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The Commoner
VOL. 16, NO. 4
Letters From Commoner Readers
&
Rev. Cyrus A. Wright, Larainlo,
Wyo.: I am very pleased to note the
light which The Commoner Is mak
ing against tho preparedness propa
ganda, It seems to mo that The Com
moner has taken a very sane position
and that tho present agitation
amounts to nothing other than an
hystorla. i I understand tho history
of this country at all It has boon a
history of a struggle to rid ourselves
from anything llko tho military spirit
and with a small standing army and
not a very largo navy we havo been
able to maintain peace without los
ing influence and I can see no reason
why wo ought not to bo able to con
tinue this same policy. It Is very
evident further that thero Is loss
llkolihood of this country boing at
tacked by any nation now than at
anytlmo during the last twenty-five
years. Certainly with tho tremend
ous cost of this war both in men and
money it will bo quite Impossible for
any of tho belligoronts to mako war
on any nation for a long time to
come. It is very evidont that to make
war upon tho United States with tho
distance of three or four thousand
milos of ocean botweon tho two con
testants would bo a very hard taBk
for any nation. It has been well said
that the Japanese in reality did not
defeat tho Russians but that seven
thousand miles of narrow gauge
railroad defeated them. I havo taken
a vory pronounced stand both In pub
lic and private against tho prepared
ness as being preached in this coun
try at tho prosont time, and I am
sending this little communication to
you to lot you know that I heartily
indorso tho position of Tho Comraon
or in its contention against tho en
larged army and navy. Pleaso ac
copt this kindly commendation for
your preaching through tho columns
of your paper of tho principles of
"tho Prince of Peace."
Samuel S. Swackhamer, Plainfield,
N. J.: I fool that you are entitled to
tho thanks of tho republic for tho ef
fort you havo made in bohalf of fund
amental domocracy and poaco.
H. J. Van Houten, Brooklyn, N. Y.:
Your first number of my subscription
camo today, and I write to express
my appreciation of your views
against preparedness. I havo also
written to the President and my con
gressman against this omnlous and
sinister policy which has sprung up
so recently. Evil attracts evil. War
is a torriblo evil, and militarism
must bo evil as well, for it attracts
war. But why should any nation bo
turned Into a slaughter house by the
whim of sorao angry and haughty
diplomat, or government official, or
even a whole congress? To avoid
such a catastrophe, I favor a law
stating that before this country bo
plunged into war, the people (who
will havo to do tho fighting) be al
lowed to vote for or against it. And
to tho end that war bo forever abol
ished I also favor (for one of many
reasons) woman suffrage. For when
among tho fow great nations of the
world woman has the franchise, wars
will never occur, since womon are the
chief sufferers from tho torriblo re
sults of bloody battle. I also bolievo
that American citizens should be
warned off belligerent vessels of all
kinds. Wish you quick success
against the many evils you are combating.
meeting I went to Mr. Graves and
said: "Lest you might think that my
presence hero today indicated ap
proval of your position, I wish to state
that I dissent from everything you
havo said. Furthermore, as between
Mr. Bryan preaching peace and Mr.
Graves preaching war and destruc
tion, put mo down as with Mr. Bry
an." I hope that tho attacks of such
mon as Mr. Graves will not swerve
you from your efforts to preserve this
country from tho horrors of war.
P. D. Jones, Stanley, N. D.: I wish
to congratulate you on tho stand you
havo taken on the resolution of Sen
ator Goro warning Americans not to
take passago on belligerent armed
vessels. You aro eternally right in
this matter. I have traveled consid
erably in three states within the past
two months, and havo talked with
quite a number of people in every
walk of life, and I am convinced that
at least eighty per cent of the peo
plo aro in sympathy with the stand
you havo taken, and they give you
credit for the fact that we are not
now plunged' headlong into the
swirling vortex of war.
D. S. Oliver, Cincinnati, Ohio: Mr
John Temple Graves in an address
before tho City club of this city, on
Naval Preparedness," went out of
his way to make a vicious attack un
on yourself. At the close of the
Following is a copy of a letter
written by Mr. Robert Hubbard of
New York, N. Y., and addressed to
Dr. M. B. Adams, of Georgetown
College, Georgetown, Ky.:
"Dear Doctor: You may wonder a
little why I requested that 'The Com
moner' be placed in tho library, but
thoro is nothing remarkable about it.
"I love this, my native country,
with a passionate zeal, and am giving
my life with what little ability and
energy I possess to see that it con
tinues a country where judgment is
not perverted, but where justice,
morcy, peace and righteousness are
tho controlling ideals or elements, if
I may call them such, in our civil
Hfo. I am for maintaining our lib
erties and the Ideals and aims ex
pressed by our forefathers in the
preamble of tlu Constitution of the
United States. To promote these
ends and to suppress vice and crime,
to destroy oppression and discourage
unfaithfulness, is tho ruling passion
of my life.
"Now, I have read quite
a number of papers and
magazines, and I am thoroughly
convinced that Mr . Bryan's paper
moro fearlessly, truthfully, and pow-
eriuny stands and fights for a clean
and just civil life than any other in
the country. In short, it fights for
those eternal principles of liberty,
peace, and justice upon which our
government was founded. It gives
uncolored facts.
"I do not mean to convoy the idea
that I think Mr. Bryan is infallible
and that his opinion is to be followed
regardless of the opinion of others,
but I frankly confess that I am still
a great admirer of him, and have
found that he is right, in my judg
ment, on most questions. Neverthe
less, I reserve the right to think for
myself and differ from him in regard
to some Issues.
"Nor do I wish to convey the idea
that I am opposed to Mr. Wilson or
that I in any way fail to appreciate
what he is striving to do for our
S? Vm ry', ?T Ahat belittle hls great
ability, his high ideals, and noble
purposes.
"lam for him for president again,
but I reserve the same right to differ
from him.
t ? Uie question o Preparedness
I differ from President Wilson and
favor only a very gradual increase in
our military and naval equipment. I
agree with the views of the Honor
able Claude Kitchin of South Caro
lina on this matter. You will find
hto views in The Commoner and I
hopo that you may find time to read
them.
"This is what I had in mind par
ticularly when I made my request,
for I am anxious that the students,
at least of my own college, shall
have the opportunity to see both
sides of this momentous question.
Furthermore, I am anxious that they
havo the opportunity to know the
unbiased facts of all political ques
tions of national concern. And I am
quite sure that there is no other pub
lication in this country that gives
them quite so honestly and truthful
ly as Mr. Bryan's paper.
"So I sent, out of my own earn
ings, the subscription price in, and
ordered Tho Commoner sent to the
Georgetown College library and in
structed the management to notify
me when the time expired and that
I would renew it year by year. And
if they fail to do so, I will of my
own accord write and remind them
about tho matter.
"Furthermore, Doctor, as soon as
I get out of school and started in life,
I intend to give one or more books,
such as the faculty or those who
have the matter fn charge may de
sire, from year to year to the library.
God willing, I shall do this.
"I hope that I may be "able .to do
this, not alone from a deep sense of
gratitude, but to. lend my mite to
help perpetuate the great and. noble
work that Georgetown College is do
ing. "I sincerely hope that God will
give you strength and courage to in
stil into the lives of the students of
Georgetown College the high ideals
of character and life that the Prince
of Peace, God himself, revealed to
men; and inspire them with the grand
and lofty conceptions of citizenship
and patriotism which the fathers of
our country left to us.
"This leads me to my closing re
marks. I do not think that patriot
ism consists of force alone; I do not
think that a man is lacking in patri
otism because he is opposed to mil
itarism and burdensome taxation. In
my judgment, he man is most patri
oticpatriotic in a real, true sense
who deals faithfully, justly, and honr
estly with his fellows, and in this
way maintains liberty and order. It
is the man who earnestly endeavors
to see that judgment and justice are
not perverted but that the tranquil
ity of the home is preserved from
oppression and that the general wel
fare or common good is promoted,
who is, in my judgment, most patri-
are of the same flesh and blood as
the European; no wiser, and subject
to his mistakes. A great president
discouraged trading horses in the
middle of a stream; he also wished
to teach a lesson to let good enough
alone. We believe the majority are
against preparedness out here.
J. J. McMaster, Long Beach, Cal.:
As a voter I would like to give my
view on questions of the day. First
we art the richest nation of the earth
we did not get it by militarism nor
by great foreign trade. We cot it
a? homiP MGnt and a helthy trade
at home. Now, suppose we chance
our policy to" the greatest military
power of the world, it will coS
S. S.PJ? Pace witt!
aMrx lus greater hard
ship on nations not as rich as we
are. Now we propose to grab the
Ztun t?'6 Now 8Qnt good P!
portunuy. Now, suppose we havo
reached the goal. We are 2.
ing military power-; we also have"
ZTlea t?6 orld's trade We no4
find America in the same position
Europe was two years ago. ft S 5
mi itary commercial 'war? not a te
liglous war, for the Turk iw Si
and catholic are fl!&ttniSw
side the best of frieW Whi?e "
enjoy the friendship of the whoM
world, can we afford to take a ohlt
of uniting the world agist us. "we
D. W. Elliott, Roswell, N. M.: I
have been watching events for about
fifty years and have never seen such
a determined effort to override the
will of a large majority of the peo
ple, for the benefit of a small ma
jority. That the President believes
his preparedness scheme is not fa
vored by the majority of the people,
is fully evidenced by the fact that
he thought it necessary to make a
speaking trip to try to throw his
prestige and his arguments in favor
of his plan. That the newspapers
are trying to create public sentiment,
not voicing public sentiment, is
shown by the fact that they refuse
to give any opposer of their propo
ganda a hearing in their columns. I
believe that nearly seventy-five per
cent of our citizenship is opposed to
any of the preparedness schemes that
have been proposed. 1 positively be
lieve it is ten to one in this part of
the country; but they are the com
mon people, and have no chance to
be heard, or, perhaps, they do not
know how to make themselves heard.
I believe it is a race calamity to al
low our nation to be dragged from
its high and righteous ideals, and
our children taught that "Might
makes right." I have been doing
what little I can to show the "True
inardness" of all this fuss, but, as
I have said, the newspapers refuse to
PUblisll anv artinlfi written nfrninsh
the doctrine of "Preparedness for
peace," and it ilia'rd to do much
simply talking-: do "6fn,' :go on, and
fight this accursed thing, and you
will have the gratitude of the men
who must "foot the bill" and of un
born millions. Any thing' I can do
to help or to encourage rthe fighters,
I am ready' to do.
D. C. Peck, ..Plainvilie, Conn.: A
friend has recently 'sent1 me a copy
of The Commoner for November
(1915). No other periodical in all
the United States or the world is so
vigorously combating thd greatest
danger that ever threatened our coun
try. I am writing; letters almost
daily to different papers, protesting
against the insanity that is degrading
us more than it is possible to state.
This war is something more than a
mere natural conflict "between na
tions. It is the ultimate battle be
tween the natural and spiritual
mind. Because tLe larger part of
humanity are naturally minded, is
why they are advocating prepared
ness. President Wilson little knows
how terribly he is being led astray.
Eventually the right will prevail, and
you will then have the satisfaction
of having boldly stood for it, in the
face of world-wide opposition.
J. L. Maitland, Lakewood, Ohio:
While so many are condemning and
ridiculing you, a few words of cheer
may not come amiss. Last Sunday
evening I addressed a well filled
house at the Second Spiritualist
church of Cleveland on the subject
Preparedness Through Education,"
and referred to your work as fol
lows: "And if we are sneered at for
advocating peace instead of war, ed
ucation instead of armament, let us
remember the words of our greatest
of men, our greatest of mediums,
our Prince of Peaca. RTphho om m
.peacemakers,' and let us include with
,him our Bryan and our Ford." The
! clearly that your' work meets with
mo iHuiiuvui ol an .out the ammuni
tion trust and a few who are for
"preparedness by armament," but"
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