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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1917)
:'05r- t i The Coffim'on!-' VOL. 17, NO. 3 8 r ; y - I Wr it Yj i 1 New York Peace Speech Following Is Mr. Bryan's speech before the Poaco Mooting at Madison Square Garden, New York, Feb. 2, 1917. r nt,nlriti(in T.nrlfnn and Gentlemen: I am very glad to tako part in this meeting, and I confess to my surprise at the size or this audi onco. I expressed a very strong preference for Carnegie hall, because I was afraid that at such a tlmo as this, with no campaign on, and no moaifB of reaching the public except the notice thp.t would go through the preBS, that we could not interest enough people to justify the use of this hall. It cortainly is ovidence of the deep interest that you feol in the subject under con sideration that you are here in such numbers tonight. I feol justified in tho trouble that I have taken to came, traveling from Atlanta, where I turned back from my trip down to tho south, that I might join these friends of our own coun try and tho friends of all the countries in this expression of sentiment tonight, and I am glad to speak in behalf of the resolutions that have been presented for your consideration, and up on which your vote will bo asked at the conclu- m slon of my address. The President is tho servant of the nation. And the President desires as much as any Pres ident ever did to reflect the wishes of the people for whom ho speaks. It is important, therefore, that tho President, and those who act with him"' , at Washington, shall- have an opportunity to know what the desire of -the people is. Every one in an official position is influenced by pub lic opinion, and that means by THE public opinion that comes to his notice, and he is not to blamo if, hearing but one side, he is misin formed as to what the people really want. Or dinarily, tho only way in which the President can gather public opinion is from the daily press, and the daily press does not always ac curately reflect the sentiment of the times. In saying this I do not intend a reflection up on those who edit our papers. 'I just want to remind you that the man who edits a paper is just simply a man; he has the frailties of man, and the limitations of man; the man who sits in tho editorial office does not always know what the people desire, and the business ofllco may have an exaggerated opinion of the im portance of news that can be stated in large ' headlines. The sensational item generally finds a place on the front page. I found a few months ago? when we were negotiating treaties, that some times a sensational news item of no great in terest to any considerable number would have, a place of importance on the front page, while the notice that a treaty had been made that might protect our country from war with an other nation Would be so inconspicuously men tioned that you wouldhavo to search for it. IMPORTAN&8TOF MEETINGS If the subject under discussion is one where there are great financial intersts on one side, there"rnay be a pressure, even an unconscious pressure, on the side that represents the money involved. But whatever reason you may give, or whatever explanation, tho fact remains fcnat a public ofllcial who relies upon the metropol itan press for information as to what the people want is apt to be woefully misled. And for that roason it is important that meetings like this should be held In the great centers, that the common man may have a chance to speak in tones that will be heard, and thus have a part in the molding of the public opinion that con trols ofllcial action. I am glad, therefore, to be here to join in the support of this resolution that has been read to you. No one in this country was happier than I When a few weeks ago the President called upon the nations at war to state in explicit terms what it was that, being done, the world might have peace. It was the first step, and it was exactly the right step. These rulers have, from tho very beginning of this war, denied responsibility for " Its commencement. When the President in the beginning suggested mediation they all, with onja accord, denied responsibility, and the answers were sojoiuch alike iat one answer might have served for all. Every one of them said in sub stance: "I am not guillty-; I did not want this war; I did not begin this war; somebody else started it." And tho world Is to be congratulated that we have at last reached tho time when no ruler of a civilized land dares to admit to the world that ho either began the war or wanted the war.. But, while no one was willing to admit re sponsibility for beginning it, none of them were willing to tell the world what it was they were . fighting for; each side announced that It was striving to preserve its own integrity, and for tho defense of its own rights; but they would not state in explicit terms what it was that they insisted upon as a condition precedent to peace. When the President presented this request to them it was based on two assumptions first, that they must know what they were fighting for or they Would not continue fighting; and, second, if they knew what they were fighting for, they must be willing to tell the public, for it would be unfair to assume that they were fighting for secret ends that they were not will- ing to disclose to the world. PRESIDENT'S COURAGEOUS ACTION The President's action was just the action that was necessary in the case, and when an swers came back that were "not satisfactory answers that, while they went into specifications in some respects, yet were not a complete state ment that could be taken up and accepted or rejected by the other the President then pre sented his epoch-making appear to the con science of the world. It was a courageous act. it was an heroic act, and it places the President among the nation's immortals forever. It presents a basis upon . which the world may build a peace with the hope that it will endure, and I so highly ap preciate and so fully endorse the basis of peace which he has asked tho world to adopt that it. is with reluctance that I disBent from one part which I shall not discuss, because at this time discussion of it is not necessary. I have not reached the same conclusion that the President has with regard to agreement with. other nations in the enforcement of peace in Europe, if that construction can be placed upon his message. I rather prefer to leave the ques tion until he himself has presented his views more in detail in the hope that when he does so present them we. may find that there is no reason for difference. But, my friends, I do believe that the Pres ident has presented to the world a platform up on which the world can afford to build its hope of future peace; and in order that I may pre sent this matter as it appears to me, I ask you first to consider what this war really is and the injury that it is doing to neutral nations of the world. I do not call this war the greatest war that' the world has ever known, because the word "great" has in it a suggestion of something more than bigness. When we speak of a great movement, or a great institution, we are not , thinking of its size alone. I believe there have" been greater wars than this,. but none so big. It is the biggest war that the world has 'ever, known, if we measure it by the population of ther nations engaged in the war. Never before have anything like so many people lived in bellig erent nations. It is the biggest, too, if we meas ure it by the number of enlisted men who face each other on its many battlefields. The esti mates run from twenty-one millions to thirty ono millions; if to avoid any possible exagger ation we take the lowest estimate we are ap palled to find 'that if all the people in this coun try who had ever voted on an election day in all the states were brought together in one place tho concourse, vast as it would be, would fall millions short of the number of mon actually fighting in this war. It is biggest if you measure it by its fatali ties. More than six millions of human beings have been killed. A few days ago one of the nations issued a statement to the effect that it had lost two millions of men. More tlmn ton millions have been wounded, in addition to those whose wounds have been fatal. - In expensiveness it is also the biggest the world has ever known. ' . They are spending more than, $400,000,000 very week on this war, and when you rememh. that that is what it cost us to build the Panama canal, the greatest engineering feat that ma has ever accomplished, you will realize that since this war began they have squandered over there, killing each other, enough money to build more than one hundred Panama canaia so much more expensive is tho work of de struction than tho work of construction. And they, have added forty b'illions to the war debts of tho world. If wo count tho war debts that have coine from all the wars of history as thirty billions, which is', I think, something more than the actual sum, you will see that since this war began they havo added to the war debt of tho world more than ten billipns of dollars more than the entire war debts were when the war began. Five hundred years from now little children will be born in Europe with their necks under a yoke of debt that .this gener ation has fastened upon posterity. This is the war that is going on in Europe rr you measure it by the population of the nations engaged, if you measure it by the enlisted men, if you measure it by what it is costing, and if you measure it by the implements employed, nothing so horrible has ever been known before! They used to be content to use tho earth's surface for the manoeuvers of the army, but now they have taken possession of the air, and thunderbolts more deadly than the thunder bolts of Jove fall as if from the clouds on un suspecting people; and they have taken posses sion of the ocean's depths, as well, and deadly torpedoes rise from out of the darkness to mul tiply the perils of the sea. They have substituted a long-range rifle for a short-range rifle, a big-mouthed gun for a lii-tle-mouthed gun, a dreadnaught for a battle ship and a superdreadnaught for a dreadnaught, and to these they have added the submarine. and now they pour liquid fire on battle lines and suffocate the soldiers in the trenches with deadly gases. They have exhausted human ingenuity to find new ways in which man may kill his fellow man. And these awrfipt,, barbarous nations; they are among the. civilized nations of the earth. They are not heathen nations; they are among the Christian nations of the globe. They all worship one God, and nearly all approach Him through the same mediator. They kneel and offer their prayers to a. common Heavenly Father and then rise up to take each other's lives. It would be bad enough if the penalties of this war fell only on the guilty, but a great majority of the men who die and the women who weep havo had neither part, nor voice in de termining whether there should be peace or war. , BURDENS BORNE. BY NEUTRALS It would be bad enough if the burdens of this war- were borne only by the nations at war, but like a mighty flood it has inundated the entire world and neutral nations as well as belliger ent nations are suffering. Every neutral nation in the world is bearing a burden of taxation that would not be necessary but for this war. Every neutral nation finds that its fiscal system has been disturbed by the war. It is compelled to resort to unusual methods of taxation, and every neutral nation finds its commerce dis turbed and interrupted, and our nation, the greatest of neutral nations, and one with the most foreign commerce, is suffering more than any of tho rest. . When this war began one side drove the mer chantmen of the other side into harbors and compelled them to intern there. That is inter national law, .and according to international law there they must remain idle and useless wmie this war lasts, no matter how much we suiier for' lack of ships; and according to international law the nations that deprive us of these vessels are under no obligation to furnish ships to tane the place of those they drove from the sea. uu the contrary, according to international law, they can first deprive us of the merchantmen o their enemies, and then withdraw their ow , ships for transport service, and to some ew they have done o, still further crippling tue carrying trade of the ocean. Because o i scarcity of ships, and because of increased riw of the sea, it has sometimes cost us seven um as much to carry a bale of cotton across ocean as it cost Deiore uje wi uwo""' nced March oW secretary of commerce annoin that it was at that time costing four tunes much to transport provisions, five urn ATlul, A i. Jt-'lll . ..jJF Jj , . ,, i '-fi. .. ...ii,i WHU' iiMuuik'Biuci tmm4mmaiu - j is
