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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1917)
flf yw''- The Commoner APRIL, 191T i7 A Message Vice-President Marshall's inaugural address was worthy of the man and the occasion. Ho said: "Everywhere in America are clamant and strident voices proclaiming the essential ele ments of patriotism. He who seeks out of them all to -select one clear note of love for country may fail. I conceive it to be far more import ant to examine myself than to cross-examine another. May I make bold to insert in the rec ord somo elements of the creed which I have adopted in this period of retrospection and in trospection? It does not embrace what I know but holds part of what I believe. I have faith that this government of ours was divinely or dained to disclose whether men are by nature fitted, or can by education be made fit for self government, to teach Jew and Greek, bondman and free, alike, the essential quality of all men before the law and to be tender and true to humanity everywhere and under all circum stances; to reveal that service is the highest re ward of llfe.m I can not believe otherwise when I remember the words and recall the sacrifice of the fathers. I believe that the world, now advancing and now retreating, is nevertheless moving forward to a far-off divino event where in the tongues of Babel again will be blended in the language of a common brotherhood, and I believe thkt I can reach, the highest ideal of my tradition and my lineage as an American as a man, as a citizen and as 'a public official when I judge my fellow men without malice and with charity, when I worry more about my own motives and conduct and less about the motives 'and conduct of others. The time I am liable to be wholly wrong is when -I know that I am absolutely right. In an individualistic republic, 'I am the unit of patriotism and, if I keep myself keyed in unison with the music of the union, my fellow men will catch the note and fall into time and step. I believe there is no finer form of government than the one under which we live, and that I ought to bo willing to live or die, as God decrees, that it may n6t per ish from off the earth, through treachery with in or through assault from without; and I be lieve that, though my first right is to be a par tisan, that my first duty, when the only print ciples on which free government can rest are being strained, is to be a patriot and to follow in the wilderness of words that clear call which bids me guard and defend the ark of our na tional covenant." MISS RANKIN'S VOTE Miss Rankin, the only ' woman member of congress, did not answer the first roll call when the house of representatives (April 6) took a vote on the war resolution, although the clerk twice called her name. She rose at the second roll call, trembling, and obviously badly fright ened, and with sobs said: "I want to stand by my country, but can not vote for war." Half a dozen colleagues shouted in raucous voices, "Vote, vote!" Sinking .into her seat she--yhjsp&gd ,JjNo." ;Press report. The tailors 'of Toojey street, who once es sayed the role of "we, the people," could learn of much to their advantage if they were regu lar subscribers to the metropolitan press or the eastern magazines. WE MUST. BELIEVE IN FINAL TRIUMPH Americans should be optimistic for two rea sons. First Because we surpass any other nation in the world in the quantity and quality of ma terial from which civilization is fashioned. Second Because witliout optimism it is im possible to make the proper use of the oppor tunities a.t hand. Hope is necessary to any continued effort; Victor Hugo has described the mob as "the hu man race in misery." Misery finds its deepest depth in hopelessness. It is the duty of every human being to believe in the final triumph of every righteous cause ' and, believing, work to that end: The American has more reason than any other human being to believe and- to labor. W. J. BRYAN. ' f t&HHMPSHHHSHIHHHHBHHnDHHHI - flFvw 'Ham 'Kmi1m&lM: "Wlmm f'-m Mm ' feWHiilfm jMwki Photograph of portrait of William Jennings Bryan, painted for State Department by Irving R. Wiles. It represents Mr. Bryan as he appeared when, on April 26th, 1913, he laid before the ambassadors and ministers from all the countries represented at Washington the .peace plan which, during the two years following, was embodied in treaties with thirty nations, exer cising authority 'over 1,300,000,000 of human beings, or three-quarters of the population of the globe. PRESIDENT WILSON "RECEIVES MR BRYAN An Associated Press dispatch, from Wash ington, dated April 16, says: President Wilson received William Jennings Bryan at the White house this morning. They conferred In the. President's rooms before he went to "his office. Mr. Bryan reiterated to the President his offer recently made by telegraph to be of any service he could to the government during the war. After leaving the President Mr. Bryan dictated a statement declaring his intention to support the government in any war plans upon which it might decide. He declined, however, to dis cuss conscription specifically. In his future speeches about the country, pending a call from the government for his services, Mr. Bryan said he would lay special stress on the food situation. He Is gathering data along that line for use in his addresses. "I called upon the President' Mr. Bryan said "to pay my respects and confirm my tele gram sent him the day a state of war was de clared to exist. I do not care to discuss any question before congress ' Whatever the go- ernment does is right and I shall support it to the uttermost. I take it for granted that the people will unitedly support any action taken by the government. In war time the President speaks for the whole country and there should be no division or dissension. I have a number of speaking dates, made before this situation arose. They can be cancelled at arty time ray services are needed by the government. These meetings give me an opportunity of laying be fore the audiences I address the part citizens "can play In support of the government, I am col lecting now from government sources such in formation as they desire to spread and shall use it both in speeches and in my paper' Mr, Bryan said ho endorsed any plan to pro-' hibit the' use pf grain for making liquor' during the war. " '' "I am in hearty sympathy," he said, "with' the effort to conserve the food supply by not ! juwu& luc uicou lu vj buui luutu iu nu;i; in order to lengthen the not wise to starve the them drunk." the supply, of alcohorIt'li the people" In ordjr tosaaki - - A ImM o-t. - j. . J,jJLii-
