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The Coffim'on!-'
VOL. 17, NO. 3
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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
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