant my
foot upon .uie low,er round; 1 will climb as lar as
that ladder reaches and then I v ill pray to tho
God of. Hosts that He may give us strengiu and
wisdom t build it higher and higLer until us top
is lost in tne clouds. We are doing now the best
we can. .nile Judge Parser does not stand Lor
all that I want, l did not stand eight years ao
and tour years ago for all that some people wanted
who voted tor me. Tel' me that he is net perfect;
I can pr e by thousands of republican papers
that the same criticism was made against tne
candidate who ran four years ago and eignt years
ago. We can not expect perfection. We can not
expect to get all that we want at one time and in
one niggle. A man who is living upon a farm
does not raise his year's crop in one day. He
plants the seed, waits till the seeds burst torch
ana the sprouts appear; then he cultivates ne
toils industriously, and if, as the result of the
whole season's labor, he is able to fill his barns
with plenty he feels that he is repaid fo- his sum
mer's wont. We sow the seeds of thought broad
cast in tne political world. I nave been sowing
for many years. Sometimes it seems to me that
tho seeds have fallen on stony places, sometimes
on barren ground, but I hav.e seen evidence that
some seeds have fallen in fertile soil and have
grown up and brought forth an hundred told.
As go about over the country if I can meet young
men full of enthusiasm, .anxious to do something"
for the world, and these young men tell me that
at sonio meeting where I spoke and which they
attended their hearts were quickened, their ambi
tions made highqr and their desire for their na
iton's welfare Increased, I feel that I have done
some good. As I grow older I welcome these
young men; I trust that their numbers may be
increased and that victory may be hastened
(Extract from Mr. Bryan's speech at Lawrence
burg, ind.)
The Situation in Nebraska
The situation in Nebraska ? nerall- reassur
ing. While 'the .republican managers -ciaim that
Mr. Roosevelt will carry the state, they are mot
.- - . VOLUME 4, NUMBER iX -
quite so enthusiastic in their claims r,m .
tho state .ticket Ulms conrnlng
The democrats and populists in Nebmq.,n ,
united upon one of tho strongest state tikJ i
ever presented to tho people. tlckets !
- George W. Berge, the nominee for governor
a well known lawyer and has the confidence an
respect of everyone who knows him
x.or lieutenant governor, Dr. A. Townsend- for
secretary of state, Rudolph E. Watzke; lor trW
urer, J. M. OSborn; for auditor, J. s. Canadar for
attorney general, Edward Whelan; for suuerin
tendent of public instruction, A. A. Softly or
land commissioner, A. A. Worley. All of these
are .well known as eminently able and reputabla
In' Nebraska, so far as the state ticket is con
cerned, the issue is "Popular government against
corporation rule." The fusion ticket represents
popular government, and should be elected. Tho
people may depend upon it that they will obtain
material relief from the evils that have surround
ed their state government.
The fusion nominees for congress are as fol
lows: First district, Hugh Lamaster; Second dis
trict, Gilbert M. Hitchcock; Third district Pat
McKillip; Fourth district, C. R. Gilbert; Fifth dis
trict, Harry Mauck; Sixth district, W. B. McNeel.
All of thdse gentlemen are able men, and while'
it is too much to hope that every one of them will
be elected, if seems safe to say that nearly every
one of them has a fighting show, while Mr. Hitch
cock, in the Second, and Mr. McKillip, in the
Third, have considerable more than a lighting
show. In the Fourth district Mr. Gilbert, and in
the Fifth district Mr. .auck have excellent pros
pects. The people of Nebraska have been greatly
imposed upon by the corporations, and there are
many reasons for believing that the people or
this state have grown weary of corporation rule,
and are determined to assert themselves by reg
istering a vigorous protest against government of
the many by the few.
The Philippine Question
We have spent in the last five years $600,000,
,1 000 v trying, to .force an alien government upon an
., unwilling, people, and what profit have we derived
from it. We have sold $16,000,OQ0 of merchandise
' tl'iere', and if the government owned it all, and if
it were all profit, it would be spending $G00,0U0,uU0
to get a chance to sell $16,000,000; out the govern
ment does not own it, and it is not all profit. Tho
profit is small, and what there is goes to private
individuals, while the people at large bear the bur
den of that Philippine policy. We have had it now
for six years and the republican party is not will
ing to announce the reasons in justification of its
policy. For six years we have challenged the re
publicans to defend imperialism. Four years ago
we declared it the paramount issue of the cam
paign, but the republicans refused then to meet
the Issue; they refuse now to meet it. When we
" asked them in 1900 what they were going to do
with the Philippine islands, what did they say?
Why, they said we cannot talk to the Filipinos
while they have their guns in their hands. They
said, let the Filipinos lay down their arms and
' then we will talk to them. Don't you remember
what they said? Well, the Filipinos laid down
their arms and then what did the republicans
say? They said there was nothing to talk about.
They would not discuss the question when there
was war, because there was war, and they would
not discuss it when we had peace, because tho
'end of the war, they said, settled tho question.
And these republicans imagine that unless a man
has a gun in his hand and has it aimed at you,
he hasn't any right to demand consiueration or
his rights; and if he has the gun and is aiming
at you, he hasn't any right then, either.
Why do the republicans refuse to discuss tins
question? ? Why don't they give us the basis of
the title which they claim? How c.d we get the
jLulipinos? Did we buy them from Spain? wnat
right has a republic to buy subjects of a Span
ish king? Dempcrats deny the right of a republic
based on the declaration of inde- 'erie to buy
subjects from anybody at any price. If we can
buy subjects of a Spanish king at $2.50 apiece,
then we can sell them to some Qther king, when
V? can get $5 for them, and make $2.50 on t no
transaction. More than that,, if we can buy m
pinos from a Spanish king, then our government
can sell American, citizens into subjection to
1 Democrats deny the r)ght.of the government
to sell.orfe human being tq any, king or poiui
tate on'&axUi; and if w,' cannot sell Americans,