The Commoner.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
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Lincoln, Nebraska, August 17, 1906
Vol. 6. No. 31
Whole Number 291
CONTENTS
- Mb. Bryan's Lkttkr
Wilat is Shaw Afraid or?
Oiiasb for Soapjcqoats
Mr. Bryan's Speech .
EUROPEAN" Newspaper Comment
The Moral Foror
Cummins and the Tariff
Senators and Salaries
DEMOORATiq State Conventions
Comment on Current Topics
. Home Department
Whether Common or Not f
News of the Week v
A GOOD EXAMPLE
Perry Craig, president of the Cass Land and
Cattle company of Pleasant Hill, Mo., has set a
good example to all those who believe that The
Commoner Is engaged in a good work. The" fol
lowing letter is self-explanatory:
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Pleasant Hill, Mo., August 6, 1906. &
Editor Commoner:
I received yours of July 16 asking
for renewal to my subscription to The
Commoner. I wondered then where I
could get up a club of five. But I had
such good luck before the first mail train
' that I became very much interested and
' decided to hold the list for two weeks and
see how many I could get. I send my
own renewal together with the names of j$
254 others with bank draft for $152.40 to Jt
cover the same. PERRY CRAIG. &
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DON'T FORGET IT
The New York Mail (Rep.) asks: "What does
It mean to stand pat?"
The best definition we have yet seen was
given by the Lincoln, Neb., Journal, a stalwart
republican paper. The Journal said: "Thus it
comes to pass that a 'standpatter' in Iowa "and
in other states as well is now generally under
stood to be a man who opposes any radicaf change
in existing institutions. Because of inertia, or
ingrained conservatism, or his personal relations,
he is willing to allow InteresVs with a cinch to
hold on to their advantage indefinitely."
Let the members of the rank and file of
the republican party men having no axe to grind,
buWwhose welfare depends upon the general wel
farekeep this definition of "standpat" well
in mind. Let it be written in the highways and
the byways so that every free American may
read, that the standpatter Is one who "because of
inertia, or ingrained conservatism, or his per
sonal relations, is willing to allow interests with
a cinch to hold on to their advantage indefi
nitely." JJJ
MR. BRYAN'S DATES
From Paris Mr. Bryan cables, fixing the date
of his arrival in New York as August 30. He will
visit New Haven and Bridgeport, August 31; Jer
sey City, September 1; Chicago, September 4;
Lincoln, September 5; St. Louis, September 11;
Louisville, September 12, and Cincinnati, Septem
ber 13.
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Merely an Annoyance
GREECE, The World's Teacher
Mr. Bryan's Thirty-first Letter
Nothing so impresses the visitor to Greece
not the waters of the Aegean sea, with their
myriad hues, not the Acropolis, eloquent with
ruins, not even the lovely site of Athens itself
as the part which little Greece has played in the
instruction of the world. Less than twenty-five
thousand square miles in area, less than half of
which is productive, and with a population of
less than two and a half millions, this diminutive
nation has a history without a parallel.
There is scarcely a department of thought in
which Greece has not been the pioneer, and in
many things she has set an example which sub
sequent generations have but imperfectly fol
lowed. If in Egypt one is awed by the evidences
of antiquity; if in Palestine he is made reverent
by the spiritual association connected with Judea,
Galilee and Samaria; in Greece he bows with
profound respect to the mighty influence exerted
by this single people upon civilization,
The signs along the streets recall the alpha
bet with which the student of the classics strug
gles when he takes up the dead languages and
yet, the Greek language can hardly be called
dead, for while it is the spoken tongue of but
a comparatively small number, it has found a
glorious resurrection in nearly all the languages
of Europe. In fact, it had so many merits that
we are constantly complimenting it by returning
to it for the nomenclature of philosophy, science
and art.
Of those who-still speak the language of
Herodotus, Homer, Socrates and Demosthenes,
a majority live outside of Greece, for the Greek
colonies planted around the eastern end of the"
Mediterranean form a considerable as well as
an influential portion of the population Greek
colonization, by the way, was of an enduring
kind. Those who went out into distant fields
did not go as individual bees (official or commer
cial) to gather honey and return with it to the
parent hive; they went out rather Jn swarms to
found cities, develop countries and establish new
centers for the spread of Greek Influence. They
identified themselves with the land to which they
went; they became an integral part of the pop
ulation, and by virtue of their inherent superiority
they gradually substituted the language, the ideas,
and the customs of their native land for those
which they found. So securely did they' build
that neither the Roman nor the Turk was able
to obliterate their work. The people bowed be
fore the storm, but continued Greek, and today
in Alexandria, Asia Minor and Constantinople,
Hellenic influence is still felt.
The ancient Greeks sought to perfect tho
human form, and it Is not to bo wondered at
that the marble models of strength, grace and
beauty have been unearthed where the Olympian
games inspired a rivalry in physical develop-
ment. The games were established nearly eight
hundred years before the beginning of the Chris
tian era, and during tho nation's independent ex
istence they were held in such high esteem that
the laurel wreath of victory was the greatest
reward within the reach of the youth of the
country. Each city had its stadium, some of them
of Immense size. The one at Athens seated fifty
thousand spectators, and the enthusiasm aroused
by the contests was scarcely less than that which
at Rome' greeted the gladiators. By the gen
erosity of a rich Greek the stadium at Athena
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