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The Commoner
V
APKIL, 1922
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V
A Bit of History
Truth grows; back of it are forces as ir
resistible and as constantly at work as the
forco of nature that assures us that harvest
will follow seed time. To illustrate: In Feb
ruary, 1905, Mr, Bryan wrote an editorial for
The Comrnoner suggesting .that our nation make
treaties providing;, ,firstr, for the , investigation
of all disputes; second, for; a limited time for
the investigation, ' during which ' there . should
bo no resort to force; and third, for the reser
vation of independence' of action at the con
clusion of the investigation.
The reservation for" independence of action
was necessary if ALL disputes were to be in
vestigated. The arbitration ' treaties excepted
from their operation certain privileged ques
tions. The investigation treaties were intended
to fill the gap left by the arbitration treaties.
During the period of investigation passions
could subside, questions of fact could be sep
arated from questions of honor and the peace
forces of the world could be given an oppor
tunity to mobilize.
The plan attracted no attention at the time.
Mr. Bryan hoped that President Roosevelt
might be willing to make use ol it, but he did
not seem to be impressed by it (if it was ever
brought to his attention) and the public did not
seem to take an interest in it.
In September of that year, Mr. Bryan and his
family started on a trip around the world. In
Tokyo, Japan, he laid the plan before the guests
at a luncheon given in his honor but it did not
seem to make any impression.
The next summer he was invited to attend
the Peace. Congress at London. Lord Wear
dale, who extended the invitation, approved the
plan as did Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the
premier. The 'Premier was the first man of
prominence who gave his endorsement to the
plan. He also aided in bringing it before the
peace conference whore it was unanimously ap
proved by the representatives of twenty-six lead
ing nations.
With this encouragement Mr. Bryan presented
it from time to time as opportunity afforded.
When Mr. Taft was preparing treaties with
Great Britain, and France, Mr. Bryan called at
the White House' and laid the plan before him
and, later, at his request, before Senator Knox.
Part of the plan was included in the treaties,
but they were rejected because of other pro
visions that were offensive.
When Mr, Bryan was offered a place in the
cabinet he laid the plan before President Wil
son who cordially approved of it. Soon after
inauguration he formally laid the plan before
the President who - in turn laid it before the
cabinet. After approval by- the cabinet Mr.
Bryan, with the President's approval, laid it
before the Foreign Relations committee of the
Senate and secured its approval. Then he
called together the ambassadors and ministers
representing the various nations and laid it be
fore them, and they in turn laid it before their
respective governments.
Little Salavdor was the first nation to con
clude a treaty""embodying the plan and four
other Central American nations followed before
any European nation was ready to negotiate a
treaty.
Finally the Netherlands joined in one of the
treaties and then others followed more rttpid-
The first big treaty day was July 24, 1914,
the day when Brazil, Argentina, and Chile
joined in the execution of treaties according to
111,11 Pten. Mr. Bryan was so 'delighted at the
Progress that was being made that he gave a
junchoon to the representatives of these three
nations in honor of the event and served grape
juice from a bowl ornamented by doves.
A still greater day followed, the fifteenth day
oi September, 1914, when tlie ambassadors from
ureat Britain, France and Spain, and the min
ster from China joined with the United States
J signing treaties embodying the plan. On
t?n ft ay thla nation was lined by these
"eaties with nations exercising authority over
t? ,half the eiobo.
nvn , two yrs from the time the plan was
proposed to the world thirty nations, represent
or, nln?,re than three-quarters of all the people
ipi il fot8tool, had entered into -these treat
ed ii!ne war almost impossible between the
T?r ng Pities. Eighteen of these treaties
(lnv ,, ed in one day (after discussion on the
BPnHro) fifteen of them without a dis
senting vote.
hart?-?1!?! Wilson. took tlio plan to Paris and
i!0",thirds of lfc (investigation of every dis-
and time for investigation) - incorporated
in the Covenant of the League of Nations Tho
tnmnii0r "Bon was reduced from a yea?
nei,mJi??B' but that was enoueb.
Wni ? B,ritish ambassador declared soon after
war broke out in Europe that it could have
been prevented if they had had two weeks time
to arouse the friends of peace. The Covenant
allowed EIGHTEEN TIMES TWO WEEKS for
investigation and report.
When the Treaty of Versailles was laid be
fore the Senate this was one provision that re
ceived no criticism. President Wilson called
attention to this fact at Indianapolis when ho
started west. He called it the "heart of tho
covenant" and emphasized tho fact that no
senator had criticized it. The treaty failed of
ratification, not because of tho plan incorporated
but because an important part of tho plan wap
left out. Each one of the Thirty Treaties con
tained, as has been said, a sentence reserving to
the contracting parties the right to act inde
pendently at the conclusion of the investigation.
This reservation was left out of the Covenant
of the League of Nations. Not only was this
reservation omitted, but Article Ten embodied
a moral obligation which had no value except
as it suspended the right of Congress to declare
war. If Congress was as free as before to de
cide the question of war when the time came
for action, then the moral obligation was of no
value; if the moral obligation interfered with
the freedom of Congress, then to that extent
it suspended tho right of Congress to exercise
its judgment freely in deciding questions of
peace or war.
The Arms Conference was in harmony with
the principle embodied in the Thirty Treaties;
tho nations came together for conference with
out being bound to accept the conclusions of the
conference. And the Four Power Pact, as final
ly ratified, was almost identical with these treat
ies as finally ratified. ' As drawn, this . Four
Power Pact provided for conference concerning
matters in dispute and those who drew it no
doubt intended to imply a reservation of in
dependence of action. When the question was
raised as to whether the treaty did imply such
a reservation the committee naturally decided
to make the reservation specific so as to leave
no doubt as to the meaning of the treaty. Tho
committee amendment negatived the idea of
alliance or moral obligation and was identical
in purpose with the reservation contained in
each one of tho Thirty Treaties. It is interest
ing to note that this amendment of reservation
was adopted in the Senate by a vote of ninety
to two and it is equally interesting to know
that without that amendment or reservation
the treaty could not have secured tho Demo
cratic votes necessary for' its ratification. As
it was, twelve Democrats voted with the Re
publicans to ratify the treaty as amended.
This bit of history is presented to show how
a simple proposition can grow until it becomes
of vital importance to the people of the world.
A lesson can be drawn from the growth of the
peace plan above recorded, namely, that ques
tions of government are not difficult to under
stand when simply stated. Government prob
lems are not complicated; they are simply big.
If one visits the Panama Canal ho finds that
it is not so much a great undertaking as a big
undertaking. The Culebra Cut is the biggest
cut in the world nine miles long and three
hundred and fifty feet deep at the highest point
in the range, but it is a little cut, such as is
made for a railroad through a hill, only the
little cut is multiplied a million times. So,
the Gatun Dam is the biggest dam in the
world; it makes a lake with a surface area
of more than one hundred square miles, but it
is in principle like the little dam that makes
a pond in the pasture, only the little pond is
multiplied millions of times. The locks are big
locks but they are in principle just like the lock
on the little canals that carry small barges
and "have a tow path along the side. Tho locks
at Panama Canal are little locks multiplied
many times.
So with questions of" government; they are
solved by every day common sense applied on
a big scale to problems that are big.
Jefferson said that the art of government is
the "art of being honest," and that the prin
ciples of right and wrong are easily discerned,
reouiring not the aid of many counsellors. Jef
ferson was right. Tho plain common people
.' .....hnd nil fhfl b hr nroblems of govern-
cau uuucio -- ,- i, , i .i
mint as soon as the moral questions nvolved
e clearly stated. That is why popular gov
ernment is possible. The people can be trusted;
Snthfiv need is to understand the questions
and toey wll T understand them if you will just
rive them a little time. They will understand
film in snite of the influences that are sub
Srrfent to' Predatory wealth. They would un-
dorstand them moro quickly if thoy had a na
tional bulletin in which oxpononts of both sides
could present thoir analysis of tho Issues.
- W. J. BRYAN.
THE RADIO-PHONE
The reader will find in this issue an abstract
of an address delivered in tho Point Brcozo
Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, Pa., on tho
evening of March 12. A radios-phono was at
tached to tho pulpit a little barrel shaped in
strument four or five by six or seven inches
by means of which ny voice was carried to an
invisible audience estimated at Bovonty-flva
thousand. I havo no way of knowing how many
heard, but reports have been received from about
eleven hundred and forty who wrote for copies
of tho speech.
Telegrams wero received from Hot Springs,
Arkansas; Tupelo, Mississippi; and Plymouth,
Indiana. Tho letters roported that tho speech
was heard as far south as Cuba, as far north as
Canada, as far west as Kansas, and as far oast
as Porto Rico. Tho most remote report camo
from a ehip in tho neighborhood of Porto Rico
fourteen hundred miles dway. Tho wireloss
operator on tho vessel said that my volco was
as clear as a boll. Others reportod hearing it
with great distinctness.
It seems impossiblo that tho voice should,
by means of tho radio, bo made to fill the air
every cubic foot of tho air throughout an
area with a diameter of nearly three thousand
miles. Anyone within that area who bad an
instrument attuned to the instrument sending
out the messago could take tho words out of tho
air and follow the speech as easily as if ho
wore in the hall where it was delivered. To
what a wonderful discovery tho radio has led!
The Westinghouso Company, of Pittsburgh, in
stalled tho radio above mentioned and supplied
tho receiving instruments which heard tho Pitts
burgh address.
It is impossible to look ahead and see what
use will be made of the radio-phono or to what
new discovery this discovery will lead. As tho
receiving instruments aro supplied to an in
creasing number, it will bo possible for a groat
singer to delight an increasing multitude. The
time will come when a President can sit in tho
White House and deliver his message to the na
tion. It is a great world wo live In; wonders
follow upon wonders. W. J. BRYAN.
A RIGHTEOUS PROTEST
Governor R. A. Nostos of North Dakota, in a
speech delivered at the University of North Da
kota on Founders' Day, published in the Grand
Forks Herald of February 23, 1922, fired a shpt
that will be heard throughout tho United States.
So far as I know, he is the first 3tato executive
who has ventured to hurl his lance against the
atheist and agnostic professors who insolently
assail the fundamental truths of tho Christian
faith under the guise of science or philosophy.
The governor's speech will be found on another
page and should be read by every believer in
God, whether he be a Jew or Gentile; and by
every believer in Christianity, whether he bo
Catholioor Protestant.
Those pseudo-scientists have entered upon a
crusade to banish real religion from the life of
the students. They bombastically assert tho su
periority of the guesses of science over the Word
of God. Some, like Professor Conklin, dare to
warn Christians against trying to "confute
science by the Bible."
If other governors will join the governor pf
North Dakota it will not be long before these
men who boast of monkey blood will be eating
out of the hands of the tax-payers. There is
no martyr blood in a bruto and little, if any, in
those who think themselves the descendents of
apqs. They will n6t die for anything; they will
not even risk their salaries to teach anything.
They will teach that the earth is either round,
flat, or square, whichever is desired by those
who make out their salary checks.
Governor Nostos has raised the standard of
revolt against the agnosticism and atheism that
has invaded our institutions of learning. Even
denominational schools and theological semin-f
aries are being contaminated.
Strength to the arm of North Dakota's bravo
governor! W. J. BRYAN.
The government of Austria has appropriated
fifty million kronen for beginning a campaign to
reduce the drink evil in that country, which Is
costing the people 200 billion kronen a year.
The American prohibitionist who feels like
faltering in the face of the organized propaganda
in this country to bring back liquor ought to bo
cheered by proof of this charact'or that the ex
ample of this nation is reaping results.
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