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PJG3BRUARX 17,1905
The Commoner
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Democracy's Appeal to Culture
Speech ef Mr. Bryan before the Alumni
AsseoUtlsn of Syracuse University.
(DellVeretf at Hotel Astor, New York,
January 27th. 1905, Mr. Steven B.
Ayres. Presiding.)
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Ladles and Gentlemen I am very glad to bo
frere tonight in- fact I have lost no opportunity
in recent years to make the acquaintance of tho
people of the east. Something that I said in 1896
was misconstrued, and I have often been reminded
that I called this "The enemy's country." After
looking at the returns no one can doubt that, in a
certain sense, it might be, properly so named but
I would not U3e any term that mightseem to indi
cate that there is any part of this country in which
I do not feel at home, or where any theory that I
entertain can justly be considered an unfriendly
pne. I am especially glad to have a chance to ,
speak on occasions of this kind, where those who
are assembled may be said to represent the schol
arship of a section of tho country the graduates
of the great universities. I am not at all embar
rassed by the fact that insofar as this university
has denominational leanings it is Methodist. My .
mother wa3 a Methodist at the time of my birth,
though she afterwards joined the Bapti3t church
with my father, and my wife was a Methodist at
the time of our marriage, although she after
wards joined the Presbyterian church with me.
As my father took one from the Methodist church,
and I another, I even things up now by attending
a Methodist church with my whole family. I have
been attending a little Methodist church near vthe
farm for something like two years. I have thus
been preparing myself to associate with the gradu
ates of this college. I have not put great em
phasis upon church lines, or church, doctrines for
I am connected by ties of blood and by friend
ship with all the other churches. I find that I am
recalling more and more frequently a story which
I heard when I was but a boy; it has, really had
a great deal of influence in shaping my views on
' church questions. l was in a southern Methodist
churphnhaV I heard it. The minister said that
there was a mill, and that many -people brought
wheat to the mill by several roads.. When they
arrived with tne wheat sonte coming by one road
and some by another some over the hill and some
along the stream the miller never asked them by
what road they came, but simply whether tho'
.wheat was good?
That was years ago, but I havja thought of .
that story many, many times, and it has made me
feel that if we are one in the essentials we can
afford to be charitable towards each other in the
non-esentials, and all of the branches of tho
Christian church are one in the great fundamental
principles of religion. I like some things about
the Methodists; I like their friendliness the man
ner in which they stop, when the 3ermon is over
and the congregation dismissed, and 3hake hands
and get acquainted with each other I like that.
And there is one thing about the Presbyterian
church that I did not like, but I have had an ex
planation of it recently that makes me accept that;
so I am In a very genial frame of mind so far as
churches are concerned. The one thing that I;
did not like1"" about the Presbyterian church was -the
doctrine of election. I have had a good deal
of trouble with that religiously, and otherwise- '
but I heard an explanation of the doctrine of elec
tion that has reconciled me to it, and in the 'hope -that
there may tfe some Presbyterians here Who
can be helped by it, I will tell you this story.
Two colored preachers down in Georgia were, dis
cussing religion, as they are wont to do some- .
times, and 'the Presbyterian brother was trying to
persuade the. Methodist, and the Methodist brother
hung baclCon the doctrine of election. The Presby-
terian brother said: "It's just this way-the vot
ing is going on all the time; the Lord is voting
for you and the devil is voting, against you, and
whichever way you vote, that's the way the elec
tion goes." , . , ,
It is the best definition of the doctrine of elec
tion that I know of.
I am glad to have a chance to talk to you, who
represent a great university; I have enjoyed meet
ing those who stand in positions of prominence In
your university; I need not tell you that the name
of your chancellor, Doctor Day, has been knpwn
to me, and that it is a great pleasure to make his
personal acquaintance tonight.
I am ttereUo speak to you-, because J have
something ltd slay to you; I have a message that I
want to bring t6v you, and" I am very much more
concerned about impressing the message upon you
than I am about the languago in which I shall
present it. I am reminded of tho difference which
somo one said existed between Demosthenes and
Cicero. "When Cicero speaks," he said, "people
say 'How well Cicero speaks,' but when Demos
thenes speaks, they say, 'Let us go against Philip,' "
the difference being that the one impressed him
self upon his audience, and the other impressed
his subject upon his audience. While I appre
ciate kindly feeling and expressions of confidence
and respect, I am very much more anxious that I
shall impress my theme upon you tonight, than
that I shall impress myself in fact, I am com
paratively Indliierent as to what you may think
of me, if I can make you think of tho subject
to which I invite your attention. It is Democracy's
appeal to culture. That is my theme; it is a
great theme. I shall not attempt to exhaust-it
but will merely suggest somo things that occur
to mo in connection with it Let me first say
that I do not speak of Democracy in any partisan
sense. I am not going to talk politics, although
I was tempted to think of politics just once this
evening as I looked at the moving pictures or the
boat race, and I enjoyed them very much. Wo
were told that one of tho characteristics of your
crew is that the men "recover quickly." I am
satisfied that you have been wise enough to select
democrats for your oarsmen. I speak democracy,
not in the party sense, but in that broader sense in
Which democracy means tho rule of the people.
In every country, according to Jefferson, there is
a democratic party; I care not what they may call
it; it Is a party that draws to itself those who be
lieve in tho people and trust tlie people. In this
country, I am glad to say, there is no patty large
enough to contain all of the democratic spirit
wo "find its manifestations in all parties in fact
there never has been a crisis where this democratic
spirit was appealed to, but what wo have found
that that spirit was too large to be eondensed
within the limits of any party. But I want to speak
of democracy in even a larger way, and that 13
as the term describes the people at "wbrk the
common people, if you will. And when I say "the
common people" let no one think that I use tho
term as a term of reproach. The highest compli
ment ever paid to any class of people, was paid
to the common people for, does not the Bible
say, when Christ wa3 upon" earth and preaching
His doctrines of brotherly love does not the
Bible say that the common people heard Him
gladly? What 'other class has ever been so dig
nified, so honored? Lincoln said that God must
have loved the common people, because he made
so many, of them. The common people are very
numerous, and the uncommon people are not nearly
so important as they sometimes think they are.
The common people of a nation are its strength;
they produce the nation's wealth in time of peace;
they are tho ones who 3tand ready to sacrifice
themselves for their country in time of war. The
common people furnish the students for your col
leges. From the ranks of the common people, too,
all. theoccupatlons and professions of the -city are
recruited. I vant to speak, just for a little while,
of ,the appeal that the people make to culture.
Let me suggest that this word "culture" has too
limited a definition. Sometimes we speak of cul
ture as if it involved only refinement of manners
and tho training of the intellect. I want to speak
of that broader culture which may be defined as
the enlargement of man's capacity for service,
accompanied by a willingness to employ that ca
pacity to the full. It is a fault of the cultured
people of , this age, and of every age, that they have
not lived up to their opportunities. And lest you
should think that this is a westorn criticism let
me read you what a great eastern orator once
said. Wendell Phillips cannot be accuaed of being
a western man; he lived even farther east than
you in New York; he lived in the very center of
culture in Boston, and in his address entitled, "The
-Scholar in a Republic," he said: "Almost all the
great truths relating to society were not the result
of scholarly meditation, -.'lilvlng up wisaom with
each curious year,' but have been first heard in
the solemn protest of martyred patriotism and tho
loud cries of crushed and starving labor. When
common 3ense and the common people have stere
otyped a principle into a statute, then book men
come to explain how it was discovered and on what
cround it rests. The world makes history, and
scholars write it-one half truly and the other
half as their projudlcc3 blur and distort it." Now,
this Is the opinion of a great eastern orator In
regard to tho product of tho schools, and what ho
says Is only too true. Tho scholar does not do his
duty to tho people today; ho has not done his duty
to tho people in tho past. I want to divide what
I have to say tonight into three parts, and speak
for a moment in regard to each. Democracy ap
peals to culturo, first, for Justice, second, for
truthfulness, and third, for sorvice. What do you
find today? I have been deeply interested in tho
presentation of one phase of this subject by Pro
fessor Ross, of our Nebraska State University.
In an address on "Tho Character of Modern Sin,"
he takes occasion to point out that while our edu
cated and well-to-do people avoid tho old-fashioned
sins, such as burglary, assault and battery and
-murder upon tho highway, they are guilty of mod
ern sins that are no less injurious in their char
acter, but sins which are committed without com
ing into closo contact with their victims. Let mo
call attention to somo of the forms of. this sin.
For instance, tho adulteration of foods. Those who
are guilty of tho adulteration o foods are not
only swindling, uut they even endanger lives, and
yet so great Is this adulteration of food 'that it is
an old story to tell you of- tho injury and injustice
dono'in this way. Professor Ross spoke of an in
stance in Chicago where the board of health sent
out a prescription to bo filled at a hundred drug
stores. In a third of tho cases the prescription
failed contained not a single thing that was called
for in tho prescription. In about a third of the
cases it contained a part of that which was called
for, and only in a third of the cases was it filled
properly. It Is necessary to paas laws to prevent
swindling, and tho injury of .people by the adulter
ation of food. He also called attention to the los3
of life that comes from the fa'lure of corporations
to use safety appliances. Is it not strange that a
Christian man an educated Christian man can
prefer a largo dividend to the care of tho lives of
those who work for him? And yet I remember that
one yhole night was spent in congress to compel
a vote upon a bill to require railroads to use safety
appliances, Deaths were running into the thous
ands through this neglect, and yet tho cost of
equipping cars with a safe coupler was sufficient
to stand in tho way and make it necessary for the
members of congress of this great nation to spend
a whole night trying to compel the use of a device
for the protection of the lives of railway employes.
That is not an isolated case-- you know that it is
true that we have to have tho laws in regard to the
Inspection and caro of mine3 and the employment
of children under age. It Is necessary for tho
government to step in and with the strong hand of
the law prevent men from actually taking human
life and from 'injuring generations to come be
cause of the profit that can be secured from tho
working of children when they ought to be in
school. This is one of the phases of modern sin.
Another, 'is In the enormous wrong that vis done
by commerical methods that are sometimes con
sidered respectable. We find great swindling en-(
terprise8 put upon tho market. In this very city
you are having an investigation that shows that
dn official of one of your" great "banks was con
nected with a syndicate that was burglarizing the
public. What was the purpose of the "wash sales"
of stock to deceive the people into buying tho
stock in the belief that the stock was worth more
than It was! Men engage In these things men
whose minds are trained and who ought to under
stand moral principles as applied to business.
Too often educated, and cultured men are found In
creasing their dividends by methods that must be
called criminal when measured by any moral law.
It is a. common thing nowadays for those who con
trol a corporation to pass dividends, to run down
the price of stocks in order to secure more stock
at a lower price, and sometimea the officials make
more money speculating in the stock of their con
cern than they make either In legitimate dividends
or out of their salaries, and who are the victims?
Largely the mass of the pepplo who trust the great
names in finance and are ready to invest their sav
ings In 3tocks that can thus be manipulated by
those who can corner and control tho market. It
seems to me that the people have a right to ask,
especially of those who are cultured and educated,
that they shall abstain from these indirect methods
of wrong from this criminality that cannot b
defended. -
t "- - (Continued on-.page 13.) .;
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