The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923, December 20, 1912, Image 1

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WILLIAM J. BRYAEDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
VOL. 12, NO. 50
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Lincoln, Nebraska, December 20, 1912
Whole Number 622
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The Greater
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in the World
Christinas is love's festival. Set apart for the
commemoration of God's gift of His Son it has
grown into a great holiday which is observed
throughout Christendom by rich and poor alike.
Even those who refuse to take upon themselves
the vows of any church are constrained to join
in the beautiful custom which makes both
parents and children look forward to this day
with pleasant anticipations. For weeks before
December 25 busy hands are at work, tiny sav
ings .banks are gathering in their sacred store
and eager expectancy is written upon the faces
of the young. To the boys and girls Santa
Claus is a sort of composite donor who monopo
lizes the distribution of presents and who, read
ing the minds of his little friends, rewards the
good (and all are good just before Christmas)
with the very toys that they themselves have
selected, while the older ones learn by experi
ence that it is more blessed to give than to
receive. Back of Christmas and the Christmas
present is love, and the broad, brotherly love
taught and exemplified by the Nazarene is not
content with the remembrances which are ex
changed as tokens of affection between members
of the family and between intimate friends; it
is compelling a widening of the circle to in
clude the poor and the needy though not of
kith or kin.
"What an instructor love is! How it develops
the one of whom it takes possession! When
once it is awakened it dissolves all opposition.
Dr. Parkhurst, the New York clergyman, in
illustrating the difference between force and
love said (quoted from memory) "that force Is
the hammer which can break a block of ico
into a thousand pieces but leaves each piece still
ice, while love is the ray of sunlight which,
though acting more slowly ami silently, melts
tho ice."
At this season-of-tho-year our thoughts turn
to. the contemplation of the new degree of love
revealed to tho world by Jesus. To the love
between members of the family and lovo be
tween friends He added an all-porvading love
that includes every member of tho human race.
Even enemies are not beyond tho bounds of
this love, for man's puny arms are not strong
enough to break tho bonds that unite each
son of God to all his brethron. "Love is not
stupid," says Tolstoy. It makes known to us
our duty to our fellows and it will some day
rule the world. Force is the weapon of the
animal in us; after it comes money, which the
intellect employs, sometimes for good, some
times for harm. But greater than all is love,
the weapon of tho heart. It is a sword that
never rusts, neither does it break and tho
wounds that it leaves are life-saving, not life
destroying. No aTmor can withstand it and no
antagonist can resist it. But why try to define
this love or to measure its scope? Paul, the
apostle, in his first epistle to the Corinthians
describes it in language to which nothing can
be added and rrom which nothing can bo taken.
Let IiIh wordB mifHce:
"If I speak with tho tongues of men and of
angels, but have not lovo, I am become sounding
brass or clanging cymbal. And if I have tho
gilt of prophecy, and know all tho mysteries
and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so
as to remove mountains, but havo not lovo,
I mn nothing. And if I boatow. all .my goods
"tTTfeed tho poor,, and If I give my body to bo
burned, but have not love, it profltoth mo noth
ing. Love gufrorotli long, and la kind; lovo
envloth not; love vauntoth not itself, is not
puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly,
seeketh not its own, is not provoked, takcth not
account of evil; rejolcoth not In unrighteous
ness, but rejolcoth with tho truth; beareth all
things; belleveth all things, hopeth all things,
ondureth all things. Love never failoth; but
whether there be prophecies, they shall bo done
away; whether there be tongues, they shall
cease; whether there be knowledge, It shall bo
done away with. For wo know in part and we
prophesy In part, but when that which is per
fect is come, that which Is in part shall bo
done away. When I was a child, I spake as a
child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child;
now that I am become a man I havo put away
childish things. For now wo see in a' mirror,
darkly; but then face to face; now I know in
part, then shall I know even as also I have been
known. But now abldcth faith, hope, love, theso
three; and the greatest of these Is love."
THE SORE POINT
The New York Times protests very loudly
against any plan of flnanical relief that
recognizes government control. By so doing
it betrays the secret motive of the Aldrich plan.
The men who aro back of the effort to secure a
central bank and asset currency talk loudly
about the need of an elastic currency but the
moment a plan is suggested which gives the
elasticity desired, it is viciously attacked, unless
It includes further privileges to the banking
fraternity.
The New York Times speaks for Wall street,
put Wall street will not be permitted to write tho
banking laws of the nation any longer. Gover
nor Wilson in the discussion of public questions
has very properly insisted that the laws shall be
Written from the standpoint of the whole people
and not from the standpoint of the special in
terests. It is fortunate for the country that we
are to have a president who considers the in
terests of the general public and not the de
mands of the interested few in framing legislation.
Thompson, tho democrat who won the United
States senatorship in Kansas, but the judge need
not worry. There will be no'moro "Lorimerism"
in this country tho disease has run its course.
The senate, as it will be after March 4th, would
not seat a man who would deliberately attempt
to cheat the state out of the senator whom they
have chosen. "The people rulo." The above Is
sufficient comment also for tho report that some
of the corporation democrats of Illinois con
template the defeat of Hon. J. Hamilton Lewis,
tho democratic nominee. The voters are in tho
saddle and will put to rout any man or set
of men who attempt to unhorse them.
NO MORE LORIMERISM
There are rumors that an attempt will bo
Biade to prevent the election of Judge W. H.
MR. TAFT AND THE "MERIT SYSTEM"
Tho Boston Herald compliments Mr. Taft
upon his "strong plea for the preservation of
Jin merit system." But Mr. Taffs recommenda
fnnonftspo int would have more force if he
had not been auch a thoroughgoing "republican"
n tho distribution of offices. Tho "merit
ystem" a understood by the Taft administra
tis would seem to be the keeping in office of
republican partisans.
AN UNWIELDY SYSTEM
Thev are complaining now of the Impeach
ment A that it is too unwieldy. Tho
Washington correspondent for tho Chicago
Record-Herald, referring to the court of com
merce impeachment proceeding, says:
"Five days of the Arch bald impeachment trial
have passed; tho trial will bo completed, bar
ring unforeseen delays, some time in January
and the senate already is wearied with tho caso.
A handful of senators, figuratively speaking,
appear anxious to listen to all the testimony
that Is to be presented. Tho average atten
dance at the sessions of the senate sitting as
a court is about 40 per cent of the member
ship, and this average will be lowered in all
probability as tho trial drags along."
Tho answer Is the recall.
AXTf-TRCST LEGISLATION
Newspapers report that some of the progres
sive republicans in the senate are planning to
push anti-trust legislation. But why should a
democratic house allow progressive republicans
to take the lead in such a matter? The party
that repudiated Morgan, Ryan and Belmont
ought not take a back seat on the trust ques
tion for a party whose campaign was so largely
financed by Perkins, Hanna and Munsey. The
Baltimore platform points the way and Gover
nor Wilson has indorsed the demand for legis
lation making a private monopoly impossible.
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