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Commoner
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
VOL. 14, NO. 10
Lincoln, Nebraska, October, 1914
Whole Number 666
STAND BY THE PRESIDENT
TO THE READERS OF THE COMMONER:
At the coming election one-third of the sen
ate will be "chosen, and the political complexion
of the third thus chosen will determine whether
the senate will be friendly or unfriendly to the
president.
An entire house of representatives will be
chosen, and the political complexion of that body
will determine whether the president is to be
permitted to carry out his program of reform or
have his hands tied by a hostile majority. It is
a critical moment; the crisis is here.
In 1912 the voters selected Woodrow Wilson
president, and gave him a democratic senate and
house to second his efforts. He immediately
called congress together and has kept these two
bodies in continuous session ever since, laying
before them from time to time recommendations
carrying out the promises made during the cam
paign. The record which he has made is without
parallel in the political annals of our country.
At no former period have so many problems of
such size and of so varied a character confront
ed a president during two years. He has met
each one without hesitation, and solved them
successfully by the simple process of applying
democratic principles to them.
His success has been phenomenal and the ap
proval which he has won is well nigh universal.
His time has been divided between gigantic do
mestic questions, and titanic international difll
culties and he has proven equal to every emer
gency. The cabinet which he summoned to his coun
cil table has been more than successful in meet
ing public expectations, while the senate and
house have won the confidence and praise of the
democratic party, and of a large percentage of
the members of other parties.
Surely the president will not be asked to pause in
his labors; surely the country will not bo guilty
of the dangerous experiment of changing tho
leadership of the senate and the holise. To what
opposition would the nation pntrust tho govern
ment? To the-Roosevelt wing of the party? That
wing included more than half of the voting re
publicans 'at the last election, but every election
since has shown a loss in numbers and disinte
gration in organization. Ex-President Roosevelt
realizes this as well as anyone, and is centering
his efforts upon a few of his particular friends
whom ho is trying to save from defeat. There
is no possibility of the progressives securing con
trol of either the senate or tho house. To what
opposition, then, will tho country turn? To the
stand-pat republicans? What have they done to
earn a return to power? They have, to be sure,
drawn back some of those republicaiis who called
themselves progressive; but has the leopard
changed its spots? Has the republican party re
formed? Has stand-pattism become less odlou
to the American people? If reactionary repub
licanism was a stench in the nostrils of the peo
ple in 1912, is tho odor less offensive now when
the whole country Is keeping jftftp with Wilson?
The president lias not only' been able to suin
mon the democrats of the senate and house to
the support of the measures recommended by
him, but in nearly every case he has had the
pleasure of seeing republicans vote with the
democrats. So habitual has become the tend
ency of some of the republicans (not always the
same ones) to join in the support of democratic
bills that one of the democrats has wittily sug
gested that "The republicans ought either to quit
criticizing the democrats or else quit voting for
democratic measures."
It is only a few weeks more until election;
let .every reader of The Commoner busy himself
with campaign work from now until the polls are
closed. He should bo sure to vote himself, and
to kcop tho matter before his neighbors. It Is
easier to bring a democratic voter to the polls
than it is to convert a republican therefore,
get tho vote out.
Rut this in not enough the victory this fall
ought to bo overwhelming. Let every democrat
pledge himself to bring at lonst one republican
to the support of the administration candidates.
It is not likely that the majority in tho senate
or house will turn on one voto, but it may. Take
no chances. A democrat would nover forgive
himself if as a result of his negligence tho ma
jority In either senate or house should bo lost.
The people have been relieved of the burdens
of a high tariff; they have seen a part of the
load lifted from the backs of the masses and
placed upon large incomes; thoy have witnessed
a change In the currency laws which makec
Washington and not Wall Street the financial
center of the country; they have seen trust leg
islation enacted; they have seen tho Filipinos
promised Independence, Hie promise to be lulr.
filled as soon as a stable government has been,
established; they have reason to b'e proud 'of
the manner In which the honor of the country,
lias been upheld; they have rejoiced that tho
country was kept from war with Mexico and put
in position to assist In restoring peace in' Europe;
they have seen the government of the United
States become the diplomatic clearing-house of
the world, potential in every capital!
Lot the approval be to emphatic that the pres
ident may not only have an increased support,
but be given additional inspiration to continuo
the splendid program of reform which he has
outlined.
Let every reader of The Commoner make this
light his fight, that his share of the general re
joicing may be large when tin election is over.
W. .T. BRYAN.
The Clayton .Bill .
The passage of the Clayton bill marks the com
pletion of the second advance in dealing with the
trust question. The trade commission law cre
ates a body which will be entrusted with the
work of investigating the methods of large cor
porations, and with the applying of such cor
rectives as can be employed by an administra
tive body. The Clayton law deals with the sub
ject in a legislative way, correcting abuses, de
fining unjust methods, and applying criminal cor
rectives. It will go a long .way toward the pro
tection of the public from the evils which have
followed in the wake of the trusts. The new law.
also brings the long-waited for and greatly need
ed relief to the laboring man from government
by injunction.
Nothing of Importance is accomplished with
out effort; a remedy never comes until the need
of it is felt, and then, if the evils to be corrected
are serious ones, those who benefit by the evils
make a stubborn resistance to remedial legisla
tion. The president came into office pledged to leg
islation which would make a private monopoly
impossible. This was the third reform on his
program. As soon as the questions of taxation
and currency were out of tho way, he addressed
bimself to this problem, and the two laws above
mentioned are the results of the combined ef
forts of the president and the democratic senate
and' house. Tho three subjects together, taxa
tion, currency and trusts, present a record in
economic legislation upon which the party may
well invito the judgment of the country. If the
laws enacted are not in every line just what
every citizen would wish, it must be remembered
that ours is not a one-man government. The
constitution compels co-operation between the
executive and congress, and it is no easy matter
to bring a majority of the more than four hun
dred members of the house of representatives
and of the ninety-six senators into accord on the
details of a measure, even when there is abso
lute agreement as to the work to be accom
plished. The more carefully these anti-trust' measures
are examined, tho more hearty will be tho en
dorsement of the president and congress.
W. J. BRYAN.
CONTENTS
STAND BY THE PRESIDENT
THE CLAYTON BILL
. ROOSEVELT ON THE PEACE TREATIES
PEACE PRAYER DAY
WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE
THE PEACE PLAN TRIUMPHANT .
THE FLAG- ADDRESS BY MR BRYAN
THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
BY JOSEPH E. DA VIES
' THE PHILIPPINE BILL
THE TREASURY'S ASSISTANCE TO THE
COUNTRY
PEACE DAY ADDRESS BY MR. BRYAN
The report 'of Census Director Harris, just
published, shows that of the 28 million wage
earners and workers in the country, over 8 mil
lions are women and children. This does not in
clude the housewives, if one-fifth of the men in
this country, whose industrial status is deter
mined in large part by legislation, protective or
.otherwise, were denied the ballot, there would
be a revolution. Why should one-fifth of the
.workers of the nation be refuse1 the same protection?
. It may bo safely affirmed that no court In the
country will interfere with the enforcement of
Secretary Daniels' order that any wireless station
that refuses to obey the neutrality rules laid
down by 'the government shall be closed. It was
a remarkable exhibition of corporate stubborn
ness that led the owners of the Siasconset sta
tion to insist that they could send what they
pleased, regardless of whether the station was
being utilized to violate national neutrality.
ill
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