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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1917)
MAEOH, 1917 The Commoner and purchased about 250,000 pis tols popguns instead of rifles. When their military expenditures had grown to enormous proportions other nations found it necessary to adopt an efllcient business system for handling the public's money in the matter of war expenditures. England created a department of munitions. Tho strongest man in the empire was given the place of minister of munitions. It revolu tionized the policy of tho govern ment and put efficiency and economy to the fore. I firmly believe we will have to adopt some such plan in the nYattcr of expenditures of our money for public defense or else our waste will be enormous. If you say that England's action was in time of war, why should we not avail ourselves in time of peace of the lesson she had to learn by bitter experience in time of trial and stress? We are simply deluging the different depart ments of tho army and the navy with the flood of money. Having never had to handle expenditures of su6h tremendous magnitude before, being suddenly given more money than they ever dreamed existed, they are really put to it to find a place to even give it away. It is my opinion that a committee of congress having control of the purchase and manu facture of all munitions and sup plies both for the army and the navy should be constituted by congress. It should have jurisdiction over all appropriations for arms, armament, material and materiel. This would require, of course, the establishment of a new committee, but I am firmly of-the opinion that such a comnJittee could properly in form itself as to the most economical and efllcient means for supplying the needs of this government in the mat ter of war material and direct the manufacture and purchase of war supplies so that the best interests of tho government and of the people, who pay tho bills, would be served. The efficiency of our national de fense program would be tremend ously Increased and the national treasury saved from tho wasto of untold millions of money. If something is not done in the fu ture to more carefully supervise the expenditure of the billions that are going to be spent by coming con gresses upon the matter of national defense, we will probably discover what is somewhat apparent now that while expenditures and appro priations grow by hundreds of mil lions at each succeeding session, our army increases by thousands. Since we started to increase our military establishment for national defense our appropriations for the army have increased four hundred millions and the army has been increased by about 10,000 enlisted men of the line. We can get everything for an army by appropriations except men. With out men we can have no army. We can get plenty of officers, eager for rank and thirsty for glory, but the lack is in fighting men for the line, ready to die in the ditch. Kings and rtOKSE-HIBH, WULl. JBYRONQ. PIG-TIGHT. Varitt rft nrutn YTtli vr1jk beaylly galvanised a Btrong sleUng fence. Sold direct to tU iwurer at wire mm prices. Here's & t e w of onr blsrvnlnea : cb-hmh hoc Fi -1 BSfe roil j, : V - ! rire a ram -..i.v ;" ""fl ?y land m.i """ : " catv. nar&ea Wlra BuipnnVrV,. Tf" rpmxs. uur uataioe Knows 100 - o -.va. nnw HMIIJ, ITOXreC. '""acuHH JOS. BOX21S Munela. 1ml. Hfr j a SiBrli tBI r Ja?QLWtihNw4 H princes have at times in tho past found it difficult to get men to fight their battles for them. Napoleon Bonaparte, tho wisest warrior tho world ever knew, conceived tho plan of universal conscription to fill his ranks, and when ono nation had adopted that policy it compelled those who were its expected or pos sible adversaries to inaugurate tho same system or be overthrown. In tho event of a war for national de fense, this nation will spend its last dollar and send tho last man to the. front. In such a war tho United States will never be troubled to find soldiers for the fighting lino. It will only be put to it to find guns and ammunition with which to arnTthem. It would be put to it to do so right now. Militarists are always ready to pay any price for any kind of war ma terial except the human unit, the man who fights the battle, tho man who is. the heart and lifoblood of every array. Having to pay enor mous prices for other war material, they purpose under the plan of com pulsory service to pay nothing for tho men. In war everything goes up in price except human life. The nations at war in Europe will send a man 5,000 miles across the sea and over the land, away out to west ern Nebraska, where I live, and pay me $160 in good red gold for a dinky horse that could command a price of perhaps $60 In timo of peace. They will ship that horse back over land and sea to Europe, and when they get him to th.e battle line he has cost them six or seven hundred dollars and will live per haps 15 or 20 days. But they will take the boy of Eu rope, the flower of his race, tho pride of his parents they tako him for nothing. They send him to the fir ing line and he is shot down. They pay him perhaps 7 cents a day while he lives. Seven cents for tho boy; $700 for the horse. It is becauffe I know that such things as this are the inevitable consequence of war that I hope that God may grant our President the wisdom and the un derstanding to keep us free from its awful curse. We are at present free from the fearful problems that con front blood-soaked and war-weary Europe. We can show them the true way by example more surely than we can drive them to it by force of arms. There is room and stage here in this, western world for this nation to work out its final triumphant destiny which, in my" judgment, should be the leadership of tho peo ples of earth in commerce, in edu cation, and in civilization. Let Columbia still continue to Bit here, enthroned between our silver seas, the Atlantic upon tho east, the blue" Pacific upon the west, "these seas which serve us in the office of a wall or as a moat defensive against the envy of less hanpy lands." And to our future jubilee shall come, in the fullness of time when we hold it, not kingsttnd princes as a relic of the imperialism, the barbarism, the despotism of the past; not conquered nations bound to our chariot wheels, as trophies of conquest and all-conquering war, but rather the nations of the earth in peaceful procession, to sit at our feet and learn froni a study of America's history tho story of man's final emancipation from wrong and oppression and do Colum bia reverence as the uncrowned queen of tho highest, the freest, and t, M,inf tvno nt nivilization unon I Llitt 41VJUICJI. l'u - - the face of the earth. That is the ideal which I hoia ior my cuuuujr. That is the mission I would have her bring to mankind. (Applause.) 25 BBpBpniHt BV Jtf M W " ." , j f f ;WIMrfcflywUfci'. Wif ABMwWstltMHMaKrwTglF rrn CAatnTBnTal tHBglaVI Startling' Discovery mmmBlmmWKm1mWmmmmmmT from the Ruins of Babylon! Tem-tttt cylinder coitaiiing Cyras' person! story ef (fee fall ef Baiyfen It wm At the famous feast of llclshazwtr that tlm Prophet Daniel translated Uin awful dictum Mcne, Tckel Upharsln." That nlRht Cyrus captured tho mighty city, hut Hot in tho way histories have told you. Jlad CyrnV own account Juit dUcoverrd, which litis lain hurled thoiuauri of years. TbU marvelous writing In but ono or UioukaikU ctjunlly startllm? "ordinal record contained LIBRARY of original sources TIiIm rnmn.rkn.hlA llhrnrv linn henn nnltl bv suhflcrlnLlnn. hut hv tnblnf. nvn. $ tho entire Hnsold edition at an unheard of reduction, we offer tho few remain ing sets to readers of The Commoner at an EXTRAORDINARY BARGAIN This marvelous work is revolutionizing modern thought, turning uptfMo down old notions and ideas. It gives for the tlrxt time thr loek-bottom nouree on all anfaJectM of Immnn Intercut from 7,000 yenrn ago down to today tho Inside facta which the average person has not oven heard of. Over 100 research specialists spent 10 years gathering the contents of IhU xtrtt work. Ancient ami remote flrrliJitlon In ill parUof the globe were uniotered, and art-burled liKf- BIAJI COUPON FOR PIIKB HOOK IIIIIIIIIIIHIMIH : UaJrerMty Rewvdi Co., Df. 01, VWwwiw, Wa. Seml me Irte Wk f, rare riocumrntt. mt trll me ol your lo prtte, txty payment Oder km tlx liw rin)olng let. 1 aMuine no oUlKatio i ao1 no ta'ctman It to call. FRICB nOOIC of rare document rind vbcIcbI JincrlBtloBM. Mail coupon below and this book will ha pent to you FKKK. No talesman will call, you Incur no oullcntlon whatever. Ofllypblci on manumenu, tablets, turfbakeri brtcka aDi pa llaipietli yielded their ccret, untttlnir wotkert ramacked the kM llteratereof trj af, ancient, mrd'arral and modem, to Cod ttie "aHilBat dfutBtaH that tliaped cWlllza. Uon and Inflncnced the thought and lllr ef the wnrid. Nothlnf like It ha ever been attempted or thought ol before. It U the complete ctory ol the past told by cyewltneec anil partici pant Babylon, NJnerab, Ugyptt AMyrb and all ptepltt, rifht down to today. K. KUrmL. Get FREE Copy of This Book Wii havo on hand a few hundred remaining volumes of Commoner CondriiNeiJ which we will furnish as long as they last, Without Cunt, under the terms of the special offer g 1 v o n bclo w. The.o hooka aro all superb . cloth hound hooks containing -121 to 470 pages, 0x8 Inches In size, and orig inally made to sell for fl.GO per volume. Print ed on special book paper, In large clear type, and containing a complete reference in dex. The Comntonrr Con demned Is a ' condensed copy of Tho Commoner Issued In book form. containing editorials. speeches, lectures and writings of Mr. Bryan. Wo have on hand two different volumes of The Commoner Coh denNed, published re spectively In 190C and 1907. Each vorume Is complete In itself a veritable compendium of political Information containing valuabjc matter on Important po litical topics. OUR SPECIAL OFFER As long as tho supply lasts wo will send one volume Of Commoner Conrfemtcd prepaid in combination with a 2 y oars' subscription (new or renewal) to The Commoner for only J2s or we will send one volume of Cemmeaer Condensed without cost and prepaid for a club of two subacrlbers at ?1 each. Send your orders today before It Is too late. When these aro gone no more can be procured. Do not delay If you want a book. Address all orders to THIS COMMONER, Lincoln, Neb. iMiaiannjfaffaaaaWTSar W . mmmmW09SSSBmmmVSStm IHWwPffiMI lmWtZmWBmWM4BaBBuarBH aW-;WTaMfiMWiflafflOTn " lP''iz3 JmKNiKjSSESBsAM.JlXmjmm mMmwmf:mMtmsmmmmmxm tBBHHafrnRliBHKaWSWHH "H . . "J yf t hiK.f.i,. t itu&k Jtj