Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (July 11, 1913)
JT - -Hjnf-vaf'rW' " WW' The Commoner. WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR VOL. 13, NO. 27 Lincoln, Nebraska, July 11, 1913 Whole Number 651 jimfmtmirmt An Announcement to Commoner Readers Beginning August 15, Tho Commoner will ap pear as a monthly publication this issue, July 11, being the last weekly issue of tho paper. Mr. Bryan will not only continue his editorial work on The Commoner, but under tho new arrangement will be able to give his personal attention to the preparation of a larger part of the paper than he has been able to do for tho weekly. It is believed that through this change The Commoner will be made stronger and more effective as an active, vfgilant supporter of tho great work to vhich the. democratic party is con secrated. Tho administration of Woodrow Wilson is making history very rapidly,, and readers of The Commoner will be able to keep in close touch with the public discussion of affairs. In every possible way, within the limits of a publication of this sort, improvement will bo made. Now departments, instructive and en tertaining, will be introduced from time to time, and the readers will be kept informed as to the efforts being put forth in every section of the country in behalf of progressive government municipal, state and national. In editorials written by Mr. Bryan himself, Tho Commoner will moot tho attacks of thoso who are opposed to democratic reforms, and the clover misrepresentations made by tho organs of special interests. It will give timoly discus sion of tho great questions of tho day and will provide the missionaries in tho democratic field with arguments with which to confound those who would mislead well meaning men of ther political parties. Agriculture has come to bo of such absorbing interest to all sorts of men and Is of ouch special' interest to a large number of Commonor readers that an up-to-date agricultural department will bo added to Tho Commonor. This will bo pro pared under the immediate supervision of an editor well informed in modern agricultural methods and thoroughly appreciative of tho printed things demanded in this line. Under the new arrangement The Commonor page will be the same size as at presont but tho number of pages will be increased from sixteen to thirty-two. Charlos W. Bryan, who has boon In charge of Tho Commonor slnco Its establishment, will continuo in direct control of tho papor and will devote his tlmo and energies to tho papor'n im provement. In Its initial number Tho Commoner printed an editorial which concluded with this sontonco: "Tho Commonor will bo satisfied if, by fidolity to the common peoplo, it proves its right to tho nnmo which has boon chosen." Regularly at tho beginning of each now yoar Tho Commoner has reproduced that sentence and, leaving to Its renders tho judgment as to tho manner in which it had fulfilled its mission, has consecrated its efforts for tho now year to tho sacred causo which it has tho honor, in part, to roprosont. In this beginning- of a new nnd greater effort for tho defense of tho public wolfaro in tho present generation and for tho advancement of tho causo of popular government for tho beno fit of generations yet to come, Tho Com monor renews its simple pledge of fidelity to tho public interests through loyalty to great principles. "ft i .- . The President at Gettysburg "r President Wilson mingled with tho veterans on the field of Gettysburg and delivered an address that will go into history among tho in spiring public papers. It was peculiarly appro priate that tho president who in 1913 is grap pling with the elements antagonistic to popular government, should use Mr. Lincoln's reference to the unfinished task, applying the pathetic appeal of the immortal address to present condi tions. President Wilson's Gettysburg speech should be read by every lover of free govern ment. The Commoner suggests that every school teacher in America read to his or her pupils first President Lincoln's Gettysburg ad dress, following the same with the splendid 'de liverance of our present chief executive. Referring to the president at Gettysburg, the United Press report says: The president made the trip from Washington to this town by train. As he stepped from his car ho was greeted by a presidential salute from the regular army bat tery parked on the battlefield, and mingled cheers and rebel yells from tho blue and gray garbed veterans who had thronged to tho sta tion to greet him. An escort of cavalry was waiting to convey tho car with the president and his party to tho big tent just off the Emmetts burg road on tho battlefield where tho formal exercises were scheduled to commence at 11 o'clock. Many of the old soldiers had planned to leave yesterday but remained over to greet the na tion's head, and the reception accorded Presi dent Wilson was a fitting climax to a week of tears and cheers. The southern soldiers ac cepted him him as one of tho family and tho northern veterans outdid themselves in an effort to demonstrate how deeply they appreciated the end of sectionalism as typified by a native Vir ginian at tho helm of tho ship of state. From the moment the executive alighted from the train he was tho center of wild enthusiasm. Today's event was really in the nature of an added attraction. So far as the regular pro gram was concerned it ended last night and the only set fixture today was the president's ad dress. The camp was opened today at daylight when the veterans were routed from their cots by the stirring strains of Dixie, Yankee Doodle, and other war-time tunes played by tho mili tary band which traversed tho various company streets. There was a quick turning out of. all hands. There were farewells to be said and a last exchange of greetings and shaking of hands at the big point of interest on tho battlefield. The band concert was followed by the shrill notes of the fife and tho roll of drums as tho veterans brought their old-time instruments into play, and for three hours there was general jubi lation. Then all hands started for tho big tent to greet tho president. The president's address: "Friends and fellow citizens: I need not toll you what the battle of Gettysburg meant. Theso gallant men in blue and gray sit all about us here. Many of them met here upon this ground in grim and deadly struggle. Upon theso famous fields and hillsides their comrades died about them. In their presence it were an impertinence to discourse upon how tho battle went, how it ended, what it signified! But fifty years have gono since then, and I crave tho privilege of speaking to you for a few minutes of what thoso fifty years havo meant. "What have they meant? They havo meant peace and union and vigor, and tho maturity and might of a great nation. How wholesome and healing the peace has been! Wo have found one another again as brothers and comrades In arms, enemies no longer, generous friends rather, our battles long past, tho quarrel forgot ten except that we shall not forget the splendid valor, tho manly devotion of tho men then ar rayed against ono another, now grasping hands and smiling Into each other's eyes. How com plete tho union has becomo and how dear to ull of us, how unquestioned, how benign and ma jestic, as state after state has been added to this our great family of free men! How hand some the vigor, the maturity, the might of tho great nation we love with undivided hearts; how full of large and confident promise that a life be wrought out that will crown its strength with gracious justice and with a happy welfare that will touch all alike with deep con tentment! Wo aro debtors to . those fifty crowded years; they have made us heirs to a mighty heritage, "But do we deem tho nation complete and finished? Thea,e vonorablo men crowding bora to this famous field havo Bet us a groat oxample of devotion and utter sacrifice. They wore will ing to die that the people might livo. But their task Is done. Their day is turned into evening. They look to us to perfect what they established. Their work Is handed on to us, to bo done in another way but not in another spirit. Our day is not over; it is upon us in full tide. "Havo affairs paused? Does the nation stand still? Is what tho fifty, years havo wrought since those days of battlo finished, rounded out, and completed? Hero is a great people, great with every force that has ever beaten in tho llfeblood of mankind. And it Is secure. There is no one within Its borders, there is no power among the nations of the earth, to mako It afraid. But has it yet squared Itself with Its own great stand ards set up at Its birth, when it made that first noble, naive appeal to the moral judgment of mankind to tako notice that a government had now at last boon established which was to servo men, not masters? Is It secure In everything except tho satisfaction that its Ufo Is right, ad justed to the uttermost to tho standards of righteousness and humanity. Tho days of sac rifice and cleansing aro not closed. Wo havo harder things to do than were done In tho heroic days of war, because harder to see clearly, rti qulrlng more vision, more calm balance of Judg ment, a more candid searching of tho very springs of right. "Look around you upon tho field of Gettys burg! Picture the array, the fierce heats and agony of battlo, column hurled against column, battery bellowing to battery! Valor? Yes! Greater no man shall see In war; and self-sacrifice, and loss to the uttermost; tho high reck lessness of exalted devotion which does not count the cost. We aro made by these tragic, epic things to know what it costs to mako a na tion tho blood and sacrifice of multitudes of unknown men lifted to a great stature In the view of all generations by knowing no limit to their manly willingness to servo. In armies thus marshaled from tho ranks of free men you will see, as it were, a nation embattled, tho leaders and the led, and may know, If you will, how little k m i ti 1 II XI l 1 jii&!BLsiM,' wa-jd v?