Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (May 30, 1913)
"iW" n'i T The Commoner. MAT JO, 1S13 that the people love, the honor of a position in that body will be re served as a people's prize with which to roward those who have proved themselves capable of discharge of public duties and men to bo trusted with the people's interests. (Applause.) Is it not worth wait ing a while to win such a victory as thjs? "I must not talk longer. I think I have said enough to show that I am enjoying the present conditions. "A few years ago they called me a dreamer. I remember there was a sort of an epidemic of charges of that kind. (Laughter.) I think that within two or threo months there were three or four public men who made that in speeches. I think Speaker Cannon was one. (Laugh tor.) I think Senator Cummins was another, and I think the governor of Indiana was another. And Senator Beveridgo came to my own town and made that statement that I was a dreamer, that I just dreamed things. "Well, I do not pay much attention to every charge that is made against mo (laughter) I haven't the time but this was made by several men, so I thought that I ought to take notice of it, but when I did attempt to take notice of it I understood in what po sition I was, how futile for mo to put my feeble denial against the charge of four great men, so I looked up the subject of dreamer and I found that the dreamer is not so bad a man after all. "I found many dreamers spoken of in history. I found, for instance, that Joseph was spoken of as a dreamer. Not only that, but it was said his brothers scorned him be cause he was a dreamer. (Laugh ter.) And, if you remember, when his fathei sent him out where his brothers were keeping their flock they saw him coming and they said: 'Be hold, the dreamer is coming,' and they plotted against him and they put him into a hole. I suppose that is the language in which they de scribed the feat. (Laughter.) And then they sold him to the merchant, showing that the merchants have not changed much in all this time. They carried him down into Egypt, and they got rid of the dreamer. xiiuu to uic na; iiivjr aiwu.j'O get rid of dreamers. That is the way they think they get rid of them just carry them eff where they can not be heard of. "But after a while there was a famine in the land and they went down to Egypt to buy corn, and when they got there they saw the dreamer there, and ho had the corn. (Laugh ter and applause.) And so, I con cluded that it was not so bad after all to be a dreamer, if you have the point. "I think it was John Boyle O'Reil ly who said that the dreamer lives forever, while the toiler dies in a day. Someone has said that if you visit the great cathedrals of the old world you will find that back of every cathedral there was a dreamer, atid sometimes it took centuries to build his dreams into a structure, but that when it was done people would travel from all over the world to see the building, and the name of the dreamer was remembered, while those who did merely the toiling were forgotten. (Applause.) "No, it is too much to be a dream er. My work has not been suffi ciently important to put me in the class with the dreamer. I have not originated. I have simply taken the things that I thought were good. I tested them in evey way I could, and when I felt that they were things that were true I have had faith in them and have been willing to hold on to them. (Applause.) "I have done the best I could since I began, but I have been so in terested in the building that I have counted the number of those who worked, and not the time when they began to work, and I rejoice tonight that in this country we have people, regardless of party name, who are building according to the plans of justice, who are trying to make this government more and more a people's government, who havo faith in the people. They do not beliovo the people will bo free from mistakes if they control their government, but they believe that the people havo the right to make their own mistakes, and that no few peoplo havo a Cod given right to make mistakes for the rest of them. (Applause.) "Lot the peoplo make mistakes, if they will. They will not make as many against themselves as others will make against them. (Applause.) And when they make mistakes, they will bear them moro patiently be cause they made them and they will correct them moro quickly because. they are the ones who suffer by them. "I can not tell you how happy I am to see what has taken place in the last few years. You know I can not illustrate this situation as it looks me let me tell you how it looks. It looks like a great criminal trial, whore the defendant was a man of means and influence and enabled to employ the best counsel. The case went on, the defendant contesting every inch of the ground, not only disputing every point raised, but breaking down tho character, if pos sible, of every witness introduced by tho prosecution. "And after employing all the tac tics known to criminal law, tho caso is finished, and then the attorney for tho defendant arises and says: 'Your honor, I desire to withdraw the plea of 'Not guilty' and enter a plea of 'guilty;' the defendant throws him self on the mercy of the court.' (Ap plause and laughter.) "That is the situation today. To day the defendants havo admitted their guilt. Today tlie predatory wealth stands confessing before the bar of public judgment that It has disgraced the name of business, and what President Wilson is trying to do is to separate honest business from dishonest business, so that honest business will not bear the odium of dishonest business. (Ap plause.) "His election has already accomp lished a great deal. It has answered one threat that was brought up every four years since I remember, and that is: 'If you interfere with tho pickpockets, they will bring on a panic' (Applause.) '.'Here we have a president elected, a senate elected in harmony with him and a house overwhelmingly democratic, and yet business goes right on. And today the American 'people understand that reform does not mean the destruction of pros perity. It means the monopoly that the few have had of that prosperity shall be broken and that the people who produce shall have their share. (Applause.) "Do you think 'that the country is going to suffer if we have a more equitable distribution of the proceeds of toil? How can it suffer? You can not by any sort of logic, you can not by any sort of of arithmetic convince yourself that the country is going to suffer by a more widely distributed prosperity, and if President Wilson's election means anything it means that the government is to be ad ministered by the people's represen tatives in their behalf and for the benefit of all the people, and that privilege shall not have the advan tage it has had in the past, but that equal rights to all and special privi lege to none will be embodied In every department of this government. If I thought that it was to mean that this country was to suffer, I would not be in favor of it. 1 "I believe that no theory is good which is not good in practice, but I have been taught in tho old school that morality Is as important In busi ness and In government as it is in privato affairs. (Applause.) If I tell ray boy that ho ought not to steal or must not steal, I do not then enforce that commandment upon htm by tell ing him he is likely to be caught. I tell him that ho can botter afford to havo something stolen from him than to steal from anybody olso, and it is an attempt to inject a little morality into this life of our country that caused such a commotion when the peoplo did not understand what it was about. "If I talk any longer, I will mako a speech (applause) and I am not hero to make a speech. I belong to that department of the government where secrecy is enforced (applause) and if I have not been able to keep quiet entirely Just remember that I am tap.ering off and that if you think I am talking long, then please re member how long I used to talk and give me credit for it. (Laughter and applause.) "I havo told you that I am not to blame for these things, but I get much more credit than I deserve. And let mo tell you that If I have done anything at all, if I have even In any small part been instrumental in helping this great cause, I owe It all to the advice I received when I was a boy. "My father did not leave me much money, but he left me a little pieco of advice that I think was worth moro than any fortune that he could have left mo. Ho died before I was 21, but even at that early age he had impressed upon my mind one maxim, one piece of a'dvice, and I would like to Impress it on all that aro hero, and through you impress it upon tho minds of thoso with whom you may come in contact, and if I am entitled to any credit at all I give him tho credit. If I havo done anything at all, it is because ho taught mo this way of doing It. "He told mo I could afford to be In the minority, but that I could not afford to be wrong on any question. He told me that if I am in the mi nority and right I would some day bo in the majority, but if I was in tho majority, and wrong, I would some day be in the minority. (Applause.) "He helped mo to have faith in tho triumph of righteousness, and, my friends, if any of you lack faith now in the triumph of righteousness, you Just wait until Mr. Wilson has carried out his plan, and every man will be converted to the doctrine. There is nothing in this world that is certain except the triumph of the truth, and if it were not for that there would be nothing to inspire us to strive. "And, back of it all, what differ ence does it mako whose name Is taken upon the people's lips today? Wo are not compelled to render an account of these things, but all that God requires of us is that wo shall do each duty as it comes, and if we do our duty we contribute toward the end, whether it comes now or later on. Fortunately for us, it is coming In our lives, and wo can rejoice to see about us these evidences of the triumph of those fundamental ideas, and in their triumph a new genera tion will find inspiration for better things, and when their work is done they will see more progress even than wo have been able to observe. I thank you." (Long continued ap plause.) "The Henry Clay of the present administration," is the way Cardinal Gibbons characterized William Jen nings Bryan, in expressing his re grets that he was unable to attend the dinner given in honor of the secretary of state by Mr. Grasty. "My engagements were so press ing," said the cardinal, "that, much as I desired to take part and meet i dost Miles for the Least Money Indeatruoto 8tren&ta Due to "Built-in Construction. "Intfestrueto Dr8rfnught" Ordinary trunks arc made to sell Indcstructo Trunks arc built to travel. Ordinary trunks arc sold on appearance. Appearance, however, docs not con stitute strength. In fact, handsome appearance is often the guise of weak construction. Indcstructo Trunks arc built by a special process eliminating all joints, "Jointless" means "smashless" for thousands of miles of hardest travel Indcstructo means Strong Safe In sured Properly Priced. You will get the most miles of service for your money only when you buy Indcstructo Baggage. lOTf V IHdestrucTQ JQU4.WS4.UjU See tho maestructo irunK Today at NATIONAL VENEER PRODUCTS COMPANY No. 1 Bicgcr St, Mishuwaka, Ind. PATENTS WfttaeM B. Galenaa I'ateat Lawyer, Wjuhlntfa, Kates reasonable. HUcbejt references, ltestaerrloec. SONG umitffti rffnn ILUttMi wiiiiniii .. i nit ifiwiMii. urn in tta runt m huwh. mm vtrnri utntit huium urn un. wtf f ml mm i imi, Hutm aw n. iw. wwwrrq. u PA TENTS "K?ruYi8rXm Free rej ort or to late ntabllltr lllurUsttcd Quid lioolf, nn4 Llrt of Jn ventionn Wanted, cent ht. VICXOll J. UVAW.S to CO., Wftflblatfen. D.O. COMPULSORY INVESTMENTS A bill was introduced at the last session of tho Nebraska, legislature to require outside life insurance com panies to invest in Nebraska securi ties 75 per cent of the reserve on policies held by Nebraska people. While It did not pass, It had many supporters. In reality there Is a simpler and easier method of reaching tho same result, viz: For Nebraskans to buy their life insurance in Nebraska com panies. If interested, call or write The Midwest Life N. Z. SNELL, President A NEBRASKA COMPANY First National lank Building Lineal, He & i ji&
