The Commoner
VOL. 35, NO. 6
I?,-
S-ti
President Wilson to
First Voters
t
,4 .Address of president Wilson, at Convention
Hall, Philadelphia, May 10, 1915:
Mr. Mayor, Fellow-citizens:
,It warms my heart that you should give mo
such a reception; hut it is not of myself that I
wish to think tonight, hut of thoso who have
Just hecomo citizens of the United States. This
is tho only country in the world which experi
ences this constant and repeated rebirth. Other
countries depend upon tho multiplication of their
own native people. This country is constantly
drinking strength out of new sources by the vol
untary association with it of great bodies of
strong men and forward-looking women. And
so by the gift of the free will of independent
peoplo it is being constantly renewed from gen
oration to generation by tho samo process by
Which it was originally created. It is as if hu
manity had determined to seo to it that this
great nation, founded for the benefit of human
ity, should not lack for tho allegiance of the
people of the world.
You have just taken an oath of allegiance to
the United States. Of allegiance to whom? Of
allegiance to no one, unless it be to God. Cer
tainly not of allegiance to those who temporarily
represent this great government. You have taken
an oath of allegiance to a groat ideal, to a great
body of principles, to a great hope of the human
race. You have said, "We are going to America,
not only to earn a living, not only to seek the
things which it' was more difficult to obtain
where we were born, but to help forward the
great enterprises of the human spirit to let men
know that everywhere in the world there are
men who will cross strango oceans and go where
a speech is spoken which is alien to them, know
ing that whatever the speech, there is but one
longing and utterance of the human heart and
that is for liberty and justice." And while you
bring all countries with you, you come with a
purpose of leaving all other countries behind
you, bringing what is best of their spirit, but
not looking over your shoulders and seeking to
perpetuate what you intended to leave in them.
I certainly would not be ono oven to suggest that
a man cease to love the home of his birth and the
nation of his origin these things are very
sacred and ought not to be put out of our hearts
but it is one thing to love tho place where you
were born and it is another thing to dedicate
yourself to the place to, which you go. You can
not dedicate yourself to America unless you be
come in every respect and with every purpose of
your will thorough Americans. You can not be
come thorough Americans if you think of your
selves in groups. America does not consist of
groups. A man who thinks of himself as be
longing to a particular national group in Amer
ica has not yet become an American, and the
man who goes among you to trade upon your na
tionality is no worthy son to livo under the Stars
and Stripes.
My urgent advice to you would be, not only
always to think first of America, but always,
also, to think first of humanity. You do not love
humanity if you seek to divide humanity into
jealous camps. Humanity can be welded to
gether only by love, by sympathy, by justice, not
by jealousy and hatred. I am sorry for the
man who seeks to make personal capital out of
the passions of his fellow men. He has lost the
touch and ideal of America, for America was
created to unite mankind by those passions
which lift and not by the passions which sep
arate and debase. Wo came to America, either
ourselves or in the porsons of our ancestors, to
better the ideals of men, to mako them see finer
things than they had seen before, to get rid of
the things that divide, and to make sure of the
things that unite. It was but an historical ac
cident no doubt that this great country was
called the "United States"; yet I am very thank
ful that It has that word "United" in its title,
and the man who seeks to divide man from man!
'group from group, interest from interest, in the
United States is striking at its very heart.
It is a very interesting circumstance to me, in
thinking of those of you who have just sworn
allegiance to this great government that you
were drawn across the ocean by some beckoning
linger of hope, by some belief, by some vision of
a new kind of justice, by some expectation of a
better kind of life. No doubt you have been
disappointed in some of us. Some of us are very
disappointing. No doubt you have found that
justice in tho United States goes only with a
pure heart and a right purpose as it does every
where else in the world. No doubt what you
found here did not seem touched for you, after
all, with the complete beauty of the ideal which
ydu had conceived beforehand. But remember
this: If we had grown at all poor in the ideal,
you brought some of it with you. A man does
not go out to seek the thing that is not in him.
A man does not hope for the thing that he does
not believe in, and if some of us have forgotten
what America believed in, you, at any rate, im
ported in your own hearts a renewal of the be
lief. That is the reason that I, for one, make
you welcome. If I have in any degree forgotten
what America was intended for, I will thank God
if you will remind me. I was born in America.
You dreamed dreams of what America was to be
and I hope you brought the dreams with you.
No man that does not see visions will ever real
ize any high hope or undertake any high enter
prise. Just because you brought dreams with
you, America is more likely to realize the dreams
such as you brought. You are enriching us if
you came expecting us to be better than we are.
See, my friends, what that means. It means
that Americans must have a consciousness differ
ent from the consciousness of every other nation
in the world. I am not saying this with even
the slightest thought of criticism of other na
tions. You know how it is with a family. A
family gets centered on itself if it is not careful
and is less interested in the neighbors than it is
in its own members. So a nation that is not
constantly renewed out of new sources is apt to
have the narrowness and prejudice of a family;
whereas, America must have this consciousness,
that on all sides it touches elbows and touches
hearts with all the nations of mankind. The ex
ample of America must be a special example. The
example of America must be the example not
merely of peace because it will not fight, but of
peace because peace is the healing and elevating
influence of the world, and strife is not. There
is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight.
There is such a thing as a nation being so right
that it does not need to convince others by force
that it is right.
You have come into this great nation volun
tarily seeking something that we have to give,
and all that we have to give is this. We can not
exempt you from work. No man is exempt from
work anywhere in the world. I sometimes think
he is fortunate if he has to work only with his
hands and not with his head. It is very easy to
do what other people give you to do, but it is
very difficult to give other people things to do.
We can not exempt you from work: We can not
exempt you from ihe strife and the heartbreak
ing burden of the struggle of the day that is
common to mankind everywhere; we can not
exempt you from the loads that you must carry
we can only make them light by the spirit in
which they are carried. That is the spirit of
hope, it is the spirit of liberty, it is the spirit of
justice
When I was asked, therefore, by the mayor
and the committee that accompanied me up from
Washington to meet this great company of newly
admitted citizens, I could not decline the"
invitation. I ought not to be away from Wash
ington, and yet I feel that it has renewed mv
spirit as an American. In Washington men tell
you so many things every day that are not so,
ana I like to come and stand in the presence of
a great body of my fellow citizens, whether they
have been my fellow citizens a long or a short
time, and drink, as it were, out of the common
fountains with them and go back feeling what
you have so generously given me, the sense of
your support and of the living vitality in your
hearts of its great ideals which made America
the hope of the world.
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Sneak! nnd Iouva tUo. i.no , nVi i z:
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Mr. Bryan's resignation will permit him to
givo more time to editorial work on The Com
moner and enable him to discuss the many im
portant issues of the approaching presidents
campaign with a freedom and an effectiveness
that will make the paper of moVe service to the
cause of peace and progressive democracy
DALLAS NEWS ANSWERS ITSELF
The June 10th issue of the Dallas News con
tained a severe criticism of Mr. Bryan's resig
nation, but in the make up two stanzas from
an anonymous contributor were by some strange
mistake imbedded in the editorial. The iines
read: '
"Be thou like the old apostles,
Be thou like heroic Paul;
I; If a free thought seeks expression
, Speak it boldly! Speak it all!
j- "Faco thino enemies accusers;
' Scorn the prison, rack or rod;
And if thou has truth to utter, '
Speak! and leave the rest to God."
Thanks to the News fo: thus puttinr tho
answer in the editorial. b
INDIANA'S SHAME
. On another' page will be found an editorial
which recently appeared in' the Indianapol's
Times, entitled "Back ot Roberts."
The readers of The Commoner are invited to
consider the facts set forth in the Times ed
itorial. Terre Haute is not worse than many
other cities; it has simply been brought into the
limelight by an exposure of real conditions, but
that exposure ought to shock the people of other
cities into an investigation of local affairs. No
where have the liquor interests been more bra
zenly and impudently in evidence than in the
state of Indiana. They have aspired to the dom
ination of both political parties and of the ma
chinery of the state. The lid was taken off at
Terre Haute and the public was permitted to
look in upon a mass of corruption, sickening and
repulsive. But this is only a sample; take off
tho lid anywhere and you will find the same
loathsome condition. The saloon is the lester
ing source of political and moral pollution.
"How long, O Lord, how long" will the re
spectable elements of a community sell for a
paltry pittance the right to poison the people
and their government? How long will brewers,
distillers and saloonkeepers be' 'permitted to pick
out the members of the party organization and
by bribery or intimidation force upon the mu
nicipalities and the commonwealth a business
which begins with a conspiracy against the pub
lic welfare and ends in every" conceivable crime
against society?
W. J. BRYAN.
A CASE IN POINT
When there was trouble at Vera Cruz a year
ago and when war was much nearer than it is
now, it was not thought improper for senators
like Root and Lodge to criticize the position
taken by the administration and to oppose the
resolution asked for. But now, in the opinion of
the very papers that opposed Root and Lodge,
it is extremely reprehensible for a member of
the cabinet to resign and dissent frohi methods
employed on the ground that those methods
might result in war.
THE PEACE TREATIES SPREADING
The A. B. C. countries, as Argentina, Brazil
and Chile are often called, hr.ve just joined in a
treaty providing for investigation of all disputes.
The treaty follows the line of the thirty treaties
negotiated by the United States with as many
countries. We have reason to feel proud that
the example set by one nation has been followed
by these important republics. Hasten the day
when all' the nations will bo united by such
treaties. W. J. BRYAN.
Western republican editors are rising up to
Renounce the standpat and calamity howl char
acter of tho literature being sent out from the
republican press bureau at tho national capital
These editors are unreasonable. What other
kind of literature would the reactionaries who
are financing this publicity instruct their press
agents to send out?
Mr. Bryan greatly appreciates the many tele
grams and letters that havo poured in upon
him, commendiug him for the position he has
taken in regard to the German note. He asns
these friends to pardon delay in answering as ii
is impossible at this time for him to do so, Din
later he will mako personal acknowledgement to
each communication.
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