The Commoner
VOL. 15, NO. 9
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The Commoner
ISSURD MONTHLY
Entered at tho Postofllco at Lincoln, Nebraskn,
as Hccond-class matter.
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TUB COMMONKU, LINCOLN. NED.
"Peace hath her victories no less renowned
than war." Milton.
Some of our preparetllsts are having nervous
prostration out of courtesy to the militarists of
tho old world.
The motto of the jingoes is "Run little 'fraid
or big 'fraid will catch you."
It does not require as much preparedness as
It used to: very little training will enable a man
to lie in a trench and be suffocated.
The "Blood and Thunder"
Gospel
Wo are getting occasional side lights on tho
spirit that animates the advocates of prepared
ness a glimpse of what we might expect lr
tho government was turned over to them.' A
fair sample of this "blood and thunder" gospel
is to be found in the utterances of a man who is
described as "Associate Editor of the Army and
Navy Journal." He has (after a careful inves
tigation, of course) discovered that there were
no "red-blooded people" In attendance upon
the Friends of Peace convention. He also found
that "the convention was run by women and
ministers." He boasts that he would like noth
ing better than to get on "the public platform"
and ask "what great advance in the nation's his
tory was made without force of arms?"
What new advance has this man in mind?
What are we preparing for? He ought to take
the people into his confidence not his mother,
if she is living, for she is a woman, and not his
spiritual adviser, if he has one, for he is a min
isterbut just the "red blooded people," and
tell them what new movement he is heading for
which FORCE is essential.
Possibly the concluding paragraph of his in
terview may reveal his purpose. He complains
that the advocates of peace are trying to accom
r bwih"trpqtisand propaganda" "that which
Christ has failed to accomplish after two thou
sand years the overthrow of human nature'1!
There we have it: He resents the idea that the
brute instinct in man can be subdued; the teach
ings of Christ seem to irritate him. He belongs
to the tribe of the "Tooth and Claw." The pre
paredness demanded by the jingoes is a chal
lenge to Christian civilization it is a plea for a
return to barbarism.
W. J. BRYAN. "
The number of republican aspirants for the
presidential nomination would indicate that the
republican leaders are suffering from a severe
attack of over-confidence.
To the advocates of bigger appropriations for
preparedness: Why not put a tax on the jingo
papers that are working up a scare, and upon
tho manufacturers who will profit by big appropriations?
Whatever disputes may arise between citizensy
as to tho preparedness for war of the United
States there can be none with respect to the pre
paredness of a number of republican leaders
who want to bo president.
It would be cheaper to buy the entire cotton
crop at a fair price, use what we need and then
dump the. surplus into the sea than to go to
war over the order declaring cotton contraband
but that would not please the jingoes who are
looking for an excuse for getting into this war.
Mr. Taft told the people of California in a
recent speech that they were conducting a chem
ical laboratory for social and political experi
ments that would cause them a lot of trouble in
the future. Mr. Taft failed, however, to explain
to them how it was possible to secure better so
cial and political conditions unless some com
munity or commonwealth conducted experiments.
And California seems to bo doing quite well.
The chairman and secretary of tho republican
national committee havo issued statements in
which tliey predict certain victory for that party
in 1916. In view of tho fact tlrat a campaign is
decided on issues and men and nobody knows
now what issues the republicans will seek to
raise or what men they will nominate, it is safe
to assert that the predictions of Mr. Hilles and
Mr. Reynolds havo no greater value than any
of the remainder of the flapdoole output.
Among the newly erected republican presi
dential lightning rods may be discerned, that of
ex-Governor Hadley of Missouri. Mr. Hadley
qualifies in a recently printed article in Colliers,
"by declaring that tho terms "progressive" and
"conservative" are impossible of definition and
that it is difficult to distinguish between them
when various commonwealths are compared. The
average voter, howevor, is not as sadly puzzled
as the floor leader of the republican national
convention of 1912 is.
RIVALRY IN SCARES
The advocates of "preparedness" are increas
ing their demands. The Defense league recently
demanded $300,000,000.00 for the navy and
$3 50,000,000.00 for the army -a total of $450,
000,000.00 a year "to get ready." Now th&Navy
league raises the bid; it asks for $500,
000,000.00 for the navy, and demands an army
of one million men to support the efforts of the
navy. Well, such an army would cost not less
than $250,000,000.00 per year or a total of
$750,000,000.00 per year for army and navy.
As we are now spending $250,000,000.00 for the
army and navy, the Defense league wants
the appropriations for preparedness nearly
doubled, while the Navy league wants three
times as much spent as wo are spending now
Next! Do wo hear a higher bid?
If we start out on a "get ready" policy the
leadership will go to the jingo with the liveli
est imagination to the one who can think of
the biggest scares to startle the taxpayers into
giving up their money. At present the Navy
Iqague has the biggest case of fright, but just
wait until the Defense league has another scare..
'IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN"
"It is an ill wind that blows no one good " so
runs thQ old proverb, and it may be added 'that
it is a good wind that blows no one HI ho
new proverb is suggested by the sad fate of the
two colonels whose hopes of war have, for the
time being, at least, been ruthlessly shattered
by Germany's acceptance of this government's
position on the submarine attacks. If the wires
between Oyster Bay, New York, and LouisTi lie
Kentucky, would only give up their secrets the
literature of tho world might be enriched by
havoCbeenS"mUCl1 re than "" ht
GUSSIE'S GALL
Gussie Gardner, is telling the world what h
would do under the title, "If I were ffl"
Forget it, Gussie! Things do look bad but if
will never come to that Tf tho ,,. ' Dut n
noot you vltb Caesa it WiH ta WhS thTL00
hat ho said about "All Gaul," etc
If the readers of The Commonpr vidf T
geles during the exposition shou Id ?
to see the mission plav af 4nn ni i , ot fail
AN ENEMY OF WOMAN RTrm, .
- w .' A J,MI I41
The Philadelphia Ledger contains tho t ,,
ing dispatch from Reading, Penn y Va4'0l,W
"All the influence of the pZ?:.
Federation of Liquor Dealers wilf b ? fi?n-,a
against the constitutional amendment Iff?
gives women the ballot. Opinions l?1
by dealers from widely scattered a-nSS!?1
closed that they oppose 'votes for S"8. dis"
they will aid in financing toTJthrtm
paign With women voting, the deS saT
the vote against the saloon would be so V J'
to sound the death knellfor the business g 8
"Delegates to the liquor convention wn
session behind., closed doors at Xhtt
mapped out their campaign to comba tLSS
Bade of Governor Brumbaugh for local mS
Th?'i w !1i?UOr m,en wiI1 orSaniZe in each cX
and that they will support legislative candidate
who are avowedly 'wef was the news circnta?
mg from tho convention hall." uuiat-
Yes, of course, the liquor intereststhat is
those who make money out of the liquor bust
nessare against woman's suffrage. Every man
who traffics in sin is opposed to woman's Suf
frage. But why is it that the good people arc
not as prompt to take the side for woman'
suffrage as the evil influence; are to oppoTo ?t!
If those making a profession of wickedness un
derstand that woman's conscience is AGAINST
them, why can those who are fighting against
evil and for righteousness fail to understand
that woman s conscience is on their side'
While the brewer, the distiller, and 'the sa
loon keeper have a pecuniary interest in oppos
ing woman's suffrage, the temperance forces
ought to take advantage of this opportunity to
enlist a powerful ally on their side. Even the
man who uses liquor, unless he is very far gone
will prefer to go to the polls with his wife rather
then with those who make a profit out of the
liquor business. w. J. BRYAN.
MR. BRYAN ON WAR LOANS
As to the proposed war loan of a vast sum,
now being discussed in financial circles, Mr. Bry
an gave out tho following statement at Minne
apolis, September 11:
"At the beginning of the' war this government
expressed its disapproval of loans to belligerents.
An exception was afterward made in favor of
the credits given by banks here to cover pur
chases. This proposed loan, however, is so large
and will require the co-operation of so many
people to insure its success that it raises several
serious questions, the most important being its
possible effect on the nation's neutrality. The
president has appealed to the American people
to refrain from unneutral words and acts, hut
this appeal will have little effect if our people
become financially interested in the success of
either side. If such loans are encouraged, our
people are likely to become separated into
groups, each group loaning to the side with
which its sympathies rest. We have difficulty
enough in maintaining neutrality when sympathy
rests on sentiment. It will be still more diffi
cult if sympathy represents large money invest
ments. "We can not afford to jeopardize our neutral
ity for any money consideration. If Europe wants
American money, let it send back American se
curities instead of asking our people to share
the risks of the war."
GERMANY ACCEPTS AMERICA'S POSITION
The American people read with great gratifica
tion of the successful settlement of the matters
between this country and Germany relative to
the use of the submarine. The war cloud, such
as it wag, has disappeared and the sky Is again
clear. The sensational papers exaggerated the
situation and made war. appear more probable
than it ever was. It was a delicate situation,
however, and had in it sufficient dynamite to
have- implicated this nation had wo had a jingo
inj;ne Whito house. The -partisan portion 01
the press did its best to aggravate the situation,
and succeeded in increasing the delicacy of the
task, but the crisis Is past, and the .public shares
the feeling of relief which the president must
experience in this happy issue of the dispute.
W. J. BRYAN.
Mr. Bryan sent the following telegram to Sec
retary Lansing, Sept. 1:
"Lexington Junction, Missouri. Hon. Robert
Lansing, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.7
Blease accept for yourself and convey to tna
president my hearty congratulations upon tne
successful settlement of the submarine contro-,
versy. W. J. Bryan."
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