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The Commoner
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VOL. 22, NO. 5
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The Commoner
1SSUI3D MONTHLY
Jsritcrcd at the Poatofllco at Lincoln, Nobraska,
jh flccond-class mutter.
WILLIAM J. BItYAN, CHARLES "W. BRYAN,
JQdltor and Proprietor Ansociute ISd. and Publisher
33dlt, Itms and Business Omcc, Suite 207 Press Bldff.
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TUB COMMONER, LINCOLN, NEB.
STATEMENT OF THE OWNERSHIP, MANAGE-
M10NT, ETC;, REQUIRED RY THE ACT OF
CONGRESS OF AUGUST JI4, 1011!
of Tho Commoner, published monthly at Lincoln,
Nebraska, for April l, 1922.
Stato of Nebraska )
County of Lancaster )Ba'
Beforo me, a notary public in and for the stato
and county aforesaid, personally appeared Chas. W.
Bryan, who, liaving been duly sworn according to
law. deposes and says that ho is tho publisher of
The Commoner, and that tho following is, to tho
host of his knowledge and belief, a true statement
of tho ownership, management, etc., of tho aforesaid
publication for tho date shown in tho above caption,
required by tho Act of August 24, 1912, embodied in
section 413, postal laws and regulations, to wit:
1. That-tho names and addresses of tho pub
lisher, editor, associate editor, and business man
ager's aro:
Publisher: Charles W. Bryan Lincoln, Nebraska
Editor: "William Jennings Bryan. .Lincoln, Nebraska
Associate Editor: Charles W. Bryan. .Lincoln, Nebr.
Business Managers: None.
2. That tho owner is: William Jennings Bryan,
Lincoln, Nobraska.
3. That tho known bondholders, mortgagees, ana
other security holders holding 1 per cent or more
of tho total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other
securities aro: None.
CHAS. W. BRYAN, Publisher.
Sworn to and subscribed beforo mo this 18th day
of Murch, 1922.
J. R. F ARRIS, Notary Public.
(My commission expires July 19, 1924.)
Iowa Republicans are to choose a senatorial
candidate at primaries to be held in June. At
the beginning several old warhorses of the
familiar type had the field to themselves. A lit
tle later the farmers drafted Col. Broolchart, an
outstanding, hard-hitting man who id opposed
to control of politics by selfish influences, and
be was making such a cleanup that the old guard
rustled around and secured the entry of Clifford
Thome, who has been prominent iri reform
movements. Having thus pulled off one of the
oldest tricks in politics, the party leaders are
gravely deploring the fact that no one will be
able to get a majority, and that 'a state conven
tion, as provided by the Ibwa law, will have to
pick a candidate. It is safe to predict that that
candidate w,ill be neither Broolchart nor Throne
'Ihe Democrat who imagines that because the
administration at Washington is at sixes and
sevens, with a president unable to command con
gress or a congress that cannot agree with -the
president, all that is necessary is-to name a full
ticket and everybody will be elected is due to
be rudely awakened. The Democrats will neith
er deserve nor achieve success at the comine
election if they do not range themselves under
leadership that has the confidence of the voters
and a program that gives promise of better conditions.
Elinor Glyn voices a common delusion of thoo
who do not like prohibition, when she says that
Sin0?1? wink nowhan bef st because
tlieY, aro told they must not. If this wore 'good
logic and represented fact, it must have been
tlmafter. every "thou must not" law of the rninf
violations of it increased greatly. No othw
evjdenw ofthe foolishness of this statement is
needed than the act that criminal laws are added
to yearly and none are ever repealed.
A Rising Protest
On another page will be found a news item
taken from the New York Times of Sunday, the
ninth of April. Attention is called to it because
it is proof of the rising protest against assaults
which have been made upon the Bible in public
schools. The New York papers were loud in
their criticism of a bill introduced in the Ken
tucky legislature and defeated by the narrow
margin of one vote. My name was usually
linked with the measure and the bill was made
the basis of criticism. I was represented as
favoring severe penalties for the teaching oi
Darwinism. As a matter of fact, while I advised
legislation on the subject I advised against the
including of ANY PENALTIES in the law, on
the ground that they were not dealing with a
criminal class but with persons who would obey
the law if it were merely stated. I thought it
would be sufficient to declare it unlawful for any
public teacher or other person connected with
the public education to teach or permit to be
taught atheism, agnosticism, Darwinism, or any
other hypothesis that made man a descendant
of lower forms of life.
Tho people who "rejoiced over the defeat of the
bill either did not know (or did not mention)
the fact that the president of the state university
and professors in the university joined in a writ
ten statement declaring that DARWINISM WAS
NOT TAUGHT IN THE UNIVERSITY.
The object of this editorial, however, is not
to answer criticism made against the measure
proposed in Kentucky but rather to emphasize
the fact that tha superintendent of public in
struction in New York City went far beyond
those who supported the bill introduced in the
Kentucky Legislature. The proposition before the
Kentucky Legislature dealt; first, with TEACH
ERS or others RECEIVING PAY FROM THE
PUBLIC; second, with doctrines believed to be
harmful to students in public schools and col
leges. Dr. Ettinger did not permit the use of
SCHOOL HALLS by a lecturer (not a teacher, but
an outsider) who intended to criticize the Bible
and his criticism was not to be made before
STUDENTS but before ADULTS OF MATURE
minds who would attend the lecture for the
special purpose of -hearing him. i
Dr. Ettinger was entirely right in .what he
did but his course was much more radical than
the course of those who merely attempted to
prevent the undermining of the religious faith
of students in their classes by teachers paid by
public taxation.
The New York incident is interesting because
it denotes the rising tide against these insidu
ous assaults upon the Bible, the foundation of
Christian faith. w. J. BRYAN.
LAW ENFORCEMENT
, , March 9, 1922.
Mr. Charles F. Jones, Editor,
The Observer,
Jacksonville, Florida.
My dear Mr. Jones:
I congratulate you upon the stand The Ob
server has taken in regard to law enforcement,
and take pleasure in submitting, in compliance
with your request, a word upon the subject
Law enforcement is one of the subjects which
has on y ONE side. No argument can be made
for failure to enforce the law or for a recusal
to observe it. llBiU
The prohibition law cannot be separated from
other laws and made an exception, merely be
cause some people can make money by violating
t, or because others put their appetites abov!
their respect for government. No argument can
be made in favor of the violation, or Taw en
forcement, of prohibition that wi 1 not ann?v
utHo"6 l ther wa5onaP5
should beed btLi'U .? arvicT
tions of it. The laws against murier and theft
have been on the statute books for thousands of
years and yet we have both murder and stealing
TunCed.11 of the criminai? "sigy'iss
atSiUg UanTS1 S-
been not only satisfactory bit remarkaSi aB
metering : the difficulties that we have had to 0 X"
come. Of course leaks have been discovered Ind
they are being closed. For instance whi2 d
stored in severa.1 hundred d Sent Vlclf l
it vas difficult to guard it. It is now bpfhere
centrated in a few places and sham thefte win
be less frequent. mens will
When the law went into effect there were
many wet officials who wer put in charge Af
enforcing, the law; those men were recoil, !
by wet senators and wet members ofcon
and had no sympathy with the law Tho
being weeded out. Common sense ' would
to require the appointment of enforcement ?
llcials who believe in prohibition and w-im
see it enforced. How can a wet be expected
cut off his own supply by enforcing a dry iLS
I think we will come finally to the annS
ment of total abstainers only as enforcement of
The smuggling of liquor in from the ouWii.
could, of course, be expected in the beginning
Vice pays a high price to those who pander &
it. Liquor came in from Canada, from Mexico
from Cuba, and most of all, from the Bahamas
When Ontario went, dry our problem was made
easier along a considerable part of the north
ern boundary line. It will not be long beforo
our government will inform Mexico, Cuba and
Great Britain that there are other ways in which
they can show their friendliness to us besides
allowing, their flags tp protect conspiracies
against our laws. It is possible for these coun
tries to supply their own people with liquor if
they think that is best, without becoming part
ners with those who smuggle liquor into tho
United States from adjacent territory.
But the success of prohibition must finally
depend upon the strength of total abstinence
sentiment in the United States. This is grow
ing. When a great doctor's association shows
by a vote of its members that seventy-five per
cent do not regard beer as a medicine, that
sixty-five per cent do not regard wine as neces
sary as a medicine and that only fifty-one per
cent include whisky among the medicines nec
essary, the nation is making progress.
Congress has, by more than a two-thirds vote,
excluded beer from the list of medicines and has
restricted the use of wine and whisky. This
law is in response" to the growing prohibition
sentiment of the country.
In the cultivation of total abstinence the
churches must take the lead, ably supported by
the W. C. T. U., the Anti-Saloon League and
other temperance organizations.
If it be said that one like myself, who has
been a total abstainer from youth, is prejudiced
o.n the subject, I reply that total abstinence
rests upon unanswerable arguments.
First; God never made a human being who,
in a normal state, needed alcohol.
Second; God never made a human being
strong enough to begin the use of alcohol and
be "certain that he would never become its vic
tim. Third; God has fixed no day in a human life
after which it is safe to commence the use of
alcohol.
Fourth; a Christian being a Christian because
he has given himself in pledge of service to
God and to Christ, what moral right has he
to take into his body that which he knows will
impair his usefulness and MAY destroy evon his
desire to serve?
Fifth; a Christian must be interested in every
good cause; he prays to the Heavenly Father,
"Thy kingdom come," what right has lie to
rise from his knees and spend for intoxicating
liquors money that he can spare to hasten the
coming of God's kingdom on earth?
Sixth; the Christian is responsible for the in
fluence of his example as .well as for his own
acts; how can he bring himself to the point or
being willing to lead others astray? We shall
have enough to answer for before the judgment
bar of God without having, drunkards among our
accusers. If Paul could refuse to eat meat lest
it make his brother to offend, cannot the Chris
tian refuse to drink for the same reason?
Commissioner Hayneff reports that seventeen
and a half millions of people have quit drinKing
since prohibition went into effect. With this
growth of total abstinence" we shall soon have
a sentiment back of the law that will insure
enforcement and give the country all the bene
fits that flow from prohibition. Then we may
expect that oiir example will shake the strong
holds of intemperance in other lands and en
able us to lead in tho great crusade that . wiu
drive the use of intoxicating liquors off Gouj
footstool. "He has sounded forth t,he trump"
that shall never call retreat."
, - Very truly 'yours, T,v
W. J. BRYAN.
The experts tells us that we will all learn : to
appreciate good music if only we take time i am
opportunity to hear enough of it. With .ieaw
priced at $2 and $3 it would seem that somt
thing more than time and opportunity is neeueu
to get enough of -it.
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A"''Sfcw ,&w 4ij JAififf.iliJii1iAiittft -.Wtowy.