The Commoner
VOL. 17, NO. 10
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The Commoner
ISSUED MONTHLY
Entered at tho Postofflco at Lincoln. Nebraska,
ko second-class matter.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN. CHARLES W. BRYAN,
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Address all communications to
THE COMMONER, LINCOLN, NEB.
"To sin by silence wivon -we should protest
Makos awards out flymen. The human race
Has cllmbftd on pxoieiat. Had no voice been
raised ' T
Against injustice, ignorance and lust,
The inquisition yet would serve tho law,
And guillotines decw.our least disputes.
The few who daret speak and speak again,
To right the-wrongb of" many,"
i
' When the price control board cut the . price
of many kinds of steel in two, the head of the
steel corporation was quoted as saying that the
new prices were satisfactory to the directors!
"Wonder what word hfc used to describe hx.
prices he was getting before the slice occurred?
Those who are inclined to criticise the govern
ment for alleged slowness in getting the troops
equipped and started seem to overlook the fact
that fitting out an army is not one of those prop
ositions that can be taken care of by merely
putting in tho order over the long distance phone
and expecting delivery the next day.
There is reason to belieye that Mr. Nicholas
Romanoff is entering no criticisms of .the wis
dom of the man who decreed that his permanent
residence should be so many hundreds of
leagues from Petrograd. Neither does he en
tertain any doubts as to his being a real friend,
in view of what is happening at the old home
place.
The fact that thenewspapers gave more space
and attention to the accounts of the battles at
Chicago and New iTo'rk .between the American
league and natioualilSague champion ball teams
than to those "sotadwhere in France," is insuffi
cient foundation iof- a belief that a postpone
ment of the war was' ordered until after the
championship was settled.
The government has just launched its second
issue of liberty bonds. These will bear 4 per
cent interest, which is the average paid by the
banks upon savings and time deposit accounts.
The citizen who puts his money in these bonds
is making a safe investment for himself and aid
ing tho government in the great task in hand,
. that of bringing a permanent peace, and the
more quickly the funds needed are placed in its
hands the earlier that peace may be expected.
Mr. Bryan at Hbirif
K
From the Nebraska State Journal, liivsgln,
Oct6. '. tv
William Jennings Bryan, now in Lincolnjor
a stay of five days, Friday afternoon deniedthe
statement purported to have been made by Sen
ator LaFollette in one of the senator's speeches
to tho effect that Mr. Bryan had several times
urged President Wilson to prevent the sailing of
the Lusitania because it was alleged to have an
ammunition cargo aboard.
Mr. Eryan's attention wab called to a press dis
patch to the effect that he would be questioned
as to Mr. LaFollette's statement that he had sev
eral times urged President Wilson to prevent the
sailing of the Lusitania because it was alleged
ammunition cargo was aboard, and he replied:
"I read a statement which purported to have
been made by Senator LaFollette in a speech in
Minnesota to the effect that four days before
the sinking of the Lusitania I had notified the
President that there was ammunition on board
the vessel. When I passed through Washington,
last Wednesday I notified the state department
and also Senator LaFollette that the senator had
been misinformed and that I had not known un
til after the sinking of the Lusitania that it car
ried ammunition in its cargo."
Mr. Bryan arrived in Lincoln Friday morliing
and expects to be in the city until Tuesday even
ing. Saturday noon is to be a busy time for the
Nebraskan. He is to address at the Lincoln-hotel
the Lancaster draft contingent which is to Jeave
Saturday noon. Before addressing the Lancaster
boys he will talk to the Polk and Douglas county
men taking luncheon at the Lindell on th.ejjf way
to Camp Fiinston. -
Shortly after the noon hour he will fire the
opening gun in the campaign for the second lib
erty loan at the Lincoln Commercial club. Mr.
Bryan has been campaigning for the first liberty
loan and will probably continue to work in rais
ing tne second ftDtuxp TjuxTSryari is enthusiastic
over the liberty loan movement and declares that
the liberty loan is a thing that every American
citizen should buy. He commented favorably on
the attitude of the Lincoln boys at Camp Funston
in purchasing liberty bonds.
The present October visit of Mr. Bryan to his
home at Lincoln recalls to the mind of the Ne
braskan that it is the thirtieth anniversary of
his location in Nebraska. October is the popu
lar time at which he visits the- state. He still
declares his loyalty to the state and her interests
and wants to be known simply as "Mr. Bryan of
Nebraska."
politics. "I am interested in the state and th
democratic party of the state," said Mr Brvn
"I shall do what I can to aid those who dest
to make the democratic party an exponent S
progressive democratic thought and keen Np
braska democracy on the firing line."
Ho believes that prohibition was a good thine
for the democratic party. He predicts that th
purging of the party of the "special interests"
will increase its strength.
STATE ABSENT ONCE
He said:
"The last national convention was the only
one in twenty years when Nebraska failed to play
a conspicuous part and her failure then was due
to the fact that a majority of the democrats were
more interested in perpetuating the saloon than
they were in democratic principles.
"The liquor interests combined with other
special interests won a temporary victory but
now the brewers, distilleries and saloons are
closed and the reactionary element will have to
make its fight in the open and without its pow
erful ally. Before, the special interests were
able to find cover under the liquor fight they
made up less than one-twentieth of the party
strength of the state in votes.
"The democratic party ought to have no diffi
culty in ridding itself of the leadership of those
representing the liquor interests and other
special interests.
"The democratic party during the past few
years has passed through a horrible nightmare,
but it looks now aq if the party would again be
come a vital moral force in the state and ready
to do its part in making the democratic party
the exponent of the national conscience."
, The delusion that the multi-millionaires so
long sought to embrace that they were bene
factors of the public because they invested their
money so that other men were kept employed is
now being refurnished for use as an argument
against the new income tax. They are now say
ing that big income taxes will send money into
hiding and remove from the industrial world
the supply of ready cash it needs to expand and
continue in business. Imagine a man withdraw
ing from an extremely profitable business be
cause the government takes a part of his ex
cessive income, due to the existence of war, his
entire investment, and you can imagine money
going into hiding and refusing to seek returns.
Mr. Bryan expresses pleasure at his return to
the state. "I am enjoying this October day, in
fact October is the month which I expect to use
most in Nebraska," said Mr. Bryan. "It Js the
month I have used for most of my stays inthe
state. It is one of the mest enjoyable months
here. The first .day of the month is th'd 'anni
versary of my location in Nebraska thir'fyyears
ago. l
"While circumstances keep me away from the
state most of the time they have not diminished
my attachment to the state or my love for the
people of Nebraska. I have made it clear to our
winter neighbors in Miami, Fla., and to my sum
mer neighbors in Asheville, N. C, that my cit
izenship is here. I shall vote in Nebraska. I
shall be here as much as I can and I want to be
known in the future as I havo been for more than
a quarter of a century, as Mr! Bryan of Ne
braska." Mr. Bryan believes that the people of Nebras
ka are with him. He points to the passage of
two v of his advocated reforms woman suffrage
and prohibition, as an indication of the turning
tide in his favor. "Never since I have entered
politics in Nebraska have I been in harmony with
as large a percentage of the people in the state
as I am now," was the statement of Mr. Bryan.
"Prohibition carried by 29,000 majority in the
state, more than three times as large a majority
as I ever received when running for president,
and the state went for the democratic ticket in
the last presidential election by more than
40,000.
"We now have woman suffrage in Nebraska so
that my state is behind me in the fight that I am
making for two great reforms the greatest with
which I have ever been identified."
Mr. Bryan styl keeps up his interest in state
SPEAKS FOR LIBERTY BONDS
From the Lincoln (Neb.) Evening News,
Oct. 6.
William Jennings Bryan, introduced by Pres
ident Frank H. Woods of the Commercial club
ao' Linooln'o moot diatinsuiohed and best be
loved citizen, told an audience that packed
every nook and cranny of the club dining room
and galleries, that it was 'he patriotic duty of
every citizen to buy liberty bonds. Ho also
lauded them as a safe investment returning
a rate of interest in excess of the average paid
on savings accounts in the country. His re
marks were frequently interrupted by cheers.
He said there were several ways in which to
help. One was to contribute to agencies like
the Red Cross, the Y. M. C. A. and the Knights
of Columbus, who had undertaken to do those
things which minister to the moral strength of
the soldier, a necessary work. Another way
was1 to loan money to the government to carry
on the war. The money must be raised, either
by loans or taxation, and he emphasized the
right of the government to take every dollar as
well as every man in order that the. war might
be won.
"If it is right for this government to take a
'young man," he said,, "those who had devoted
seme years to preparation for active careers,
and lay its hand upon him and command him to
lay his life on the country's altar, then it is
right that it shall take every dollar of any
. man's money or property. I would be the last
to draw a lite between lifo and property, to
place the dollar above the man." Great applause
followed.
-" "If the government has the right," he con
tinued, "to take the full measure of a mans
life, none of us hr.ve a right to complain ii"
takes any amount of our money. It is asiung,
of flio Tnnof nlir i innnmo. and allOWS US l"
retain the principal. What it asks of the young
man is that he surrender his principal, ms
that which makes an income possible to mm.
No matter how severe may be the taxation w
upon us, no amount that we may be called ui
to give equals in taxation that placed upon m
life of the young man." t
Mr. Bryan said the liberty bond was the r
bond on earth, and explained its security.
said that buying a liberty bond was i the m
profitable form, of patriotism. If tU0Jrhm it
ment taxes us, it pays back nothing. J;"
borrows from us it not only pays back tne i
cipal, but the interest also. e
"There is no more prosperous state m
union than Nebraska," he said. a J" m
that we have more automobiles per cap iui
any other state. Shame on a state that iu
-2j 4 it Ait