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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1918)
HPF("eiir' atf' "l"W TOJSV' The Commoner '..' . JUNE, 1918 ") I r I "kxM, '.' jK&I tho deck of a warship, while I, depicted-, a 'a tyrant as relentless as Nero, was . standing on the bridge surrounded by weeping officers. The approval, however, outside of these ,ro stricted circles, was general. The order T was hailed with so much satisfaction by the fathers and mothers of the country that my mail was doubled and trebled for a month or twoV By the time congress assembled, those who had thought to attack the order upon the floors Of congress found there was not a man in either house who ever raised the issue. By that time, too, the navy officers learned that it was. far from any thought of mine to reflect upon tho service. I took4 occasion to let the public know that so far as.the mass of the officers were con cerned there was no need for the order. It was issued to safeguard the young men who wero coming into the service. The public well un derstood that that ,was Ihe reason and heartily approved. itv . . The order, dated June 1, 1914, was as fol lows: , "Tho use or introduction for drinking pur poses of alcoholic .liquors on board any naval vessel, or witbjnany navy yard or station, is strictly prohibited, .and commanding, officers will be held directly; responsible for the enforcement of this order.!'.. ... PUNCHING PROHIBITION POINTS PRE SENTJ3D BY BRYAN By 0. K.i'injSa.cramento, Cal., Bee, June 6. William Jennings Bryan, the Commoner of Nebraska, Hhree, times a candidate for pfesi- ' dent of the United States, appeared in the Chau--tauqua tent last night And delivered a lecture dealing with man's Telation to government, to society, and to his God. Bryan is still ;the 'wonderful orator of other days. He has the 'same deep, resonant, musical voice. His words are purest English, except when he deliberately drops into slang and1 story telling. ' His ' enunciation is perfection itself. The slightest whisper caft be heard distinctly ' at a distance because he articulates so plainly, because each word comes out clear-cut from its "well of English uridefiled." To listens Mm lsfan education in Itself:' : And many4 so-called "orators" would find it advantageous to study and follow tho Bryan method; so they" could at least make themselves at all times intelligible without shrieking. To those who haVe heard Bryan so often, a7)d particularly in the heat of bitter political con-ventions-especially when he brought thft great Baltimore gathering to its knees and forced it to nominate 'Woodro'w Wilson for president of the United -States' against its designs, its will and its prepared plansand when at two o'clock in the morning he arose from a bed at St. Louis, where he wast afflicted with incipient pneumonia, to drive, the gold, jplank out of the platform of a national convention which had already adopt ed it the lecture good as it was, was to a de gree disappointing. The feeling of" something lacking was some thing akin to that which comes over one fa miliar with the. stage power and magnificence of a great tragedian, when he hears that same actor give readings' from Shakespeare. For there is' ad much difference between the power and magnetism of some Booth over an audience upon the stage, and the quieter qual- ' lues of the same actor a- he reads in the peace ful atmosphere of a church gathering, as be tween the sweep of William Jennings Bryan , , dominating by his magnificent oratory opposing hundreds and Jeering thousands in a packed convention, and the even tones of the same man conversationally reasoning at a Chautauqua gathering. But even to! those the lecture last night was a treat in many -respects. "', .,.,.' There were some very powerful passages and some beautiful imagery; some eloquent Pathos. The lecture was puncfuated throughout by Jthe , Piquant, Bryanesque humor. And no matter , now much any might disagree with his reason ing here and there, he certainly presented- his" side of the case inarvelOusly well. : '' Bryan devoted considerable of his attention "' to his present dominating hobby of prohibition; ' No man can feel other than respect for the sincerity of this advocate. '-" ," vi5e, has neve been anything else than a pro;-1 ," hibitionist, All his life long he has believed in ' ' that principle. It is not with him, as with yo l many hundreds and thousands of othersefiheY0 a political embracement of the hour against his conscience, or a following of tho crowd because iInxks ProhtoUipn is on the winning wave Whatever Mr. Bryan says about prohibition, or any other subject, he says from a sincere heart; and therein and therefore ho is to be re spected. The humor of Bryan was well established throughout the lecture. And unconsciously he was just as humorous in one particular point whero he had no inten tion of being humorous, as elsewhere where ho deliberately became humorous. Ue scored the breweries and their "infamous act? in holding back the hands of the govern ment on a necessary food bill until they had brought tho government to some of their terms. Coming from the president of tho National Dry Fede'ration, and from a man who has en dorsed everything the prohibitionists have done, that, was the very acme of unconscious and all thq, more delicious humor. For the history of national legislation in the past year has been potently if not picturesquely, illustrated by the efforts of the prohibitionists to hold back the hands of the nation in the hour of her crisis, until such times as they could cram prohibition down the throats of an un willing people. And today they stand phalanxed in a black mailing effort to compel the President of tho United States to force prohibition upon tho peo ple without their consent, by refusing to pass a food appropriation, bill until he succumbs. But if you told Bryan of the underlying hu mor in his violent denunciation of the breweries for such offence, he wouldn't be able to see it in a lifetime. ' ' " No deeply sincere man, wedded to. one par ticular hobby, ever can see the humor that is so patent to the bt)ier side. Undoubtedly all ' who Jcnow and appreciate the sincerity and the earnestness. and the hon esty of this man tiirdughOut his long career will be glad to hear any message he' may have to deliver. "- And those' who ktiow his worth, but can not agree With him, will agree to disagree as friends. So, in line with its life-long rule The Bee presents a faithful report of Bryan's lecture, with particular attention to his prohibition appeal. MR. BRYAN IN CALIFORNIA An audience that crowded the big Chautau qua tent to capacity and overflowed in the stand ing space beyond its walls, greeted William Jen nings Bryan when he appeared on the lecture platform last evening. Despite differences of political creed tho residents of Eureka evinced an eager interest in the appearance here of the great Commoner, who, through the force of an astute mind and the silver tongue of oratory, has stood for a score of years before the world as one of the most prominent figures in Amer ican life. It is as unnecessary as impossible to try to give adequate expression of Mr. Bryan's gift of expression, but the smooth logic, the sequence of cause and effect leading in an over narrow ing circle to the one great object the speaker sought to convey, came as a revelation to those who heard him. Taking as his central theme the "Funda mentals of Life," Mr. Bryan analyzed his sub ject under three sub-topics Man's relation tQ his government, to society and to his God. The address was prefaced by a prelude relative to governments in general, in which a concise an alysis of the science of government as it exists in various countries was given, the speaker, through a series of questions asked and an swered, arriving at the .unquestionable conclu sion that democracy is the peer of all govern ments yet tried upon the earth. Humboldt Times,, Eureka, Cal., June 3. Hon. William Jennings Bryan did Humboldt a great service last night at Chautauqua. His lucid, patriotic appeal to carry on the war, abol ish' intoxicants, and live up to what we know to be right, will live long among our people.-Hum-boidt Times, Eureka, Cal. LECTURE AT GRASS VALLEY Yesterday was Bryan day in Grass. Valley. .The ere'at American arrived, at 11 o'clock, attended , -a luncheon of the Chamber of Commerce at.noon and talke'd in a huinorotis ,strafn,for a .half how, took a nap," viMtea? the mines and last night de- livered his great leeture to between 1100 an, 1200 people at the Chautauqua tent. The Com moner is ageing very gradually and still pre sents a robust appearance. His drMtwa un conventional, what appeared to be an alapaca coat being worn for the comfort of it this rather hot weather. Bryan is tho same genial, approachable, lik able man as in his days of stronuous political campaigns. It was his first visit hero and h expressed much surprise at finding a community so largo and favorably conditioned. Llko many an other stranger, Bryan was misled by" the name of tho town into thinking ho was bound for a small hamlet. Bryan dovotod three-quarters of an hour of his lecture period to tho war, and his appeals for tho support of the government and-tho back ing up of tho men who actually go to tho front was so powerful as to move tho most indifferent. Ho gave considerable attention to the liquor question, declaring that tho use of foodstuffs for the manufacture of intoxicating liquors in any quantity should bo stopped, and placing In tho same category with tho German spy who tampers vith an aeroplane tho man who seeks to de crease the efficiency of the pilot of the machine by furnishing him with intoxicating drinks. r Grass Valley, Cal., Union, Juno 7. PRESIDENT'S WAR SAVINGS APPEAL President Wilson has authorized tho follow ing signed statement: This war Is one of nations not of armies i and all of our one hundred million people must be economically and industrially adjusted to war conditions if this nation is to play its full part in the conflict. Tho problem before us is not, primarily, a financial problem, but rather a problem of increased production of war essen tials and tho saving of the materials and tho labor necessary for tho support and equipment of our army and navy. Thoughtless expenditure of money for nonessentials uses up the labor of men, the products of the farm, mines, and factories, and overburdens transportation,, all of which must be used to the utmost and at their best for war purposes. The great results which wo seek can be ob tained only by the participation of every mem ber of the nation, young and old, in a national concerted thrift movement. I therefore urge that our people everywhere pledge themselves, as suggested by the secretary of the treasury, to 'the practice of thrift; -to serve the govern ment to their utmost in Increasing production in all fields necessary to the winning of tho war; to cdnserve food and fuel and useful materials of every kind; to devote their labor only to the most necessary tasks; and to buy only those things which are essential to individual health and efficiency; and that the people, as evidence of their loyalty, invest all that they can save In Liberty bonds and war savings stamps. The securities issued by tho treasury department are so many of them within the reach of every one that the door of opportunity In this matter is wide open to all Of us. To practice thrift in peace times Is a virtue and. brings great benefit to the individual at all times; with the desper ate need of the civilized world today for ma terials and labor with which to end the war, the practice of individual thrift Is a patriotic duty and a necessity. I appeal to all who ,now own either Liberty bonds or war savings stamps to continue to practice economy and thrift and to appeal to all who do not own government securities to do likewise and purchase them to the extent of their means. The manwho buys government securities transfers the purchasing power of his money to the United States government until after this war, and to that same degree does not buy in competition with the government. I earnestly appeal to every man, woman, and child to pledge themselves on or before the 28th of June to save constantly and to buy as regu larly as possible the securities of tho govern ment; and to do this as far as possible through membership In war-savings societies. The 28th of June ends this special period of enlistment in the great volunteer army of production and saving here at home. May there be none unen listed on that day! WOODROW WILSON. Some statistician ha figured it out that it everybody Jnthe, Jliiited States will eat- bna prunea day it willrave 100,000 tons, of sugar: a. year. 'M ' M - s4 .l . , .! . '' '". " j & "s ,. ,il m 39 - k'1 v V'i .4i m J 1 .! , 4 .j Vf M mm m "jha .9 -.-. :u M ;?j -m j i .1 kpt'ML: 4u -'" A.-Aat&.ldfir:' AJ)il .'