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The Commoner
MARCH, 1917
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Mayor C. W. Bryan
Not a Candidate
From tlio Lincoln Dally News, Fob. 20.
An out-and-out assertion that he will not be
a candidate for election to the city commission
ia made by Mayor Bryan in a statement given
out Wednesday. The mayor says he has car
ried out his program with the exception of
some matters which are before the legislature
now. He believes there will bo no measures
before the public at this campaign that would
justify tho sacrifico of his own time.
The mayor has indicated several times pre
viously that he would not make the race this
year, but there was a belief that he was "hedg
ing" in his statements. His withdrawal prob
ably will encourage one or two other candi
dates for the place to get into the game in
earnest.
Tho mayor's statement reads:
"It was not my desire or intention to be
come a candidate for mayor two yuaia ago, but
at that time our city was handicapped on ac
count of the rate it was paying for public util
ity service, lack of city departments to look
after the welfare Of the wage-earner, park fa
cilities, etc, which prevented Lincoln from com
peting with other cities for securing factories
and other enterprises employing labor. How
ever, after suggesting a number of progresb .
measures that I thought snould be put Into
eifect to place Lincoln on an equal basis with
other progressive cities, and being unable to
induce other business men to make the cam
paign on these issues, I undertook the work my
self. Practically all of the measures advo
cated by me at that time have been put into
effect with the exception of one or two that
required a 'charter amendment, and these are
now before the legislaturet and I feel that
they wil be adopted.
'Serving in the capacity of mayor the past
two years has caused me to make a consider
able sacrifice of my private business affairs, in
addition to being required to put into the work
more time and nerve force than I felt I could
afford.
"I hope to have the work on the Antelope
park extension to O street far enough along by
the end of my term so that the remainder of the
work will be a matter of development and the
carrying out of detail plans that will be com
plete and in the hands of the city by May first.
I also hope to have the other unfinished work of
my department well under way, including the
construction of a public comfort station, etc.,
by May first.
"There are a number of changes, in ray judg
ment, that should be made in the conduct of
the city's business affairs in order to put it on
a basis of efficiency and economy, but it is diffi
cult to make these changes under present con
ditions. I do not believe that there will be any
measures that will come befdre the people of
the city in the near future that would justify
my making the sacrifice that another term
would entail, and, therefore, I am not a candi
date for re-election and it is not my intention
to become a candidate at the coming spring
election.
"I will prepare for publication, in the near
future, a report showing what has been accom
plished during the past two years, and hope
also, in the near future, to suggest a number of
measures that, in my judgment, should be con
sidered by the public in the coming municipal
campaign. CHARLES W. BRYAN. Mayor."
From' the Nebraska State Journal, (repub
lican) Lincoln.
Mayor Bryan's declination to be a candidate
for re-election seems final. He has been making
this statement privately for several weeks, but
it has been assumed all along that he would file
at the proper time to keep the office from falling
into unworthy hands. Now he talks so much
like business and is so earnest in asking that
good men be brought out to enable the voters
to have a -broad range of selection that it is
necessary to look upon the matter as set'tled.
Tho job of finding a man to take this place
will be right up to the voters in a short time.
In three weeks more the list of nominations
will close. The first election will occur in April
and tho second in May.
Mr. Bryan made good in the office of mayor
to so surprising an extent that ovon his big crop
of enemies are unable to say much agalust him.
Ho started in with only one adherent on the
commission, John Wright, and wound up with
everybody voting with him on nearly all im
portant matters except this same Mr. Wright.
It required so much nervous force to impress
his polices upon his colleagues that ho has de
cided that he can no longer serve the city. Ho
has put through an amazingly long list of plat
form pledges and Items called "policies." As a
leading merchant remarked the other day he
has a real vision of the possibilities of a muni
cipal government. No doubt one reason for his
decision to retire is his feeling that tho present
method of city government is so awkward that
it requires an entirely disproportionate amount
of energy to keep it in operation. Instead of
giving his entire strength to solving city prob
lems, he has had to devote about GO per cent of
his fuel to inducing his fellow commissioners
to move along in tho path of progress as he has
outlined it.
The retirement of Mr. Bryan will ldt tho bars
down for a host of candidates for this place and
other places on the commission. So long as he
was supposed to be in the field nobody felt safe
in tackling his particular office. .
' v
THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE
If any paper is given the odious pre-eminence
of being more unpatriotic than others, the
New York Tribune is likely to win tho distinc
tion, although the New York Herald is a close
rival. While the President is devoutly hoping
for peace and declaring that tho people want
peace, tho Tribune prints the following at the
head of tho first column on' tho editorial page:
"WE MUST TAKE OUR PLACE"
"Some time within tho next few days or weeks
we are going 'to' war with Germany. Tho time
and circumstances of tho declaration are of
minor consideration because the action of con
gress in the matter of armed merchantmen Joins
the issue and insures this occasion.
"And entranco into tne great world war must
infallibly change the direction and character of
American history and American policy. For twa
years we have lived in the mistaken belief that
such a war and such a crisis as that which con
fronted thd world would be without meaning for
us. We have believed that the isolation which
existed in other generations endured, that the
Warning of Washington .could have present ap
plication. "In all this we were wrong. Painfully, per
haps stupidly, surely pathetically, tho President
and millions of his fellow countrymen have
clung to tho belief that wo might escapo per
forming our part of the task laid upon this gen
eration of mankind. We. have, as a nation, held
to the idea that when peace at last came the
world would be as It was in July, 1914; that
what had been interrupted then of work, of life,
would be resumed at the point at which it was
dropped.'"
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It does not require very much of an Inspira
tion for a man who wants to fight to find lone.
Some of our fire-eating metropolitan editors
wanted to go to war over tho report that Ger
many was holding Ambassador Gerard as a host
age, which proven to be as baseless as the story
circulated In Germany that wo were going to
do something to Bernstorff. fy.
The new senate rules will prevent a, few from
obstructing tho senate, but they still leave tho
minority at liberty to instruct the will of the
majority.x Why not let the majority rule?
Lincoln, when a congressman, criticised tho
government during the war with Mexico. As
i the people forgave him they will certainly not
deal harshly with those who in time of. peace
endeavor to prevent war.
Oae-fetter from a mother anxious to save her
son from unnecessary war offsets all tho abuso
from all the, war papers.
Wanted Weekly
State Papers
WANTED A weekly paper In every state;
devoted to tho democratic cause A weekly
paper is not an exponsivo institution; It yean be
owned and edited by tho same man, no plani
bolng neccsHary. Tho typesetting and press
work can bo done by contract, thus saving In
itial investment.
Tho Commoner dqvotos itself to national pol
itics and international affairs. It Is glad to
encourage tho establishment in overy way In
tho stato capltols, or, if more convenient, at
some othor place within tho state, of Bitch stato
democratic papors which will do in tho stato tho
work Which Tho Commonor tries to do In a
larger field. Tho Commoner will bo glad to
mako club rates with such papers in each
stato.
Tho avorago weekly is largely local. Its
news Items and editorials rolatc mainly to tho
town or county In which it Is published. Such
a paper serves a purpose Is in fact indispon
slble, but thero is a gap between the average'
county paper and the national newspaper a
gap that should bo filled by one or more state
weeklies In every state. u
The abolition of the saloon will help tho le
gitimate newspaper it will no longer bo forced
into unfair rivalry with those subsidized by tho
liquor Interest.
Now is tho time for the establishment of
state weeklies throughout the country; The
Commonor welcomes such and will render all
the assistance It can.
W. J. BRYAN.
The more or less graceful manner in which
tho print paper manufacturers came down after
tho publishers got after them with tho Presi
dent's new-fangled gun, . tho trade commfssfon,
suggests that a remarkably useful career lies
ahoad for that body. Tho fact that thero was
no justification for tho extremely high price to
which newspaper had risen was so clearly
shown by an Impartial government investiga
tion, that tho debate ended bofore it was begun.
Most high prices are brought about through
the employment of just such methods.
Now thero is talk that China may enter tho
war on tho sldo of tho allies. Doubtless some
Oriental Teddy has been going up and down
the land demanding to know if the mollycoddles
of the country woro trying to Unitedstatcsify
China.
USE OF THE WAR SCARE
Ex-President Taft is advocating "conscrip
tion to build up an army for the country's de
fense"; ho thinks that the people are so "stirred
by enhuglasm" that they will support a con
scription measure and he asks, "why should
not we take advantage of this stato of public
mind?"
He declares, "that military duty is a part of
every citizen's duty," and expresses the fear
that "many people have lost their vital sense
of their obligation to the government.."
The aboVc quotation is from his reported
speech at tho Brooklyn Institute. It is given
that the reader may see the use that is being
made of the war scare. The ex-president rep
resents the sentiment which Is being cultivated
by professional soldiers and those who have a
pecuniary interest In big army contracts. They
have wanted something of this kind all tho
time, but they have felt it necessary to wait un
til they thought the country stirred "by .war
and enthusiasm" ' before venturing to pro-
)se it.
Well, they had Better make the most of tho
scaK&for if the country can keep out of this war
untilNthe end, there will be a reaction against
the expense and absurdity of the plans of the
armyffand navy experts that will carry us back
to democratic principles again.
W. J. BRYAN.
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