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&
V
The Commoner
26
u
ft.-
The Problem of Democracy
y
Thh announcement of William
Jennings Bryan that ho proposes to
lay loHBcr things asldo and do all in
lila power during the noxt four years
to soo that the democratic party
comes out for prohibition Is of far-,
reaching importance.
' Vis known that Mr. Bryan did
;aiot press this matter upon the last
"dVmQcratic convention for the solo
reii'son that ho did not think tho tinlo
.bp'portuno to do so.
)tftp now proposes to go out on so,
campaign to see that when tho next
ty)?iVj3jition rolls around, tho tihio
will bo opportune. . -5..
" Mr, Bryan, a lifelong democrat arid
champion of state's rights, believes
that tho states have a right to de
cide whether or not they want na
tional prohibition. Ho believes that
the.'statos have tho right to -pass up
on this question themselves without
any longer being throttled by a po
litical oligarchy at Washington.
Tho results of tho recent elections
Igivo Mr. Bryan tremendous argu
i raont for his proposal. Counting the
'19 states which were dry on the first
:of November; tho four states which
adopted prohibition by a direct vote
at the election; and the two states,
Florida and Utah, which elected
legislatures and governors pledged
beyond any question to tho enact
ment of prohibition laws, wo have
now 25 statos absolutely committed
to tho prohibition policy.
. In tho election itself In tho four
states where tho question was voted
upon directly, two, Michigan and
South Dakota, cast their electoral
votes for tho republican national
ticket, and two, Montana and Ne
braska, supported tho democratic na
tional ticket.
Of the two states which, elected
dry legislatures and dry governors,
Florida is traditionally democratic
and Utah with equal certainty has
heretofore been solidly republican,
being one of tho two states which
gavo electoral votes to Mr, Taft in
1912. Thus, of the six, states which!
decided tho question of prohibition:
at this election, four voted demo
cratic and two republican.
Of tho 19 states already dry, 14
gave their ' electoral votes In this
contest to the democratic candidate
for president.
Of the 25 states definitely com
mitted to prohibition, 18 are demo
cratic in national affairs.
Further than this, taking tho vote
in concress on the Hobson resolu-
tion, the Wilson states gave 126 votes
to that measure and tne wugnes
states gavo 71 for It. The Wilson
states gave 68 votes against the Hob
son amendment and tho Hughes
states gavo 121 votes against it.
Wilson was elected to the presi
dency by the dry and near-dry states,
which gave him 204 votes against 72
which ho received from what we
class as wet states.
All this does not mean that the
liquor business was an issue in the
national election for it wasn't.
All thiB does not mean that these
people voted for President Wilson
because he was dry, for he wasn't
dry. The White house influence has
been dead against tho supremo am
bition of the drys for th-e past four
years. These v,oters laid aside their
dry notions anuf v oascted President
Wilson for other . odons and in spite
of his "wet tendencies.
But it is as plain as the nose on
Mr. Wilson's face that he was re
elected by dry votes and tho votes
that he will get in the electoral col
lege will come largely from dry
states.
B.ecause tho White house has given
us ruin punch and opposition to na
tional prohibition for four years is
no reason why Mr. Wilson should
keep it up for four years more.
If lit) modifies his attitude Jt will
not be the first time that he has lis
tened to tho voice of tho people and
acted thereon.
During the next four years, the
democratic party will make itself or
break, itself for a generation to come,
a,nd Mr. Brya'-has. the foresight to
see. the vision.
There is no reason why either of
the major political parties Bhoitfd
longer tie its chariot to a beer wag
on. The time has come for both to
declare themselves free from this in
fluence and the party that gets to it
first will have a decided advantage
over the other.
There is no issue between the old
parties at this time; the hour is at
hand to create one. The New Republic.
MR. BRYAN'S MONEY
b?fc? 2et'" as he tow thTwTrr
at Indianapolis, it remains ? ?'
seen whether the issues he reL
as paramount will be accented
such by the country four vnnfi as
certain that his influenc
The Greatest Weather Prophet
Row Ivl 11. Hides, of St. Louis, during tho last thirty years has won
an enviable reputation lis a moat successful national weather forecaster,
Many thousands of observers testify that his weather forecasts are more
reliable and of greatepvalue than
tno predictions or tne govern
ment weather bureau. This rep
utation was not won through
some occult or mysterious meth
od, as somo people think, but by
tho 'simple application of scien
tific principles, which he sots
forth In his works. After a long
and useful Ufa Professor Hicks
died on October 12, 1916. Shortly
before his last illness ho com
pleted his weather forecasts for
his great 1917 Almanac, and also
had prepared tho weather fore
casts a year ahead for his month
ly magazine,
HsralawJRM4KwB& wvfl9sH
wmmmmmmBm
BilffBOiUrr " i I II iliWI
Word and Works
This charming monthly contains
"""" vuu.mr lurccasis ror each
month and a great deal of other
interesting and valimhln fnn,.
and scientific rciicHno- iv.nf
The regular subscription price of
'u nuu worKH ror one year
with a copy, of Tho Hicks 1917
Almanac to tho subscriber, is
$1.00. Wo will send Word m..i
workN onovear with The Hicks
Almanac foT 1917 and The Com
moner, for 91.10. This is a re
markable bariraln in fnmiitf .i
i , , t. ! ii , lne ma-ter for 1917 and our read
ers should bo quick to avail themselves of It. Address all orders to
THE COMMONER, LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
j
It Is charged against Mr. Bryan
that he is a "very rich man," made
so by his "capitalization of the rovolt
in the democratic party" and his
"talk." Manifestly to do this was a
crime. Yet the field was, an open one
and there were others who. had the
chance .to take advantage of the re
volt in the democratic party against
plutocratic control. He had no mon
opoly of tho situation. The same op
portunity that presented itself to him
was offered to any other democrat.
But no one else seems to have had
just the qualifications Mr. Bryan pos
sessed for undertaking the leadership
which wa,s called for; and certainly
it should not be imputed to him as a
sort of infamy not u oe lived down
that he became Jn fact the very em
bodiment of that spirit of revolt
which changed the whole current of
political thought in the United States.
t, Mr, ; Bryan has been more fortun
ate than, some other men who have
been at the head of great popular
movements. He has been able to
make some money not millions, as
h's critics insist, but a modest, for
tune which he places at $200,000;
surely not enough to entitlo him to
a place among the Rockefellers and
tho 'Morgans. But we think' ho one
will seriously insist that his gains
hav.e been illicit. They have come
to him as the result of extremely
hard work as a writer and a lecturer.
He -might have sold his talent to a
Corporation and thus made more In
a ypar or, two than all he has re
ceived. (as, "gate money" since he took
to -the Chautauqua circuit. But he
ha? chps.en . to gq about among the
cqmmon people jwith a, message
Which., they, have been glad; to hear.
And they have not grudged him the
charge for admission. .Men .have paid
it gladly; and 'have gone away feeling
thai they had received much more
than their money's worth. No one
ever attended one of his lectures un
der cQmpulsion. No tainted dollar
ever went to swell the little heap he
lias laid, aside against the rainy day.
And yet it is held against him by the
organs of plutocracy that he has been
able to make an honest liying by his
pen and tongue while, doing his duty
as a citizen and as a leader among
men.
.
Well, the renewed, assaults upon
him are reassuring In this respect at
least. They indicate that he has
"come back" in the most embarrass
ing way to those who fancied he had
been buried beyond the hope of res
urrection. For a while the pluto
cratic press left the country under
the impression that Mr. Bryan was
indeed a "dead one." He made a
perfectly wonderful campaign this
fall, covering twenty states, most of
which later voted for Wilson; yet
hardly a line crept into the daily
papers regarding his movements. Not
one man in fifty in the east knew
that he was on the stump at all, so
successful was the conspiracy of si
lence up until almost the last mo
ment. Yet the event shows that he
has lost nothing of his power or his
popularity. This was demonstrated
here in Johnstown and also at Al
toona. Tyrone and elsewhere in this
district. 'Wherever he went crowds
greeted mm and the response to his
aiwpais was all that he could have
desired.
bringing them into promin en
be profoundly felt and that by "o
they will figure as never before S
national pollUosJohnstown (k?
Democrat.
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