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The Commoner.
13
JUNE 24, 1910
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the establishment of the republic. It was an
actual' contest, with, speeches, editorials and
other literature While tho vote-was very light
in, some places there were less than fiVo thou
sand votes polled in Rio, fqr instances-still tho
campaign was in itself a stop in advance. In
Brazil, they are passing from personal politics
to party contests; they will in due time reach
the platform stage, as we did, and make their
fights over principles and policies.
In San Paulo I visited the Normal School, a1
flourishing institution established by an Amerl
. can, Miss Brown, and still conducted along
American Jines. Two addresses of welcome were
delivered in English, one by a professor, and
one by a young man chosen from the student
body; a young lady recited an appropriate poem
in English, and the school then sang America' in
English. The friendly sentiments expressed by
those in attendance at this meeting were oven
more significant than the courtesies extended
by officials; it was one of the most pleasant in
cidents of my visit to Brazil.
, Speaking of education, it is a matter to be
regretted that Brazil has not made more pro
gress in decreasing tho percentage of illiteracy,
but it must be remembered that Brazil has been
at a disadvantage in having a considerable Afri
can element which emerged from slavery less
than a quarter of a century ago. The leaders
of thought here, as in the other countries of
South America, recognize that ignorance is the
greatest foe to national advancement, and are
exerting themselves in behalf of popular edu
cation. The American school, the most valuable ex
port that goes from our shores, is doing excel
lent work in Brazil; in fact, the attendance at
the schools established and conducted by men
and women from the United States is greater
than in any other southern republic. Mackenzie
College, at San Paulo, with the five schools con
. nected with it (four of them in other towns)
has an enrollment of nearly eleven hundred.
During the last twenty-five years more- than
twelve thousand students have attended these
schools, twenty-seven hundred with tuition free,
nearly six hundred with Tjoard free, and twenty
eight hundred more partially aided. It was
established by the Presbyterians who .have sev
eral oiher schools in the republic. Tb.e Baptists
have, a girls' school in San Paulo,, a school at
Batila, and a boys' school in Rio The Metho--(lists
haye twelve 'colleges and schools, with an
enrollment Qf 1,44.0 pupils. The Granbery
College at Juiz de Fora is the principal school
of this denomination, and has ah attendance
of 375.
I can not conclude without referring to the
fact prices are high in Brazil, and to the further
fact that Brazilian money makes the prices seem
even higher than they really are. The monetary
unit here is the real (plural reis). The value
of the real is one-thirtieth of a cent, and the
coin most used, the milrels (1,000 reis) is
therefore worth 30 cents. It sounds strange at
first to hear small bargains made in such large
figures, and when prices are printed the ciphers
overwhelm you. Think of 3,000 reis for a. pair
of hose and 12,000 for a shirt! I bought a big
parrot for the, park at Lincoln an arara as it
is called in Portuguese, for, as the reader knows,
. they speak Portuguese instead of Spanish in
Brazil. The owner asked 30,000 reis for the
bird, but this sounded like so high a price that
I persuaded him to knock off 10,000 reis and
let me have it for 20,000 six dollars in the coin
. of our country.
The vast resources of Brazil are in the very
beginning of their development. The nation
is capable of supporting a population of one
hundred million, or even one hundred and fifty
'. millions. Having visited Peru, Bolivia, Chile,
'Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, I am persuaded
"that 'South America is able to do for the nations
' of Europe, during the present century, what the
i 'United States did during the century just-passed,
' namely, furnish homes for their surplus popu
1 lation. The climate is not, in most places, as
, favorable as that of the- United States, but ut its
worst it is bearable, and the hardships bf the
pioneers will not be as great as those endured
.' by the first settlers of our country. In matters
of transportation and communication they will
be much better off than the three millions who
" won our independence.
Our nation must link itself to the republics
to the south of us by Indissoluble bands; it
must send them its best blood and brain. Our
people, from their over-flowing abundance, must
aid In the educational worK so mucn neeaea.
sphere wo must make It so by disinterested and
helpful service in tho development of tho younger
republics, and in the advancement of their wel
fare. W. J. BRYAN.
Copyright, Now York "World.
I Our nation must not only be their shield from
" foreign aggression but their generous and sym
' pathetic friend. If our Influence is to be para
mount' in the southern half of the western hem-
Dolliver's Great Speech
The following report of Senator Dolliver's
great spepch in the senate is made by the Wash
ington correspondent for tho Philadelphia North
American, a republican newspaper J
Washington, June 13. In tho strongest
speech of his brilliant oratorical career, Senator
Dolliver, of Iowa, this afternoon discussed tho
control of tho republican party, the effort to
stifle independent thought and action, tho man
ner In whioh tho president has been used by tho
unscrupulous political manipulators and tho be
trayal of the public Interest in tho legislation of .
this and the preceding session.
His arraignment of President Taft and tho
reactionary leaders of both houses was tho
strongest ever heard in the senate. The sena
tor's speech was in support of a tariff commission
and, necessarily, dealt with the tariff law and
methods pursued in its preparation with the
greatest possible frankness.
The speech is conceded by senators to bo prob
ably Dolliver's greatest effort, and as it was
a presentation of the stand taken by all tho
progressive republicans and a reply to the at
tacks upon them by tho president and others,
it will unquestionably prove the strongest pos
sible campaign document in the fight for purity
in politics, and honesty in legislation which has
been started within the republican party.
This speech removes all possibility of restor
ing harmony between the president and the
progressives, but as the president himself had
made this Impossible by permitting himself to
become a follower of Senator Aldrich, it hardly
changes the situation.
Senators regard the speech as the most im
pressive oratory the senate has listened to in
many 'years. Unquestionably it will take rank'
among tho foremost examples of American elo
quence. I V.
It Is not, possible in a newspaper report to
present adequately its lull strength. There was
no part of It that was bettor than any other, and
the work of selecting the impressive features
is a work of guessing, because every line was
strong and virile and worthy of reproduction.
It abounded in" humorous illustration, which,
while they made the senate laugh,, contributed
also to the force of the attack upon the existing
system and the deplorable conditions against
which the speech will be a lasting protest.
Added to this there was Dolliver's characteristic
delivery, his expressive, natural gestures, the
richness of his vocal tones, the manliness of his
bearing.
Altogether the speech is One that will live
in history and In all probability will mark tho
beginning of a new political era in the United
States.
The first portion of the speech dealt with the
division in the republican party which developed
in connection with the tariff fight and is now a
fight of the reactionaries to discredit those who
are fighting for progress Senator Dolliver said:
"What sort of degeneration has come to tho
republican party that the speaker of the house
of representatives, before a great public assem
blage, should refer to his colleagues as traitors
fit not to be shot, but to be hanged? I no more
take the venerable speaker seriously than does
anybody else; but fortunately there are some
who still look reverently upon the great offices
and dignities of our government. Why should
badges be passed about between high public offi
cials of our government insulting not only a lit
tle group of people in the two houses of con
gress, but millions of people scattered everj'
where throughout the United States?
"What has come over the republican party
that freedom of debate and freedom of opinion
have suddenly become infamous within Its
ranks? I had hoped when the last session of
congress had adjourned and I went back to my
home worn out by labors in which we all par
ticipated, that the unfortunate differences of
opinion which had arlspn In the course of a very
long and a very bitter controversy might be
permitted to adjust themselves without sacrific
ing any man's self-respect, without sending any
man to apologize to political overseers for
the exercise of his own judgment and for.
the honest effort he had made to represent his
people in pursuing a course approved then, and
I bolievo sanctioned cvor since, by tho onllght
onod judgment of tho wholo community.
Fighting for tho Party
"I regret that in that pleasant anticipation I
have been disappointed; and as tlmo has gone
on, though I hnvo managed to keep perfectly
quiet myself, It has becomo more and more
obvious that now terms of fellowship In the
republican party have boon prescribed, and that
hereafter members of congress aro to b
given a very narrow choice in tho oxorclsi
of their representative functions tho choice of
becoming either undorstudlos or Ishmaolltes.
For ono I reject tho torms, and whilo I hold
a seat, however humble It may bo, on this floor,
I shall hold tho purposo to contend for tho abso
lute Independence of those two groat popular
assemblies ropresontlng tho legislative power of
tho American people.
"When it is said that I betray my party, that
I flght against tho republican party, I deny it.
I flght for tho republican party and propose,
with millions of other peoplo, to do what I can
to make It moro than ever tho servant of the
groat community which it has represented for
so many years.
"Without undertaking to speak for others,
and measuring, as well as I have been able to
do so, tho organized forces of politics and busi
ness, so-called, already arrayed actively against
mo, I propose to tell tho -American peoplo exact
ly what went on hero last summer and exactly
what Is going on hero now.
"It is a disagreeable duty, but it could have
been avoided altogether if tho president, who
had nothing or next to nothing to do with the
framing of the tariff law, had felt content to
leave members of congress to settle with their
own constituencies the question of their party
relations, without interposing tho prestige of the
greatest political office in tho world to humiliate
and discredit and disparage men who, in a fall
ing effort to carry into effect his own campaign
utterances, had already been oxpolled from th
party on tho floor of both houses of congrewu
by 'constructive statesmen,' who derided tho can-- 4,
dldato's opinions when they were uttored In the
campaign and laughed out loud when they were
repeated in the senate debates.
"If thoser who wero unable to vote to make
tho republican support of the tariff act of 1909,
unanimous have made any mistake, it is that
we have remained silent too long, whilo an or
ganized defamation of our political characters
has been set on foot, proceeding from tho high
est public officers of tho government, executive
and legislative, and from a so-called 'campaign
committee,' presided over by a multi-millionaire
promoter of street car franchises, with a treas-
ury filled with rotten money, out of which is
flowing a steady stream of campaign literature,
vest pocket literature, much of it bearing the
" 'mark of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing,
and a dull, muddy stream of parasitic eloquence.
Sharp Warning for Tnft
"The president Is in error. It is not necessary
for men to swallow every tariff law that is sel
before them or in conscience abandon the party,
It Is going to be a very difficult thing to gel
me out of the old republican party. It can no(
bo done by lying about nje, as those have don
who said that I helda brief for foreign import
ers. It can not be done by calling mo names,
liko .free trader, democrat, or whatever names
may be selected to prejudice me in a republican
community. Least of all can it bo done by tak
ing from about my neck tho millstone of politi
cal patronage through which even presidents oi
tho United States have more than once beei
drowned in the midst of the sea.
"In common with good citizens everywhere,
I share the universal disgust which has arisen ox
seeing the greatest executive departments, thos
departments which touch the business of the
nation-most intimately, made a headquarters foi
the awkward squad of politics, bucket-fihops, foi
dealing in political futures upon margins cal
culated daily from tho record of yeas and nays.
"It does not trouble me very much to be re
lieved from participating In a business like that.
But I can not forbear to express my sorrow that,
with nearly three full years to win the confidence
of the American peoplo by an Intelligent inter
pretation of tho public will, It should be thought
necessary, in order to bolster a failing political
enterprise, to revive thd most odious degrada
tions of parliamentary government in other
glands and In past generations by doling out the
offices, which belong to the people, in exchange
for the votes which their representatives hold by
a solemn trust. .
"If those of us in the two houses who felt
constrained to challenge the program of party
- leadership had represented a merely pefseaal
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