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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1920)
KfjyffPTV ' :oj$w$&, 1920 The Commoner ;V3T ? rnr - mmm gm,, F ; ii Pressing Domestic Problems (Addr'ess;f William. Jennings Bryan, be- tfor.c-the League of the Southwest, Los Atigeles, California, April 2, 1920.) Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: It has been a very long trip, but it was a very ,cor;'dial jmd very pressing invitation, and it came from a spurce that made me respect it. very highly. The fact that It came from the distin guished educator who presides over the Uni versity of Arizona added very greatly to the em phasis and to the impression that it made upon me; I .am very glad I came, because I have real ly enjoyed these sessions immensely. I have had moro opportunity to listen and learn than I usually have. It is my fate usually to get into a .meeting just before my time to speak, and to gr put- Of it just after I finish. This-i'd one of the few meetings in recent years where l have been able to Bit down and listen to other People, and I have not only greatly en joyed it, but have greatly benoiltod by it. What we have heard here and I am sorry you were not all here at the other meetings what we have heard, adds greatly to the sum of our informa tion; -and information, is the thing that we most need. -Facts are the apostles of reform; getting the. facts before the people is the important work. I am very glad that you could draw a senator all the way from the city of Washington. And, I may add, if you had taken the list of .senators and gone over the names one by one you could have found no man more interested in all that you are interested in,- or one upon whom you could, rely more faithfully to carry out all your purposes, and to give whatever aid a senator can. give. Ihaye known Senator Owen for nearly a quar ter of a' century, and I have seen him identify himself- with every great cause which has coino before the people in that time. He Is one of the.few public men who entered public life be- . cause of an interest in public questions, and whose whole soul is devoted to the study, under fanding and presentation of the side of the great m&sd of people upon all subjects that come before the country for consideration. I was glad .to" begone of those who could listen to' him and the fact that he has come here to speak to you Is in itself proof that the cause which brought you here is one of the very highest importance. I started to speak yesterday and my speech was interrupted by the coming of one who ap peared on. the program, and I want to apolo gize for the fact that I did not recognize the Bpeaker." I was jtfst Bpeaking for a few minutes to fill up the. time; and" when she came, never having seen her before, and not having heard her.name, I did not understand that I was stand ing for a moment between the audience and the daughter, of former President Taft. I would not hare felt like delaying the audience for a mo ment,' I would simply have taken time to congratulate-that illustrious statesman upon having a daughter who has gained distinction upon her own'Therits at so early an age. I enjoyed, hear ing what she said, for she spoke in behalf of a great cause. The teachers, of this country were poorly paid before the cost of living became so high'.- -They are still more poorly paid now, and i am.sure that the appeal she made, in Hue vith the1 appeal now being made everywhere, is go ing to find a very generous response. The pub lic is interested in no one more than in the teacher, of the child, andthe public will see to it that 'those' who do the important work of training-: the. .child shall be sufficiently compensated for the "Work that they do. I have been listening as these different repre sentatives of different lines of thought have come beforeVou and spoken on subjects that they un derstand and I "wonder if you all have the same definition' of eloquence that I have learned to respect:' If I were asked to define eloquence I would define it as,, the speech of one who knows what, he is talking about, and means what he fiaysi""C'' tthirik we had the highest illustration of that lastrnight.- Nobody could listen to the goveinor of New Mexico without knowing that he was taiking on a subject to which he had given his hearfr and about which he was thoroughly in f ormed, ne who has such a. message, and feels that Whas a mission, makes people listen to him;y.and he must not be discouraged because theMpotrespond atonce. If he will come to mefMately I T?i 1 him several instances yhlritHatoccurred. I can show you how it took twenty-one years ' to secure the election of United States sLX by the people after it had passed the house or representatives the first timo. I can show you how it took seventeen years to get the income tax amendment after the supremo court had nullified the law of 1894. 1 can show you how it took sliver twenty-four years to rise above gold. They can lay this resolution on tho table now if they want to, but they cannot do U with any more rapidity or rejoicing than thoy laid silver on the table a few years ago. I find great pleasure now, when I go down to New York, in hunting up some well known financier and asking him if ho Is paying his debts in tho dearest dollar there is or in a cheap gold dollar, it takes timoror great movements to triumph. I was impressed with that this afternoon when I saw by the program that my speech camo after the resolutions had been adopted, and when I could not have any Influence on your action. I took it for granted that they understood that I talk to future generations, and not to this im mediate generation. See what latltudo they give me now. I would have felt some responsibility if I had spoken just before the resolutions wore adopted. I would have been afraid that I might have made some mistake, and that before I had tinif to find it out, or the audience had a cbanr.o to reflect, the convention might have been led astray on some question; but now you have all timo before you to consider, and reflect, and, therefore, I can speak at length, and can also speak mere at breadth. In fact, they have opened up the whole subject to me. I have a list here, and if there is anything connectod with human welfare that has not been discussed here it is not on my list. I heard all about cat tle. I am interested in cattle. I can go back and tell the people in tho eastern part of the country just how many steers can be raised on the amount of land that can bo irrigated by the proper conservation of the waters of the Colo rado river. I can show them that if they want to raise sheep instead of cattle, how much mut ton and how much wool can be raised Then I can show them that, if they find that th packers make it. unsafe to raise either sheep or cattle, they can put it into cotton, and then there 13 mf limit. I am going back home full of facts. I don't know what I am going to do with them, but I am satisfied with them. I will have to take time to systematize them, and use them where I think they will do the most gopd. I have been filling up at this meeting, and I have enjoyed every minute of it. I have enjoyed every speech that has been made, and if I had time I would just take up everything that has been said and elaborate it. But as I have not time, I shall only call your attention to a few things that I have sort of sifted out. Intho,first place, I will take up a subject that is not on your program. If a man could take it up and then be elected the president of the as sociation I think I can, as an outsider, seconcr what he says. I do not think that the matter of good roads is on this program, and yet I heara , Governor Campbell make a great speech on good roads. I just want to show you that I am even more for good roads than he is. He told you what you could do with good roads here. I am more ambitious than he is. I want a peace-way, built by the federal government, and extending into every state in the union, We have come out of the greatest war that the world ever knew, surpassing all that anybody had ever thought possible in the number of lives that it cost, in the value of property destroyed, and in the huge amount of debts contracted. I am hoping that It will be the last war that the world will ever know, and I want this nation, the greatest in tho world and the greatest that the world has ever known, to lead the world in a peace propaganda that will settle all questions of investigation and by peaceful means, and not by the sword. In stead of spending billions of dollars for the train ing of men for wars that ought never to come, I would like to spend the money in building a great highway, connecting all the states, and put ting the word peace into that highway, that it may become the most common word in our lan guage. I would build it as a monument to thoso who rendered service as soldiers, to thoso who made the greatest sacrifice. I would make it a monument to peace restored. I would make it the nation's tribute to the doctrine that reason hall supplant war and that love shall bring the world together in bonds of universal brother hood. I WOUld Hkfi in Kn tht ttAftnn hull J ifeii great highway, taking time to do it to well tult$ wncn we are through our rtaifnn ah t"4S above all the athar nfttfnnu. tthnva ian-p ilft I. history, in tho construction of a great national 1 mguway. xnen I woum nave every slate tak up the groat poace-way, constructed by the aa linn orit ivtmi.t 14 !.. .. i-. ... ... . . J - ., i vaivuw ii. auiu wary goumy in ui ftiaut.H bo inai, wncnevcr a man started to travel mr would start toward the groat peac-way. If we" can bring tho word peace Into tha hearts of me: it our children and our children's children nr reared to spoak of a peace-way, It will he worth' all the money it cost net An sultiantlnnnl IrtafShtJ tion In this country. You see, I am lniermwj in Governor namnhnll'u mnnrtoiHnr hni t e.1 further than he or anyono may care to go on thVjl uudjcci 01 goou roaus. Let mo say a word on the question raised by me governor or now Mexico. I suppose I have. OCCUDled neutral croiliul nn that ninnnlllnn 1T I wero making the argument, I would not basiJ ix upon mo letter or tno statutes, or on the law,, A lawyor naturally does that, but I was drawn aside from tho law a good while ago. I do not, spend much time discussing what tho law J, I am infinitely more Interested In what the lawi ougnt to bo. I do not look to tho letter of tha law to find out what tho future is going to be. I look rather to tho Bpirlt of tho pooplo, and to that which is for their welfarn. If nnvnnn 1ir1 eVOr RIll't'flRtPfl thnt iUn Rtntna lifwl n InfnfAiit ' in these lands, 1 would say that tho very faoCj mai tno lanus are in a state that fact alone. Withntlf nnv WrIHnn rnnnnrnHInn r.t U n1tU,n h any acknowledgment of it on paper or parchment is sufficient to make us believe that tho nation wiu recognize mai wnaicvor tno nauon does m m b' u Liiusu luuuB must uo uonu wiui a vimw i iu uiu peoples neoas, n cannot uisregaru tli wouaro ot me people or tno state in wnieh thoa lauds arc situated. ' ft So, with me, tho question 1b, not whotlwr those lands shall be used for tho boneflt of th state, but whethor the state or the nation can soonest make the best use of these lands. I have no doubt that, whonovor the groat taf the southwost agree that thoy can, together, mak a development hot mnrn ntitnklv and mnm v. teuslvoly, than tho national government is ready 1 tn makfi. r.nnerpRH will fnrin i thn nnv 1swl Hi that the states want to utilize in the develop ment of tho resources of the state. If thocwi states will mark out tho land that thoy think thoy can utilize; if they will estimate the acre that can be irrigated and the land necessary for, the watershed, and assure congress that the people of thoso states aro ready to take that land and develop it, I have not the slightest doubt flint nnnPTfHfli will tii ftvnr tha urnt-lr tt ihai' states as soon as they are ready to o it But, my friends, I think wo can do even b,t- : xcr man tuai. i am in lavor ot aoing tins votk. by the means that will soonest bring us tho de velopment that is needed and so I bcltove that, while this country should stand read to do this, it should also take up tho work of enlightening' the east and tho middle west on tho importance of this undertaking. They do not undoratand-it down, there. Wo wonder how they can fail to understand it when wo understand it so fully. That is a perfectly natural feeling. That is why' a reformer Is so apt to bo Impatient. He see a thing himself and he wonders why everyone else does not see it; just in proportion as it is clear to him, it is difficult for him to understand how anyone can fail to see its Importance. '; Having been connected with some reforms ip, fact, having been in a fight for reform all my life, except when I was In the army; having been on tho firing line all my life except when I wore the uniform of a soldier for a few months', I have spent a great deal of time encouraging reformers.' I am going to tell you a toryr It you do not need it, you will know people who do. A man went to a doctor with a breaking out on ht a itami Tfi doctor cave him some ointment and told him to make application every day and ' report progress at. xne enu 01 uju uiuuux. u the end of the month came aYound ho went to tho doctor and he said, "Looking at the hand from day to day, I can not see any difference. Looking at it week by week I sometimes think X can. At the end of the month I guess it Is bel ter and, doctor, It may get well,, but I. am afraid it won't he In my day." ' mun ia fhn wnv ft man feels about a reform. im T, tine wnrked at It for a long time, he fn'1 afraid it won't triumph In his day, but my e, perlence is that nearly every great reform tri umphs in the generation in which It was com menced, but It takes time. The great work ot tnis assouiauuu mm ta iv ib "ww- -- IV i - ? .' ?- ,"" -" '";,