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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 1911)
Rrtiri(l'l ft The Commoner. : vxai I' - ' Mi"1 Mr. Bryan and President Taft FOES BUT FRIENDS If ono may paraphrase Kipling's immortal line, no matter what their politics, there is no party bar when two strong men come face to face. So it waB in Lincoln Monday, when Wil liam II. Taft, successful candidato for the presi dency in 1908, met face to face William J. Bryan, unsuccessful candidate for the same offlco at the samo time. The meeting of these two great mon was cordial, and, in view of past cir cumstances, most graceful. Rising from his place at the right of the President at the Lincoln luncheon, Mr. Bryan said: "Lincoln is honored today by the presence of the highest official In the -world. The president's position is greater than a king's. His authority is more vast than any civilized people would in? trust to a hereditary ruler, and lie holds the place, not by accident of birth, but by the suff rage of his countrymen. Though in campaigns ho is the leader of a party, he is, after election, the chiof executive of the nation, and his arm wields the strength of 90,000,000 people. "Lifted by voters to this position of supreme command, he becomes the most exalted of our public servants. It is fitting that we, a group of the sovereigns whom he serves, should pay our respects to him and to the office which he holds. I ask you to rise, fill your glasses with the beverage upon which the Almighty has set the seal of His approval, and drink to the health of President Taft, and may God give him wis dom to discharge aright the onerous duties im posed upon him." In response to Mr. Bryan's happy toast, the president said: "I would be wanting in an appreciation of fine courtesy if I did not express my thanks to your distinguished fellow-citizen, Mr. Bryan, for join ing in the welcome to me here in Lincoln. I have had occasion to say in times past that no roses are so beautiful as those that grow over the party wall, and to be received by Mr. Bryan this time Is a pleasure which I must express. "Mr. Bryan and I differ on some subjects, but the ono on which I am going to speak this after noon world peace is one on which we agree. But whether we agree or disagree, I have had a ten-year personal acquaintance with Mr. Bryan, and I hope he will join me in saying that it al ways has been a pleasure to meet each other under any circumstances." Such glimpses as these of the kindly and pleasant personal relations of men who are poli tically as far apart as the poles are refreshing. It was a non-partiBan gathering at Lincoln, and It was altogether fitting that these two great po litical foes should have made it clear that parti Ban strife should not breed personal ill-will. Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch. A GRACEFUL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT In his speech at Lincoln, President Taft gave Mr. Bryan credit for suggesting to him one of the Important provisions of the treaty prepared ,by Secretary Knox and Ambassador Brice. The .Lincoln News gives the following report of Mr. Taft's speech: "Mr. Taft said that -William J. Bryan had given him his first idea of that clause in the treaties which provides lor the appointment of a" joint high commission to define the jurisdic tion of the proposed arbitration court. This plan received the avowed approval of the presi dent, and he devoted a considerable part of his address to its defense. The commission is to consider every question which can not be settled otherwise. This commission is to have a year for investigation. This provision for a year's Investigation was suggested by Mr. Bryan. He called at my office in Washington at the time the treaties were being discussed and urged that such a provision would be beneficial. We agreed . with him, and the provision was placed in the treaty. When Mr. Bryan's name was mentioned the crowd applauded enthusiastically, and the president was forced to pause for several seconds." Mr. 'Bryan appreciates President Taft's gene rosity Jn giving him credit for the suggestions. It was first made in The Commoner 'in the spring of 1905 and was afterwards at Mr, Bryan's re quest embodied in a resolution adopted by the peace congress at London in 1906 and still later in New YoTk and Edinburgh. Mr. Bryan wrote to President Taft in June, 1910, bringing the matter to his attention and then called at tho White House to urge the plan in April of the present year. On another page will be found a speech de livered by Mr. Bryan at the London peace con gress in support of the plan. He believed that investigation is almost sure to bring about a peaceful settlement of disputed questions. The trouble has been that nations have gone to war while angry and before the peace forces of the respective countries could bring pressure to bear upon those in authority. If our treaties can secure investigation, war will become a remote possibility. TAFT AND BRYAN Perhaps the measure of popular favor is something that may not be reached by compari son, but it is certainly an incident of which note may wisely be taken in all calculations of popu larity. Considerable stress has been laid by the Taft press upon the popular acclaim accorded him during his trip through the central west, the supposed home of progressive statesmen and the fountain head of progressive sentiment, and the applause that has been accorded his utterances. Undoubtedly the coming of the president has everywhere been given recognition fitting the event. No man who stands at the head of this democratic nation through the selection of the people can hope to be able to enjoy any solitude. The public wants to know, and is quite sure to find out, just how each hour and minute of his time is occupied. It is a' privilege to look upon a president, and one which the average citizen will go far to enjoy, regardless of the identity or personality of the man who bears the title. It is interesting to note how he may some times be received by his constituents as com pared with the receptions accorded other cele brities. It was somewhat surprising to learn that while the president was delivering his speech at the conservation congress so many who had assembled to get a glimpse of his person and enjoy the privilege of hearing him got up and walked out while he was speaking that it excited public comment and public protest against the discourtesy. It was a deplorable dis courtesy to a president, though it certainly was not intended to be such. t It may be interesting ' to many, and rather gratifying to most Nebraskans, to note that another sort of treatment was accorded to an other man who enjoys chiefly the distinction of having been three times defeated for president, one of them by President Taft. Here is how the Kansas City Times imparts the information: "Fifteen years after he was first defeated in the race to be president of the United States, William Jennings Bryan, thrice defeated for the highest honor of the nation, returned to con vention hall last night and received the greatest reception of any speaker at the conservation congress. "Mr. Bryan appeared at the entrance to the back of the stage when William Hoynes, dean of the Notre Dame school of law, was speaking. The audience almost to a man rose from the chairs and yelled for the former leader of tho democrats. As the first yell died down a second waB started and that was followed by stamping of feet. "The efforts of J. B. White, who presided, to quiet the cheering audience with the gavel were futile. Men and women waved their handker chiefs while they were taking another breath and tho yelling started again. Then Mr. Bryan rose from his chair, walked to the edge of the rostrum In the great hall where ho was nomi nated in 1900 for the Becond time, raised his hand and told the audience to listen to the other speakers because they had something that he wanted to hear." Are we to conclude from this that the man who enjoys the confidence of the masses is apt to excite the least clamorous expression of popu lar favor? If we can reach such a conclusion then we are equipped to believe that the demon strations that mark tho Taft meetings are prophetic of his re-election. If we' can't adopt that sort of philosophy we must conclude that there is something out of kilter in Taft's stand ing with the people. Lincoln (Neb.) Star. "F. A. R" AND MR. BRYAN "F. A. R.," the former Washington corres pondent of the Sun, in an interesting communi cation in tho letter column recently criticises VOLUME 11, NUMBER 40 In his usual able and vigorous way a recent Sun editorial attributing to Mr. Bryan "dis tinguished ability," "great service to the coun try," "high ideals" and a "pure and reproach Ipss" private life. He disclaims knowledge of anything wrong in the colonel's private life but challenges the Sun's statements with reference to the other matters, and wishes to know what are the proofs of his ability, what service he has performed and which of his many ideals deserve to be termed high. Mr. Bryan has shown ability by his keen in sight in many public questions. His speeches on the tariff were among the .best heard from any public man in the days when he was given to discussing that question. His discussions of other government and sociological problems have been such as to attract the attention of men in all countries, so that when he traveled abroad a few years ago he was greeted as no other American citizen not having held tho presidential office has ever been greeted. He struck the tine note in the Philippine question as soon as it got to be a question, and no demo- crat surely can say that he was wrong about it. Democrats believe that this country had no right to force its government upon those people, and that It should withdraw from the islands as soon as possible, meantime making it plain that such was the intention. Mr. Bryan has presented his views with such marked rbllity on many other questions that even when he was wrong, as he has been all too frequently, he was able to con vince thousands, and among them other men of real ability, that he -was right. No mere "phrase maker" can maintain himself so long in the high opinion of the world as Mr. Bryan has done. He has performed great service to the country in teaching the people that the public should know before election what the candidates had spent and were about to spend; that the people should choose their own candidates for office, unhampered by boss dictation in short, that the people should really rule the country. He has taught and was teaching it while others were denying that the government had the right to control the great corporations, and that it was its duty to do so. He has had a' great deal to do with bringing about the change in public sentiment in the matter of taxing in comes, to the end that the men who enjoy the swollen fortunes of the country should be forced to pay a just proportion of its running expenses. He was among the leaders of the new thought in politics which is sweeping over the country, breaking the grip of those who have been dic--tating elections in their own selfish interest and enlarging the powers and stirring up the interest of the masses. His .ideals are high, as shown by his con tinued . advocacy of clean government, his un conquerable belief -in the right of the laborer to the enjoyment of the fruits of his toil, and the unfaltering faith he exhibits in the final triumph of popular government over the ills with which it is beset, -by teaching the people to .think for themselves .and act for themselves, and by educating them on public questions that they may think and act intelligently. The Sun knows that Mr. Bryan has made serious mistakes in certain directions, but that does not prove that he is lacking ability in all. Because he has shown a lack of equipoise in dealing with those who have disagreed with him recently is not sufficient reason to forget the high character of the man, and the fact that, however he. may have lost the -way on occasion, his generat'eourse has been toward the right, or toward the right as he saw it. Baltimore Sun. TWO GOOD MEN Editorial in St. Louis Globe-Democrat (rep.): Nothing has occurred recently which will please the country more than the exchange of courtesies between Mr. Taft and Mr. Bryan at Lincoln, Neb. Mr. Bryan was chief of ceremonies for Lincoln. We don't know whether he was the chairman of a committee, or whether he was toastmaster at the banquet, but where he sat was the foot of the table, which is the only part of a table as conspicuous as its head. And Mr. Bryan was at the foot, wherever he was, only because th loyalty of Lincoln wished to make him as promi nent as the guest who sat at the head of the festal board. In this there would be a fine propriety, leav ing an impression that, in the thought of Lin coln, Nob., the man at the head was not there because he had defeated for the presidency tne man at tho foot, but because he was the guest of Lincoln and of that citizen of Lincoln whom he had defeated. And Mr. Bryan entered grace fully into that spirit of the occasion. Hls J70!; were not perfunctory or ceremonious. He uia 'I'M x I ! 'lifL . V .