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The Commoner.
.WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
Vol. 5. No. 23
Lincoln, Nebraska, June 23, '1905
Whole Number 231
DON'T BE LED ASTRAY.
M ' '
CONTENTS
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.Majority Rule League
"Man"
."Stat at Home Trustees"
. Taxation and Threats
' ; Not Wise to Use 'Name-,
."Why. Not Paul Morton?
But Some One Must Yield'
Comment on Current. Tones
The Primary Pledge
News op tiie "Week
MAJORITY RULE LEAGUE
The Illinois democrats, who were counted
out of the last state convention, are organizing
to insure the rule of the majority in the demo
cratic conventions of the future. The name of
the organization is the Democratic Majority Rule
League of- Illinois, . and the officers are: .presi
dent, Hon. M. F. Dunlap, of Jacksonville; secre
tary and treasurer, Hon. Theodore Nelson, room
715, 100 Washington street, Chicago. The declar
ation published by the league will be found on
another page. It will be noticed that the object
of the league is not to assist any candidate, but
to insure majority rule. It is exactly in line
with the primary pledge plan proposed by The
Commoner. All Illinois readers of The Com
moner should put themselves in communication
with the league and co-operate with it. The
last Illinois democratic convention was a dis
grace and those who were in charge ought to
go into retirement for a while. The majority
must rule.
JJJ
ROOSEVELT, PEACEMAKER
"Blessed are the peacemakers" and all
Americans should rejoice that it was an Ameri
can president who proposed peace to Russia and
Japan. It is sad to think that any international
dispute can reach a point where bloodshed is
demanded by either side, but it is gratifying that
reason Las at last been restored its temporary
dethronement was followed by an awful sacrifice.
President Roosevelt deserves credit for seiz
ing upon an early moment to tender the good
offices of the nation and it is fortunate that our
country's attitude toward both of the belligerants
is so friendly as to make it proper for us to take
the initiative. It is to be hoped that the negotia
tions will be conducted In such a spirit of fair
ness as to make the peace a permanent one. In
the meantime, the people of Russia are likely to
find the time ripe for the securing of governmen
tal reforms and if the czar's embarrassment re
sults in the granting of constitutional government
the nation vill gain rather than lose by Japan's
victory, whatever the terms agreed upon by the
peace commissioners.
JJJ
THE NEVER ENDING RIVALRY
The fact that Germany has just ordered six
more torpedo boats, will give the large navy advo
cates in this country an excuse to clamor for more
boats, and this clamor, if yielded to, can be used
in Germany to justify still further purchases and
so on ad infinitum.
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The straight and narrow path is the only SURE road to the goal, Mr. President.
MAN"
This address vas delivered by Mr. Bryan at
the commencement exercises of the Nebraska
State University at the Auditorium in Lincoln,
June 15, 1905, and also at the commencement exer
cises of his. Alma Mater, Illinois College.
The Psalmist asks of Jehovah "What is man,
that thou art mindful of him, and the son of
man, that thou visitist him?" And answering his
own question he adds: "For thou hast made him
a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned
him with glory and honor."
Man, in the sense in which the term describes
the human being to whom the Creator has given
dominion over earth, and air and sea, and upon
whom He has imposed responsibilities commen
surate with capabilities and possibilities man, as
thus defined, is an appropriate theme for an occa
sion like this, and its consideration is worthy not
only of those who, having completed the course of
study prescribed by this institution go forth to
meet life's problems, but worthy also of the
thought of those of us who are older.
Miracle of miracles is man! Most helpless of
all God's creatures in infancy; most powerful
when fully developed, and interesting always.
What unfathomed possibilities are wrapped with
in the swaddling cloths that enfold a babe! Be
fore Its tongue can lisp a word it has brought
to one woman the sweet consciousness of mother
hood, and to one man the added strength that
responsibility imposes. Before its tiny hands can
lift a feather's weigri they have drawn two
hearts closer together, and Its innocent prattle
echoes through two lives. Receiving impressions
from all about it, It likewise loaves its impress
upon all with whom it comes into contact. Not
a day, not an hour, not a moment in all its life
but la replete with power to give joy or sor
row, help or harm. There is an infinite space
between a statue, however flawless the marble,
however faultless the workmanship, and a human
being "aflame with the passion of eternity."
If the statue can not, like a human being,
bring the gray hairs of a parent "In sorrow to
the grave," or devastate a nation, or with murder
ous hand extinguish the vital spark in a fellow
being, neither can it, like a human being, minister
to suffering mankind, nor scatter gladness "o'er
a smiling land," nor yet claim the blessings prom
ised in the Sermon on the Mount. Only to man,
made in the divine likeness, is given the awful
power to choose between measureless success and
immeasureable woe.
Man shares with the animal a physical na
ture ho has a body, the citadel of the mind, tho
temporary tenement of the soul. It is necessary
that this link in the endless chain that connects
the generations past with the generations yet
to come shall be made as strong, as conditions,
heredity and environment will permit. Infinitely
varied are the physical capabilities bequeathed to
us by our ancestors. Some of us are heirs to
virtuous estates with which no courts can inter
fere; some of us bear in our bodies the evidence
of ancestral sins and are living proof of the fact
that the iniquities of the parents are visited upon
the children. All of us Inherit both weaknesses
and elements of strength. It Is within our power
to conserve and to increase the strength that has
come down to us, and it Is also within our power
to dissipate the physical fortune which we -r.ve
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