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VOLUME 10, NUMBER T
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nftor till, tho only lusting pouco Ih Unit which Is
built upon tho Montiinottln thai lie within; fear
can compel for a time but only lovo can hold
for otornlly.
I havo said that our nation muni ho inter
ested in you hecauKo you havo adopted a form
of government like ours, and are working out
that ideal in your government. I am not ho
exacting a to expect that either in your country
or in my own the government will ho perfect.
Governments are administered by human hands
unci the work of human hands, while it may ap
proach perfection, never reaches perfection. And
it is no rollout Ion upon your country, as it is no
reflection upon mine, to say that tho real is
not aH high aw the ideal. If our realizations were
up to our Ideals, our Ideals would ho very low.
An Ideal to he an Ideal must he above us and it
is not a high ideal that a man can expect to over
take. When a man overtakes his Ideal his
progress stops; the Ideal must ho so high as to
keep us looking upwards all tho time and our
ideal government, the Ideal of government which
you also have adopted, namely, that the perfect
government is the government completely and
Immediately responsive to the people's will that
is tho highest ideal of government. Not because
tho government will ho at any time perfect, but
because with that kind of government tho people
can havo a government as good as they deserve
to havo. The best Ideal of government that we
can have is an ideal that gives us a form of gov
ernment that the people can use and use to tho
best advantage. Tho best that can bo said of
our Ideal Is that however perfect or imperfect
tho government may be It can bo made better;
tho best that can bo said of it Is that as tho
pooplo mako progress In virtue, Intelligence and
patriotism, their government will retlect tho im
provement. But there is anothor reason why our relations
tiro likely to becomo moro friendly; and it is a
bottor reason than l havo yet given. It is be
causo the world Is growing better; it is becauso
tho world is rising to higher ground. What aro
tho signs or tho times? Progress everywhere
and in all directions. Thero is not a country in
tho world In which intolligenco is not increas
ing; thoro is not a country in tho world in which
tho number of schools is not increasing, in which
tho number In attendanco is not increasing, In
which tho standard of education is not being
constantly raised. This is true tho world around.
If It were necessary to bring proof I could bring
it from every civilized or even semi-civilized
country on the earth.
Not only is intelligence increasing; not only
is tho number of tho Illiterate decreasing, but
tho ideal of government that takes tho whole
pooplo into consideration is spreading every
where. Go where you will and you will find that
tho struggle is on; sometimes over one issue,
sometimes over anothor; in one place it manifests
itsolf in one way, in anothor placo in another
way, but everywhere tho people aro pushing on
and assorting tho doctrine that governments de
rivo thoir just powors from tho consent of the
governed, and that governments shall bo admin
istered in behalf of tho people of tho country
Increaso in intelligence means hotter government
and improvement in government in turn increas
es the opportunities for education. The ideal to
which tho world is moving in somo places moro
rapidly than in other places, but everywhere
moving, is this that thero shall be an open
school door in front of evory child born into
the world and that tho child shall, through free
dom of conscience and freedom of speech havo
nn opportunity to give to his follow men tho
benefit of his judgment and his conscience
But, my friends, there is another direction in
which I seo signs of progress. Tho world is
growing not only in intolligenco and in its an
prociat ion of tho principles of popular govern
ment, but thero is a moral movement that is
perceptible throughout tho world. Tho world
is coming to understand tho doctrine of brother-
Ll00(l a, has novor beon understood before
Some if teen years ago Dumas wroto a letter
in which ho said that he saw signs of the coming
of a bettor day; ho said that wo were on the
eye of a new era, which he described as the era
of brotherhood Two years afterwards Tolstoy
who has not been outside of his country for
more than fifty years, read what Dumas sai
and declared that ho, too, saw signs of the
coming of this era of brotherhood. I seo it in
my own country; thero is a study of ethica
questions such as we have never had before and
I believe it is true of every country I think
vm! SI Snl! J"10 !n rat BjS "link
ou will And it truo in Germany; I think you
The Commoner.
will find ft truo in France. It was in France
that Charles Wagner wrote that little book, ''The
Simple Life," which has been translated into
nearly overy tongue, and what is it in that hook
that has touched tho heart and found response?
It is the eloquent protest that he presents against
the materialism that has been making man tho
slavo of his possessions. It is the earnest ap
peal for tho assertion of a manhood and a wom
anhood that will raise tho spiritual above the
purely physical. I am euro I am not mis
taken, when I say that we are upon the eve of
this era of brotherhood, and as the doctrine of
brotherhood spreads, as wo come to recognize
tho Indissoluble ties that bind every human be
ing to every other human being, we shall be
lifted to a higher plane. Instead of killing each
other becauso we differ in opinion we will find
a rational way of settling every dispute that
arises amongst us. Do not these conferences
at Tho Hague mean something? Do not the
peace congresses that aro held from time to
timo in different places mean something? I had
the privilege of attending one peace conference
in London, in July, 190G; thero were assembled
thero representatives of twenty-six nations and
they unanimously endorsed a resolution, the sub
stance of which was this: That before any
declaration of war or commencement of hostili
ties every question that defies diplomatic settle
ment shall be submitted to an impartial inter
national tribunal for investigation and report.
That means that instead of flying at each other
in anger, instead of fighting when the passions
aro excited, we shall pause for investigation, and
examination; that before any nation goes to war
tho reason must be known then the sentiment
of tho world can be turned upon the question;
and the enlightened public opinion of the people
of the world will compel justice.
Do you tell mo that the building of battleships
still goes on? Yes; they are still building bat
tleships and I am not expecting that they will
stop at once, but I am expecting that every year
a larger and larger number of the people of the
world will endorse the doctrine set forth by
Carlylo in the closing chapters of his "French
Revolution," when he says that "thought is
stronger than artillery parks and at last moulds
the world like soft clay," and then Carlyle
adds that at the hack of thought is love. Love
is the greatest force in the world. With a larger
intelligence, with a quickened conscience and
with an increased application of ethics to public
affairs, we will realize that the things that are
seen aro temporal, that the things that are un
seen aro eternal, and that the sentiment of jus
tice which no one can see with the eyes of the
flesh is, after all, the thing that is most real and
the foundation upon which governments, socie
ties and civilization rest.
But, my friends, I did not come here this
afternoon to make a speech to you; I came here
as your guest in answer to your courteous in
vitation, glad to testify, and I think that my
right to testify can not bo disputed glad to
testify that our nation is watching your nation
with a friendly interest, with an interest that
has no mercenary motive in it, that our sympathy
is a broad and lasting sympathy. I am glad to
adopt that philosophy that enables me to regard
with delight every advance that a neighbor can
make. I can not tell how my neighbor's pros
perity is going to help me, but I have such faith
in the wisdom of the plan upon which God built
this world that I believe that no good that can
come to my neighbor can bring harm to me
and, as I know of no rules to apply to nations
except those that apply to individuals, I am glad
to apply to nations this same philosophy and to
believe that God has so made this world that no
real good that can come to any other nation will
bring harm to us. Therefore, as an American
citizen I can travel anywhere, and everywhere
and wherever I go, I can bid the people God
speed in tho development of the natural re
sources of their country; in the elevation of
heir people, in tho winning of those laurels
that come as recompense for good deeds. Now
that wo do not measure a nation's greatness hv
he size of its army, or the strength? its nav
now that we are beginning to measure nations
as we measure individuals, by the services that
they render others, tho little" nations can stand
upon an equal footing with the great and In
heso contests for supremacy, not 7n physica
force but in moral prestige, each nation, no mat
ter how small, can hope for a place in the front
rank if it shows-by its condUct that It bunds
tuopzhyesdation ad Hves -
Timely Quotations
.
A Commoner Reader: "Why make ten thou
sand owners of tho soil and all the rest tres
passers in the land of their' birth." David
Lloyd George.
Why in America build up a handful of billion
aires while all the rest struggle for bread.
George H. Bell, Fowltown, Ga. I beg to-bffer
as a contribution to quotation column, the fol
lowing from Byron:
Chief of the Ten. It must not be, .the people
will perceive it.
Dage, the people! There's no people, you well
know it,
Else you do not deal thus by them or Gompers.
There's a populace, perhaps, whose looks
May shame you; but they dare not groan or
curse,
Save in their hearts.
I have substituted Gompers for a pronoun.
Ella McGuffey, McGuffey, Ohio. "The accum
ulation of that power which is conferred by
wealth in the hands of the few is the perpetual
source of oppression and neglect to the mass
of mankind. The preference of partial to
general interests is however the greatest of; all
public evils. It should therefore have been the
object of its laws to repress this malady, but it
has been their perpetual tendency to aggravate
it Laws, it is said, can not equalize men.
No; but ought they for that reason to aggravate
the inequality which they can not cure? Laws
can not inspire unmixed patriotism, but ought
they for that reason to foment that corporation
spirit which is its most fatal enemy?" Mackin
tosh. It seems to me that the people surely ought
to realize the truth in the above quotation.
Public conditions and individual experiences at
the present time are such as to compel the be
lief that the controlling political party in power
is the party of exaggerated inequality in wealth,
conferred upon the few by special privileges, un
equal rights and laws. The democratic party
has always pleaded for the support of the people
to enable it to establish just and equitable laws.
It has shown the evils of corporate rule, the
disadvantages of trusts and combinations in
shutting out competition and depriving the peo
ple of individual, equal opportunity in all ave
nues of industry. The people either do not
recognize the evils or do not understand their
source, or else they would give their support
to that party which is always pointing to these
evils, pointing to their source and pointing to
their remedies.
Herman H. Sanborn, Sanbornville, N H
Noting that you have lately introduced a new
feature in tlje form of a column of "Timely
Quotations," I take the liberty to send a few
quotations which seem to be peculiarly appli
cable to present day conditions, and which may
?SHhyrR? ofnservice t0 The Commoner readers.
1 wish The Commoner the fullest measure of
success in the dissemination of the principles
of true democracy. u
What has destroyed the liberty and the rights
of man in every government which has ever" ex
isted under the sun? The generalizing and con
centrating all cares and powers into one body
Thomas Jefferson. .
rJ?iecaU?e .th,eSe things' right and wrong, are
really what do govern politics and save or de
stroy states the few who keep insisting on the
o?1n0cuf areUS?n? "? the VrofifablenesL
MatelUlno"d! ' nl7 real . "ticians.
Give us men! A time like this demands
GTmii!1geahandsStr0ng true and
Men whom the lust of office does not kill
Men whom the spoils of office can not buv'
Men who possess opinions and a will
Men who have honor, men who will 'not lte-
cWeds 6 rabblG' WUh their thulbworn
Wrong rules the land and fitinSS 32?!'
Oliver Wendell Holmes!
Is it not time for the liberty invi ,
of this land to put their condemnnng Pepl
state of things that brings ttfSe ofte5
na?!itato contempt and K?evc
'M-xAnttmii
