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The Commoner
VOL. 15, No. 7
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MR. BRYAN'S CAMPAIGN FOR PEACE
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THE WAR AS IT IS
And Its Injury to Neutrals
- Issued Juno 1G, 1914.
I shall tomorrow discuss the origin of the war
"and tho reasons which led tho nations of Europe
to march, as if blindfolded, into the bloody con
flict which now rests like a pall over the fairest
parts of tho Old World; today lot us consider
tho war as it is and tho injury it is doing to the
neutral nations.
. Tho war is without a precedent in tho popu
lations represented; in tho number of combat
ants in tho field, in daily expenditures; in the
effectiveness of the implements employed; in the
lists of dead and wounded; in tho wide-spread
suffering caused and in the intensity of the
hatreds aroused.
No class or condition is exempt from the bur
dens which this war imposes; the rich bear .ex
cessivo taxation and tho poor aro sorely op
pressed; the resources of today are devoured
' 'arid tho products of tomorrow are mortgaged.
No age is immune. The first draft was upon the
strong and vigorous, but the governments are
already calling for thoso above and below the
ordinary enlis'ment zone.
The war' afflictions are visited upon women
as well as upon men upon wives who await in
vain a husband's return, and upon mothers who
must surrender up the sons whose support is
the natural reliance of declining years. Even
children are its victims children innocent of
wrong and incapable of doing harm. "By war's
dread decree, babes come into the world, father
less at their birth, while the bodies of their sires
ard burned like worthless stubble in the fields
over which the Grim Reaper has passed.
o" The most extreme-illustrations collected from
.history to prove the loathsomeness of war are
( bvershadowed by new indictments written daily;
the most distressing pictures drawn by the imag
ination are surpassed by tho realities of this in
Uescribablo contest.
t Surely we behold "the pestilence that walketh
'in darkness and the destruction that wasteth at
v hoon-day!"
Neutral nations can not look on with indiffer
ence the ties that bind them together are too
.-strpng, the relationship too intimate. This is
especially true of the United States. We have a
composite population every nation of Europe
, having contributed liberally to our citizenship.
t These, our countrymen, themselves born
, abroad or immediately descended from foreign
born ancestors, can not but take a lively interest
- in the conduct as well as in the results of the
war and a still larger circle shares tho concern
, of those directly connected. Not a soldier falls
on either s'do' but tho sorrow expressed in his
-home .finds an echo at some fireside in the United
States.
But aside from sentimental considerations
K neutral nations suffer serious disturbance be
cause of the war. Duelists, when dueling was
in, fashion, were careful to select. a place where
they could settle their personal differences with
. out harm to unoffending bystanders, but war
, ring nations can not, no matter how earnestly
they try, avoid injury to neutrals. As the nr-i-,
'8Qmo, odors of a slaughter hotise, carried on the
"breeze pollute the air in every direction, so the
"evil influences emanating from these wide ex
pended battlefields taint the atmosphere of the
Wholo political world. War is an international
nuisance. Nearly every neutral nation finds new
- 'domestic problems thrust upon it and old prob
lems made more difficult.
, No American citizen can nnfp wifiim.1 ,i
;n concern tho manner in which war questions have
-v miruusu uiemseives into our politics over
shadowing economic issues and stimulating agi
'tation in favor of enlarged appropriations tor
military and naval purposes.
sv juuuua la u.oiuhKw uhu expensive readiust-
jnentg made necessary, while , commerce with
foreign nations is seriously interrupted. Fluc
tuations" in prices abroad are reflected in the
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On Juno 10, 17 and 18, Mr. Bryan is-
0 sued a series of threo statements discuss-
ing " 4Tho Causeless War and Its Lessons
for Us." These statements as issued, to-
gether with Mr. Bryan's , public addresses
on tho Peace question, appear in the fol- ,
lowing pages.
.markets of the United States; a fall of one cent
in the price of cotton means tens of millions of
dollars to our producers and merchants. Added
to this freight rates and insurance premiums
have been increased to cover the greater risks
incident to war.
Scarcity of ships is one of the greatest com
mercial embarrassments caused by the war. We
have depended largely upon foreign ships to
carry our commerce and we could not but suffer
when the merchantmen of one side were driven
from the sea and a part of the merchant fleet of
the other side was withdrawn for government
use.
Tho neutral nations are put to a great ex
pense to preserve neutrality and are constantly
in danger of being embroiled in the war without
intention or fault on their part.
The rules of international law seem to have
been made for the nations at war rather than
for the nations at peace. It is almost impossible
to alter these rules during the war, because any
material change, affecting as it would the in
terests of belligerents, would be a seqming viola
tion of neutrality. As soon as peace returns
there will be a demand for an international' con
ference on the subject. The presumption should
then bo given to peace, for peace, not war, is the
normal condition. If nations are determined to
fight, they should as far as possible bear the
burden themselves and not be permitted to
transfer it to the nations which avoid war by
resorting to reason instead of force.
Under the stress and strain of the titanic
struggle in which they are engaged, each side
has felt itself justified in encroaching upon the
rights of neutrals. The ocean highways, the
common property of all, have been to some ex
tent appropriated for war purposes and delicate
diplomatic questions are forced upon the neutral
nations.
Just at this time when these questions are
most acute the belligerent governments are
least able to deal with them with the calmness
and poise which their' great importance demands
No wonder every neutral nation is increasing
ly anxious for the war to end; but of all the
neutral nations ours has the most reason to pray
for the return of peace most reason to set ito
face resolutely against participation in this.war
This nation, the head of the neutral group and
the sincere friend of all the belligerents, is in
seYf-restmint " eXampl6 in Patience and
In all history no such opportunity has ever
come to any other nation as that which is des
tined to come to the United States. In all his- ,
tory no other peace-maker has ever been in po
sit on to claim so rich a blessing as that which
will be pronounced upon our president when tne
time for mediation comes as come it must.
a falseIpiSosophy
and Its Natural Results
Issued Juno 17, 1915. J
,iJm C?nfliCum?0W ragin& in Europe has been
described as "Tho Causeless War,"- but thiol I
. one would be bold enough to lay the i blamP f n!
such an unholy situation upon an overSulin
Providence, it must find its origin in act? to?
which man, and man alone, is responsible
v- Si?ot.a race war; on the contrary, the races
are quite inexplicably mixed. Latin joins with
Saxon; tho Fran is the ally of thd Slav" while
s?dobey SSinS TGUt0n d TMht
Neither is it a religious war n in n
.homs-the cross and the' cTesientmako0 ?Z
mon cause; Protestant Kaiser and Catholic Em
peror have linked their fortunes together and
hurl their veteran legions against an army in
which are indiscriminately mingled commuu
cants of the Greek church, of the oK of
Rome and of the Church of England
Nor yet is it a rivalry between families. The
leading actors in this unprecedented tragedy are
related by blood, but kinship seems to be a neg
ligible factor it explains neither friendships
nor enmities. "uujs
No; race, religion and family, each with many
?J? -anSTr fcT' ?an Plead not suilty in the
present inquiry. So far as can be judged, there
appears upon the surface no cause that by any
known standard can be regarded as adequate for
such a cataclysm as we are now witnessing.
The notes that passed from chancellery to
chancellery were couched in most friendly lan
guage. These notes could not have been intend
ed to deceive. Sovereigns visited each other and
were received with every evidence of cordiality
and good will. This hospitality could not have
been insincere. -. i
Each ruler declared that he did not wish war;
would they all say this if an adequate cause for
war had actually existed? They have all denied
responsibility for the war would they have
done so if they had regarded the war as either
necessary or desirable? .
But there is even better proof; aye, indis
putable proof, that no sufficient cause existed
viz., the conclusion to be drawn from inaction.
Would not these rulers have busied them
selves trying to save their subjects by the eradi
cation of tho cause, had they known of the ex
istence of such cause? Would they have spent
their time in social festivities and in exchanging
compliments, had they known that they were
on the brink of war? It is inconceivable! It
would be a gross libel on them one and all
to charge such a wanton disregard of their
sacred duty.
What then was the cause? If I have correctly
analyzed the situation, the war is the natural
result of a false philosophy. Theories of life
are invisible', but they control for good or for
evil. They enter our very being and may be as
deadly to the moral man as germs of disease,
taken into the body, are deadly to the physical
man. The fundamental precept of this false
philosophy. is that "might makes right." It lb
not proclaimed now as loudly as it once was, but
it is often acted upon in particular cases by
those who .would be unwilling to endorse it as a
general principle.
The individual makes this maxim his excuse
for violating three commandments that stand in
his-way; this maxim also leads nations to vio
late these same three commandments for the
samo purpose, but on a larger scale.
Strange that men should fail to apply to na
tions the moral principles which are now so
generally applied to the individual units of a
nation! . .
Tho tendency is to condemn the violation of
t.heso commandments, hot in proportion to the
injury done, -but ratner Tn inverse proportion.
No one will dispute the validity of the injunc- l
tion against covetousness as long-as the object
coveted is of little value or not greatly desire
but the last and all inclusive specification, viz.,
"or anything that is thy neighbor's," is some-.
times interpreted by nations to except a neigh
bor's vineyard or a neighbor's territory. Covet
ousness turns to might as the princinle to be in
voked, and the greater the unlawful desire, the
firmer tho faith in the false principle.
Conquest is the word used to describe tne
means employed for securing the thing desired,
if the force is employed by a nation, and con
quest violates the commandments. "Thou sliaii
not steal" and "Thou shalt not kill."
By what sophistry can rulers convince them
selves that, while petit larceny is criminal, granu
larceny is patriotic; -that while it is reprehen
sible for one man to kill another for his mne'
it' is glorious for ono nation to put to the sworn
the inhabitants of another nation in order to ex
tend boundaries? t . htina
It is a-mockery of moral. distinctions to haw,
one man for taking the life of another, eii
for money or in revenge, and then make a j