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The Commoner
-MABCH, 1918
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Rave been before the war, it happens to bo the
tse that he has been rendering very loyal and
fery satisfactory service to his country since the
ginning 01 tne conmct. mere ua uvvu uu
tadow of hesitation in Lis course. Ho has
iupported the administration to the best of his
ability. He has insistently declared that there
Ifl nothing for us to do, now that we are in it,
but to fight it out. He has openly tsondemned
the attempt to make free speech in this country
the cover for obstructive and treasonable ma
Jchinations. All this has counted here where ho
exercises no small influence. And in so far as he
has stood stanchly for and by his own country
he has also aided this country's allies Canada
among them.
However, much is to be pardoned to the spirit
of even mistaken enthusiasm in time of war.
IThe men who have served the cause and bravely
risked their lives are assured of lenient and
friendly judgment even when they are palpably
wrong. Moreover, tnc soldiers sixty nave tne
long tradition of British heckling as a prece
dent. That is a procedure which never falls to
strike Americans with astonishment but which
seems a permanent feature of British political
jtlife. It is not strange that it should be resorted
to occasionally in Canada.
Perhaps the really significant thing about the
incident was the evidence it afforded of the state
of mind of the returned soldier. Ho evidently
comes back with strong views and with a very
strong determination to make, them prevail as
'far as" he can. The answer to one of the audi
ence who attempted to quiet the&tumult "put
on the khaki!" showed pretty plainly what he
Regarded as the first claim to consideration-. It
is true that there were only sixty in this little
affair, but a very suggestive conclusion can be
f 'drawn from the psychology of even that num
ber. "When the millions return from the war
to Canada and the United States and other na
tions there is going to be a new and powerful
organization In life and politics with no un
certain sense of solidarity. Chicago Herald.
BRYANWISE AND UNWISE
' rfr. Bryan would "not permit an attempt to bV
made to clear the hall in Toronto when dis
turbers would not allow him to give his lecture
on nrohibition. Soldiers returned from Europe
I would not hear him or give others an opportun
ity to hear him, and Mr. Bryan, wno is a veter
an nf all experiences which may be had on the
platform, talked only to the reporters who gath-
. ered about his chair.
He remained amiable and said that he would
not have the hall cleared of the disorderly ele
ments because he "did not want any one in
jured to give me a hearing." We know Mr.
Bryan 'to be .a loyal American citizen, and any
idea the Canadian protestants had of him as a
pro-German or, for the present, a pacifist, was
unjust and in error.
Mr. Bryan is a kindly man of great shrewd
ness; Within parochial limitations he has ex
traordinarily good judgment. He knows when
to consult expediency and when not to be a
zealot.. His Interest in prohibition is intense
and he would do anything within reason to ad
vance that cause. But he would not insist up
on speaking to an audience when the conse
quences of Urging the cause of that particular
time might be disorder and injury.
This was an occasion presented within the
limits of his good judgment and shrewdness.
It was within the limits of his experience in
observing cause and effect, and in dealing with
it he was a considerate man, not expecting too
much of humanity, not pushing an ideal to In
jurious material consequences, but placidly and
tolerantly dealing with conditions as he found
them.
Mr. Bryan, within the parochial limitations
of experience and wisdom, was experienced and
wise. We said he is not now a pacifist He is
not. It was part of the country's misfortune that
when prospects lay outside of the limits of
parochial experience and wisdom, Mr. Bryan
was a pacifist.
In the case of Mr .Bryan, as in the case of
so many hundreds of thousands of kindly, wise
American's, the moment an issue gets beyond the
immediate vision, the moment it is taken out
of the rule of immediate cause and effect, the
controlling judgments are exactly reversed.
Mr. Bryan would not pursue an: ideal if it
might' hurt some one in the audience he' could
see in a fashion he could appreciate, That con
sideration did not prevail when 'he was stimu
lating the country to trust to all manner of
foolishness when it was n earing danger, Mr.
Bryan could not seo then that some one might
be hurt if no wisdom prevailed, and if no thought
were given to cause and effect.
He was then a pacifist, consequences being
beyond his parochial vision. Tho American
habit of thinking that, if events bo far enough
removed from their daily experience, the laws
they know will govern in their daily affairs
will not govern leads to a creat many mistakes
In action.
Mr. Bryan would not trust to the inherent
power of an ideal which had to bo dealt with
in his home town within twenty-four hours, but
he would trust implicitly to an ideal which had
to work throughout the world for tho rest of
eternity. Chicago Tribune.
MR. BRYAN IN CANADA
William Jennings Bryan, former secretary of
state, was hooted from tho platform in Toronto,
where he had been invited to speak on behalf
of the Anti-Saloon League.
No one with an ounce of sense will charge up
'this disgraceful proceeding to tho Canadian
people. Indeed the same element recently hoot
ed the premier of Canada from the stage at
Kitchener, Ontario.
Whether one is a Bryanite or an anti-Bryan-ite,
no one with a sense of proportion has ever
doubted or would ever dare to doubt his Amer
icanism. He is a statesman of whom this or
any country ought to be proud.
May we say with all fairness that much of
the opposition to Mr. Bryan comes through the
misatatements of our own press. Every good
and great man makes enemies, and the enemies
made by Mr. Bryan are neither good nor great.
A partisan press has misinterpreted, misquoted
and even lied about him for twenty years, yet
ho has grown in the esteem of all real Amer
icans since that-period.
Canadians who read what some of our papers
have said of Mr. Bryan may have believed tho
slanders, but the ninety and nine of our neigh
bors are not of that stripe. The returned boI
dier element in Canada is being inflamed by a
selfish press with a view to making them a
factor in Canada's political life. That's all
there is to the disturbance. It is the mob
spirit, and mobs are made of those who do not
reason, nor Inquire why. The Washington
Herald.
MR. BRYAN IN TORONTO
No doubt Mr. Bryan's exerience in Toronto
' was anything but pleasant. An orator who has
commanded as many audiences as he has can
not enjoy being howled down, but, neverthe
less, he comes out of the affair in a better posi
tion than, the few who broke- up his meeting.
They pretended to think that Mr. Bryan Is
pro-German. Perhaps they actually thought so,
but if they did they exhibited nothing but
their ignorance. In his devotion to the cause
of peace many Americans believe Mr. Bryan
went further than the situation warranted, but
it is known by all who care to know that since
the United States went to war he has stead
fastly refused to strike hands with untimely
peace advocates and has supported the govern
ment of the United States. Early In the war
he offered his services in any place where the
President might believe he would be useful.
But Mr. Bryan did not go to Canada to talk
about the war. Prohibition was his theme, and
his encounter with a rude reception is not in-.
explicable. Prohibition is a local question In
'Canada and the people who broke up the Bryan
meeting may have been taking a. bad-mannered
method of telling "him so. St. Louis Pogt-DIs- -patch.
FROM A SOUTHERN REPUBLICAN
Introductory address delivered by Mr. C. R.
Pugh, at lecture at Elizabeth City, N. C.
Friends: It id late. I shall waive a lengthy
introduction. There are many Internationally
known men, but few who know internationally.
The former might be attained through public
service at home, the latter must be acquired by
service, study and travel. Our country has
many big men who in the fields of science, pol
itics, society and religion, loom' large, in their
respective places. Many of these leaders pre
scribe new panaceas for present day pains, only
to withdraw them when thoy become unpopu
lar, and often recant and follow in the wak'e of
an aroused sentiment. Few of these 'men have
tho courage of tho ploneor, not only to blas
the trail, but to follow it through Its windings.
The distinguished gentleman who will address
us on this epoch-making occasion is a man in
ternationally known and knows internationally,
projects now panaceas and holds to his formula;
is a pioneer, andjtho clamor of a changing sontl
ment does not swervo him ono jot nor one tittle.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is an honor of
which I am justly proud to introduce to my
homo people, that peerless orator, who has
swayed audiences in the princely courts of two
continents, that world citizen who has been
honored by kings and potentates of tho world's
loading governments, that Christian statesman,
William Jennings Bryan.
Mr. Bryan at Albany'
COLONEL BRYAN FACES GOMPERS AND
BAILEY
From Tho Albany Argus, Feb. 27.
Prohibition had Its first full inning of the
present session of tho legislature yesterday,
when for six hours the joint committee of both
houses listened to the opponents of the federal
prohibition amendment, also to the Anti-Saloon
League agitators. Arrayed against the ratifica
tion of the amendment was Samuel Gompers,
president of the American Federation of Labor,
the strongest body, numerically, in the United
States; former United States Senator Joseph
Bailey of Texas; Austen G. Fox, speaking for
tho State Bar association, and others, while the
"drys' " guns were handled by William Jen
nings Bryan, Wayne B. Wheeler, Antl- Saloon
League counsel, and Mrs. Ella A. Boole, state
president of the W. C. T. U. The hearing was
confined solely to the Hill-McNab bill, propos
ing that New York state ratify the federal
amendment. The hearing began on schedule
time, 2 o'clock, and it was nearly 8 o'clock last
night before both sides res'ed their case. The
"drys" wore white ribbons, while tho "wets"
were distinguished by red ribbons. Never be
fore has the .assembly chamber held such a
crowd.
BEFORE LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE
An Albany special tp The New York- Time,
dated Feb. 26, says: For nearly six1 hours to
day the champions Of national prohibition
battled with tho forces opposing ratification of
the federal prohibition amendment at a hear
ing before a joint legislative committee. In
point of attendance, as well as in the bitter
ness of the battle of oratory, the hearing was
the most remarkable in the history of the Cap
itol. An hour' before the 'hearing Was iched
uled to begin the spacious assembly chamber,
where it was held, was crowded, while lobbies
and approaches were choked with persons strug
gling to gain admission.
William Jennings Bryan led the prohibition
forces. He held the vast audience spellbound
during an address that lasted more than an
hour. Samuel Gompers, president of the Amer
ican Federation of Labor, ex-United States
Senator Joseph W. Bailey of Texas, and Austin
G. Fox, a prominent New York lawyer, who ap
peared to oppose the ratification of the federal
amendment on behalf of the New York City Bar,
Association, led the fight for the "wet" forces.
BRYAN PLEADS AT ALBANY
An Albany, N. Y., dispatch, dated Feb. 26,
says: For more than five hours today a crowd
larger than ever before was jammed into th
assembly chamber of the state capitol, heard
men. of international reputations argue for 'and
against the ratification by the New York legis
lature of the federal prohibition amendment.
William Jennings Bryan led the prohibition
forces. His principal opponent was Samuel
Gompers, president of the American Federation
of Labor, who was seconded by former Senator
Joseph W. Bailey of Texas. Besides ,thes
speakers there were many less widely known.
Meanwhile there would be a good many mil
lion persons in this country who would be a lot
more cheerful over their saving of wheat and
barley and other grains if they were relieved of
the necessity of knowing that by reason of their
economy it is .possible for the breweries to keep
running full time.
IV.
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