Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1918)
.S-tfuvT t'-'-n The Commoner VOL. 18, NO. 3 Mr. Bryan in Toronto Toronto, Canada, March 4, 1918. Hon. Col. Bryan, Lincoln, Nob. Dear Col. Bryan: I sent you on Saturday, coplos of the morning papers, In which you will notice that your speeches at both the Metropolitan Church and Massoy hall aro given In full. Those are the representative papors of Toronto. Our best citizens wore represented by the im mense gatherings at both places and regret ex ceedingly the Indignity to which you were sub jected at tho Massoy hall meeting. I see the "Toronto World" states that there were only thirty returned soldiers responsible for the trouble, which makes tho representation about ono-balf of ono per cent of tho two audiences. It is estimated that thero wero thirty-five hun dred to four thousand people present at Massey hall and about twonty-flve hundred at tho Met ropolitan Cburcb. Thousands of pooplo wont away and could not gain admittance. Personally, I do not think you need feel dlscouragod over tho disturbance at Massey hall. I am sending you herewith a clipping from this morning's "Mail & Empire" which shows you that a company of those returned Boldiors waited- on tho primo minister, of tho province on Saturday aftornoon and practically handed to him tho samo troatment that you re ceived. You will bo interested in noticing from tho nowspaper report, however, that Sir Wil liam Iloarst told these pooplo that thero was absolutely no hopo for a return to liquor con ditions in this province Wishing you every success. Yours very truly, , ,, JAMBS ACTON. vPrcBldont and General Manager Trade Journal THE MASSES HALL MEETING A Toronto, Ontario, dispatch, dated March 1, says: William Jonnings Bryan was refused a noarlng whon ho appeared at Massey hall hero last night to address a prohibition meeting un dor tho auspices of tho Dominion Alliance. Roturnod soldiers caused tho disturbance by shouting various epithets. "What about tho Lusitania?" thoy also demanded in chorus. Tho first disturbance came beforo Mr. Bryan's entry, whon tho chairman told tho audience thoy wore to bo honored by listening to the fraternal dologato of tho Anti-Saloon League of America "ono of tho foromost citizens of our ally." ' Tho chairman refrained from mentioning Mr Bryan's name as long as ho could, but when it camo out at last it was grooted by a chorus of cat calls and cries: "We don't want him!" Tho chairman appealed to the audience. It was not a good thing for tho city they were do ing, ho said, and "a bad thing for tho cause wo ropresent." Then Mr. Bryan came in and pandemonium broko loose. Most of the audience stood up wavod handkerchiefs and cheered him, but the answering hoots from tho gallery outlasted the choors. For five minutes Mr. Bryan tried to make him solf hoard, but it was no use. The interruption, kept right on and the intorrupters sang "Rule, Britannia," forqing the audience to join in that and "God Savo tho King." Thoy inquired about the Lusitania and sang "Over There" and "Wo Won't Go Home 'Till Morning." Men stood up and shook, thoir fists at the former socrotary of state. Soldiers showed tho service buttons on thoir coats and shouted de fiance at those who pleaded to give the visitor a hearing. Enthusiastic prohibitionists who wished to ?? JP.,?7an hurled across th0 hall counter callsof "Put them out!" and "Where's your fair Tho chairman was heard to say something about o ecting the interrupters. He was greeted with cries of "Who's going to do it'" Mr. Bryan took his seat. John H. Roberts of Montreal made an attempt to speak, but he was told to "got tho khaki on." was Then a man of tho army medical corps dressed In uniform was hoisted on the platform. fiJ??y5? th0y nr flghtIng for eedom at the front; thoy are also fighting for freedom ? bought. Why should we , Intouit thi meetSg?" ho appealed to tho gallery. meeting r Tho appeal was in vain. "God Savo tho King" was sung again, and the soldiers to shouted, "Take Bryan out and we will walk out. We'll let any man speak, but not a Pro;German. After tho tand had played another air Mr. BryaH made a brief but futile a tempt to mako himself heard. Then he took a chair to .the .edge of tho platform and talked to the reporters, tho noise never ceasing for an instant. , . "I am here by invitation," Mr. Bryan said. I come as the representative of 25,000,000 of the American people who have banded themselves together in various organizations for the promo tion of prohibition. . "I find that less than 5 per cent, probably more nearly less than 2 per cent, of this audi ence refuses to allow the res1 of the audience to hear me speak. "In this case I am not willing that force Bhould be used to eject the men from the hall. I would rather that the meeting should break up. "My patriotism is satisfactory to the President of the United States; it is satisfactory to the cabinet of tho United States; it is satisfactory to the congress of the United States. Thero Is not a single person in tho United States who can say that one drop of blood in my veins is not loyal to my country." Mr. Bryan announced his readiness to stay all night in tho hall and try to talk to the peo ple. He said he would have no coercion, how ever. "Enough men," he added, "are being in jured in our fighting to make the world safe for democracy without anyone being injured, to give me a hearing." " QUOTES BIBLE AS REBUKE TO -TORONTO CROWD From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 2. William Jennings Bryan spent today in St. Louis. To reporters who questioned him about the incident of Thursday night at Toronto, Canada, when he was hooted and prevented from speak ing to a crowd of 5,900 persons by former sol diers who cried "Remember the Lusitania," and shouted "pro-German," Bryan gave Biblical quotations to express his forbearance, and. ex plain the causes of the demonstration. Mr. Bryan said that tho opposition to hini had been fostered by two, newspapers whose' columns contained liquor advertisements, but who professed to see other reasons than that ho was a prohibition speaker to oppose bis coming to their city. "The fact that the former soldiers gave other reasons than their opposition to prohibition for their demonstration is not conclusive," he said, "because the newspapers also gave other rea sons, following tho example of Demetrius, the silversmith, who appealed to his craft to oppose Paul. The silversmiths, however, did not shout their real reason for opposing Paul, but shouted Great is Diana of the Epbesians.' " The Biblical reference of Mr. Bryan, was from The Acts 19:23-28, which reads as fol lows: "And about that time there arose a great stir concerning the Way. "For a certain man named Demetrius, a sil versmith, who made silver shrines to Diana, brought no little profit unto the craftsmen whom he gathered together with the workmen of like occupation and said: 'Sirs, ye know that by this business we have wealth. ' 'And ye see and hear that this Paul . . hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying there are no gods that are made by hand and not only is there danger that this our trade come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana be made of no account And when they heard this they were filled, with wrath and cried out, saying: 'Great is Di ana of the Epbesians.' " SLAMS THE NEWSPAPERS "The publicity given the incident illustrates "Tliev tQJZlLth0 nsMers, tt They deal with the exception rather than the rule. They give space to assault and batter? cases but have not room for the names of those who live in peace. They give space to divorces but ignore the happy families. "There is mS2 rejoicing over the lamb thut has strayed and ia prranplhSsaend.tUe 9 " 9 theolM audience, joined in the demonstration while ths rest, so tar as couia oe seen, were not only anr ious to hear but wanted to eject tho disturbers "I doubt if ever I have spoken to so large an audience with so few prejudiced against me in j? . "Among United States audiences, opposition to a 'speaker is not as likely to manifest itself as in a British audience, where opponents en. gago in what they call 'heckling' more tban they do here. Public men of great Britain and Can ada occassionally meet with this experience. "Then it must be remembered that the sixty. five that was the number as counted by one of the men on the stage represented but a small percentage of the number of Returned soldiers in Toronto. I inquired and was ' told they had 2,000 or 3,000 returned soldiers there. "I take it for granted that the men who dis turbed the meeting were returned soldiers, be cause I was told they wero, although they wore no umtorms. SAVED HIS HECKLERS. "The. presiding officer at the meeting in Tor onto was a former mayor of the .city. He threatened the disturbers with, the police but I objected to that, and asked that no effort be 'made to remove the men. I feared that any attempt to remove the 65 men from' the hall would result in injury to someone, and that the removal of ex-soldier& especially, should anyone be hurt, would do the -ause more haim than my speech would do good. I stated to newspapermen at that meeting, that enough people had been injured in-our" fight to make democracy safe and that I was not willing for any addition to be made . to that number to secure me a hearing. "This meeting was only one out of three at which I spoke. The other two were largely attended and I was welcomed with cheers. My evening audience to which I. spoke before go ing to the meetiner at whioh the disturbance took place, was one of the most enthusiastic I ever have addressed." WINE FOR SOLDIERS. Asked whether he approved of our soldiers in France drinking light wines, such, as they are said to have served them, Bryan said: "Our government was entirely right in the a.titude it took in regard to liquor not being sold our soldiers. Our Allies ought to carry out our wishes as far as our soldiers are con cerned, regardless of what they do with their soldiers." " ' Mr. Bryan declared that when the prohibi tion bill first was submitted by congress, he had predicted that three years would be required to gain the necessary two-thirds of the states to its support. He said today that subsequent events had caused him to revise his prediction and that now it appeared that the prohibition movement would come to victory within two years. In his toll of the states which he said would ratify the amendment he gave Missouri. Ho declared that St. Louis' wet vote could not off- ., e rest ot tne state's dry 'voteS What about linn a A-n ""rif ''t.ViVi' asked. . - ' Once more he broln into quotation: "While the lamp holds out to "burn The vilest sinner will returns he was BRYAN AND BEEOHER . linXn Bryan won no 3Uch Victory over a partly & audience at Toronto as Henry Ward Beecher did in England .when he was urging the cause of the Union in a community strongly fa JaV,r 0f l?e Soutu- But e as no reason to feel ashamed of the manner in which he car- JnJji fe B,iuation off- His good humor, his re fusal to allow the disturbers to be ejected on his account, and his delivery of his Bpeech finally to the very limited number near enou&h to hear fnlSiS 0Ve,?! chorus of catcalls and hisses, cer tainly made the best of an awkward situation. rnn,LCienter J. tne disturbance was about sixty returned Canadian soldiers who were determined ftv fe?i m f.r.om being heard- Te vast major i t L: fT.audl.eS.ce was apparently quite willing iL !?Tith Visit0r But the returned soldiers i7fl ?ntiy Pade up their mIds that he was iwv a he was a Pro-German and pos tZt ' Yotli?p tMngs and would have none 2.J !?' m,A11 of which MiMtrates the fact that fj ? V ase of near neighbors there is llfre Ponn?i,?a lotof understanding, and hasty PQncluslons as to those across the lino. No matter what Mr. Bryan's views might 4ir "V" - .- Vr- 37" , - J- "ju