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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1917)
h i The Commoner DECEMBER, 1917 a man you know. I may admit, parenthetically, that there are some politicians "whose methods I do not at all believe in, but they are jolly good fellows, and it they only would not talk the wrong kind of politics to me, I would lore to be with them. NO SYMPATHY WITH MOB SPIRIT "So it is all along the line, in serious matters and things less serious. "We are all of the same clay and spirit, and we can get together if we desire to get together. Therefore, my counsel to you is this: Let us Bhow ourselves Americans by showing that we do not want to go off in sep arate camps or groups by ourselves, but that we want to co-operate with all other classes and all other groups in the common enterprise which is to release the spirits of the world from bondage. I would be willing to set that up as the final test of an American. That is the mean ing of democracy. I have been very much dis tressed, my fellow citizens, by some of the things that have happened recently. The mob spirit is displaying itself here and there in this country. I have no sympathy with what some men are saying, but t have no sympathy with the men who take , their f punishment into their own hands; arid I want to say to every man who does join such a, mob that I do not recognize him as worthy of the' "free institutions of the United States. ., There are some organizations in this country whose -object is anarchy and the destruc tion of law,,, but I would not meet their efforts by making infceft partner in destroying the law. I despise --andhate their purposes as much as any man, but Trespect the ancient processes of justice;- and I would be too proud not to see them done Justice, however wrong they are. "So.. I want, to utter my earnest protest against any manifestation of the spirit of lawlessness anywhere : or dm any cause. Why, gentlemen, look what it means. We claim to be the great est democratic -pedple in the world; and democ racy means first of all that we can govern bur selves. If our men have not self-control, then they are not capable of that great thing wh'ch we call democratic government. A man who takes the law into his-own hands is not the right man to co-operate in any formation or de velopment of law and institutions, and some of thev processes by which the struggle between capitaLand labor is carried on are processes that come very near to taking the law into your own hands. I do not mean for a moment to compare them with -what I have just been speaking of, but I want you to see that they are mere 'grad ations in this manifestation of the unwillingness to co-operate, arid that the; fundamental lesson of the whole situation is that we must not only take common counsel, but that we must yield to arid obey common counsel. Not all of the in strumentalities for this are at hand. I am hope ful that in the very near future now instru mentalities may be organized by which we can see to it that various things that are now going on ought not to go on. There are various pro cesses .of the dilution of labor and the unneces sary substitution of labor and the bidding in distant markets and unfairly upsetting the who e competition ofi labors which ought not to go on. I mean now on. the part of employers, and we must interject some instrumentality of co-operation by which the fair thing will be done all around. I am. hopeful that some sucb instru mentalities may be devised, but whether they are or not, we must use those that we have ana upon every occasion where it is necessary nave such an instrumentality originated upon .tnat occasion. T ' . "So, my fellow citizens, the reason, -I came away from Washington is that I sometimes get lonely down bere. So many people, come to, Washington who know things that are not so and so few people, who know anything about what the People of the United States are. think ing about I have to come away and.get re Siridtd of the rest of the country ; I. have j to come, away and talk to f am wftf ?ou tne feal thing, and say to them, J am ffS 7 ir vou ara with me." And the only test or ne iL with me s riot to think about me Personally rj griV1 iutmerely to th'nk of me as the e pLSon.tf tbeC Ume being of the Power.and dignity anpyhope of the United States,,,. -.. m. T -rxr w 's are" very likely to regard the . fhe wess adherence to Its liWnu fqc the. nd-uTafa form of serious amusement. Brewers Try to Come Back TFrom the Detroit Times. Driven from 25 states of the union the brew ers are trying desperately to come back. In the counter-attack they are using tanks camouflaged with the inscription "True Temper ance." They confess the saloon is an abomination; that their reputations .ore besm'rehed by asso ciation with distilled liquor, and they offer a beverage with less than three per cent alcoholic content as a pledge of future good behavior. The tank drive of the wets is by way of the press. Broadsides are being used in all dailies that are willing to join the propaganda depart ment of the drive. Newspaper revenues have fallen off on account of the war, and the big copy of the brewers is unusually tempting right now. And the wet advertisers produce authority from Washington to prove that this copy does not violate the law against the circulation of liquor advertising in dry states! If it advertised any particular kind of tangle foot -it would be unlawful; but being a boost for all brands of beer and light wines, it is quite within the law! Selah! It is to be hoped that good citizens who are going without wheat on Wednesdays so that this "true temperance" booze may be produced with out interruption, will be duly impressed with the distinction. The contract for this advertising 5,000 lines or over to be used within one year it will prnb aMy amount to 10.000 lines) was tendered The T mrs through its New York representatives bv SFraSeaman Inc. agency. Confirmatory of ts declination of the bubl ' J "' Yo rk Times sent the following letter to its New orK nfltee in which t reiterates its determination to felt with the rquor traffic only on the terms of unconditional surrender: a7f.1017. gS? SJSSS? Representatives of The De- inlt Time Fifth Avenue Building, New York. GenUomen: Confirming wire ot th's dale. The ceptance of the United State .wow tlon contract for 5,000 .lines Q return tne eTeVSTalTo - " insertions of advertisements PiP-mo adv'se Prank Seaman, Inc of om de Please auv u ,, Times can not con- cls'on and P'al" ? J'1, propaganda char s'str ntly accept advertis'nR 01 o pron b . ncter that is ' tCto the liauo tSfaml ot r ssermoTtheTeop.e ot the state ot Michigan on the question. MCthermorP w , M -JZX- and a Pf!KSi wartime pro listed in "theringth wholes ZtVJZriTZX and mora. upbuilding. , t t rn down WG d'slike as much as you bear s0 any business at a m J" a heavily upon fwf f? o revenue why reasons other thai i the .mat r jr girS5?SoTfc Purely selfish point f Seventh hour l-C tbeir admission that the saloon emy Confirms a tbat n0 capitaHze the ex groBfiop: f.eer and light wines from emption by co ng"ss f t o enactment vindicates the, war period prohibtion ed that al SWgSffltfSr complies tech- 5? ESS ftssrass law against the crolwion o , brand 0f SfflST 0 ".re lntox.cat.ng ..- quor is sold; but in purpose ic is in defiance of the popular will Just tho same. It is a perfidious effort of a hard-prrSBctl pub lic enemy to regain lost ground and to oulhit tho press of the country In tho undertaking. Expelled from 80 per cent of the national area and suffering additional Jobs of territory with every engagement, the direct foo of homo and happiness Is coming back to the attack with tanks marked "True Temperance" but they aro tanks just the same and they contain tho same old "dark beverage of hell" that tho bravo fire sides of America and enlightened business effi ciency have been fighting for 50 years. . The Times does not believe in a pcaco without victory In th'.s fight. No terms but uncondlt'onal surrender will serve. The tainted purse ot tho polhouiQ looks no more alluring to us. than tho pelf of the Pottsdam defilers. Very truly. JAMBS SOHBMERHORN, Publisher Detroit Times. Mil. imYAX IX HOSTON From The Uoaton Post, Dec. 4,11)17.1 Thousands of men and women who fillod tho big auditorium In Tromont Tomplo almost to standing room last night, choored, applauded, wiped their eyo3 and liftod up tholr voicoa in laughter as Will'am JcniuiRS XJrvan dejlvored his address on "Fundamentals Man's Relation to Government, Society and God." . Joseph Chappie, editor of the National Maga zine, presided. Others on tho platform wro James M. Head, former mayor of Noehvillp, Tonn.; and Colonel A. C. Drlnkwater, former chairman of the democratic state committee. Colonel Bryan prefaced Lis locturo with a talk on the citizen's duty during the war; urging first the support of the President and congress In whatever step they decided to take; second, contributions to the various organizations that are aiding In tho comfort ami moral welfare of soldiers at the training camps and at tho firing "lie made especial reference to the war work, carried on by the Y. M. C. A., tho Y. W. C. A., the Knights of Columbus, and Ilobrcw organiza tions. In the third place ho called for I lie .sup port of the national food propaganda, both as to production and conservation. Fourt h, ho pointed out the necessity of the unstinted sup port of all the people to the governments ap peal for funds for carrying on the war through taxations and loans, argu'ng that no tax on In come or property could be as h'gh as the tax on Hfe and blood, and that therefore taxpayers ought not to complain while countless mothers are oirering up their sons-the dearest posbcs- RefOTrTnto man's relation to government ho made a stifrlng appeal for public WPort of tho initiative and referendum. Outlining its au vantages, he named it as the greatest advance in democratic government in the past 100 years. A new industry for tho fountain pen experts of the German government might easily be built ,i thfl wrltlnK of secret treaties claimed to iXindlrVBholBhU Something on the border of tho secret papers the Germans wy they found when they reached Belgium and which Proved that the Germans were Justified In invading that country. DOES OIUO HAVE TO STAND FOR THIS? ATKaWMtV (iMXM 00 tm ( lvCX Mt ". . m.mt r " " " From The Columhus Dispatch. ... ; ..'x-j itow AL--;.4t'Z-