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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. '
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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
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