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The Comm
JULY, 1922
oner
Let the People Rule
The New Republic quotes H. L. Mencken as
laying:
"The problem of Democratic government
narrows down to this: how is the relatively
enlightened and reputable minority to break
the hold of such mounteanks (the .present
ofDce-holding class) upon the votes of the
anthropoid majority? . . . The man of
education and self respect may not run with
the mob and he may not yield to it supinely,
but what is to prevent him deliberately
pulling its nose? What is to prevent him
playing upon its fears and credulities to
good ends as a physician plays upon them
by giving its members bread pills, or as a
holy clerk seeking to bring it up to relative
decency, scares it with tales of a mythical
hell? In brief, what is to prevent him from
swallowing his political prejudice . . . in
order to channel and guide the prejudice
of his inferiors?"
Mr. Mencken's contempt for popular govern
ment is based on a fundamental bias which mani
fests itself along several lines" of thought. Men
of that kind show their lack of respect for the
masses no matter what subject is under consid
eration. In matters of government they consid
er "the people" lacking in the intelligence nec
essary to govern themselves.
Alexander Hamilton, let it be remembered,
belonged to this class. He divided society into
two classes, "the well-born and the not so well
born," the well-born being born to rule and the
not so well-born being born to be ruled. Be
cause our government rested upon popular suf
frage he had little faith in its stability. In fact,
he fought a duel, in spite of his conviction
against duelling, because he thought the govern
ment was going to fall and needed a strong man
like himself to save it from the people.
Mr. Mencken carries the Hamiltonian disgust
with the people to its highest power and from
his little throne looks down upon what he re-
gards as inferior people.
Mr, Mencken finds his counterpart in two
other lines of thought. We have the plutocrats
who distrust the poor. They make money the
measure of the man and would exclude from suf
frage or participation in government all whose
possessions do not amount to a certain minumum
this minumum being higher or lower accord
ing to the amount possessed by the man who
proposes the property qualifications.
The third class has appeared among educators
who are so afraid of what they term "the ignor
ance of the masses" they would not allow the
taxpayers to decide what shall be taught by the
instructors whom they employ.
In all three classes this snobbishness, wheth
er it rests upon assuming superiority in knowl
edge of government, in possession of property
or in the number of college degrees secured, is
hostile to American ideals and American insti
tutions; it is a revival of the old "taxation with
out representation" system that brought on the
war for American Independence.
The people are sovereign; they alone can
oe trusted with control of that for which they
Pay. Government OP the people, FOR the peo-
, anu by the people is the nation's hope
uy otner system leads to danger.
W. J. BRYAN.
A TIMELY WARNING
Dr. Alfred Waterson, principal of Philips
Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, delivered a
umely warning to the Chicago Association of
tomnierce recently, He said:
. rile stage, the movies and modern literature,
Jn ?i ir mcking of married life, have painted
" naming colors for youth that which is sub
normal. He declared vice is made exalted, vir
tue made repugnant.
tii i the ualIy o the citizenship of the fu
ture depends the stability and permanence of
your industries.
t 'The raw material of youth, like ttie raw ma
cern" otner.Pr0(lucts ls of tremendous con-
Dr. Stearns then told a story of the social life
Jujf0,11' related to him by a returned soldier,
o had been "dragged down" by the war and
? was striving to recover.
ma h ? soldier came to me,' he said, "and told
ftiiv tt ery dance he went to was wrong mor
ami ,, 8aid hG foun(1 two-thirds of the girls
law f tllG boys drunk in defiance of the
"This man told me he was requested by the
SheHwrsmhwmi!lim ? he Camo in th0 door
Si,Vf 8milinS. She said not one word of her
In vm,tChm 5B hre in that eondltlon'
in youth, tho doctor said, three thinc or
?eMth? ,FeateSt influence ''tS arc homo
ief nL10"10'' Q 8aid' "religion yanu 1
lief in the conviction of the inherent purity of
toTwrnhn When rligion ia gone In "Suth!
nalmnTdeca' aPP8ttred tU flrst Gvldence
But what else can be expected if students are
convinced that the Bible is a lie and that In
stead of being made by the Almighty for a pur
pose they are simply improved apes. God is
put so far away that prayer is made an empty
thing with no hereafter with its rewards and
punishments. How can we expect a life accord
nig to high ideals? Is it not time for the Chris
tians of. the country to awaken to the demoral
izing influence of a brutish doctrine?
THE BIBLE TALKS
St. Paul, Minn., June 17, 1922. Tho Com
mener, Lincoln, Neb. Dear Sirs: At first I kind
of resented Mr. William Jennings Bryan's Bible
Talks, published in The Commoner; nevertheless
I have read such with great interest and come
to the conclusion, that the readers owe him
gratitude for the good work which he is doing;
besides, I would go one step further, and recom
mend, that, among other advertisements, tho
paper should publish The Ten Commandments.
It would surely awaken tho readers to a high
sense of responsibility in this world, moreover,
it would tend to spread the news, that, at least
The Commoner published Bible Sermons, coupled
with 'The Decalogue, not forgotten; and, further,
it would bring a re-reading weekly of the Con
stitution given by God to Moses His Premier
the leader of the then Hebrew race. It would
remind tho reader, that, when the American
Constitution was being framed for all genera
tions of true Americans, its framers were strict
followers cf The Decalogue.
I would like to see Mr. Bryan deliver his Ser
mons to Jews and Catholics, besides to Protes
tants, with the view of making them come in,
and not let them feel, as they now do, that he is
a propagator and proselyter, only of the Protes
tant faith. Respectfully submitted,
MORITZ HEIM.
En Route, June 24, 1922. Mr. Moritz Heim,
St. Paul, Minn. My dear Mr. Heim: As you are
willing to have your letter published, I shall give
the readers of The Commoner the benefit of it
and my reply. I appreciate very much the open
ness of mind which you manifest. You have
doubtless noticed that my Bible Talks have to
do with lessons taken from the Old Testament
as well as from the new, and you have seen how
I, like other Christians, defend the Old Testa
ment as a very necessary part of the Christian
Bible. My Bible Talks are not addressed to any
particular church or sect. I, of course, speak
from the Christian standpoint but I deal with re
ligion so fundamentally that no one can take of
fense. I have had prominent Catholics com
mend my book, "In His Image" because my lec
tures are broad and unbiased, except as one is
biased toward his own religious faith.
Most of my arguments, especially those
against evolution applied to man, appeal as
strongly to the Jew as to the Gentile and to
Catholics as well as to Protestants. I am defend
ing the spiritual in life against the attacks of
materialism and in doing that I ought to have
the sympathy of the Jews for their religion is
eminently spiritual. I defend the inspiration of
the Old Testament equally with the New and I
am sure that your co-religionists wil find as you
have, that there is so much about which we agree
that they will not be offended at what I say on
snhipcts about which we differ.
Apprecmting the spirit of your letter, I am
11 very truly yours,
W. J. BRYAN.
mi,0 ppmiblicans who are engaged in making
T I ?h have decided to make another ap
a TL the fame Tote, that has shown unmis
pe,al,fi ,. it flipping away from it, by in
takable signs fJ',p"lboriKinai duties on wheat
creasing materially 'th orif nraculturalists how.
and corn. Most ebsternnligittened on how a tar
ever, are waiting to do e n u,
iff on their Prod"fnts That must be sold in
for them when tho exportB tna
l WUld
protected.
A New Style Religion
The Lltorary Digost of Juno 24 gives a column
of its valuable space to a Columbus, O., group
known as "The Theological Soventoon," made un
of so-called "liberal-minded ministers" who think
that tho time has come to offer a "more rational,
scientific and progressive presentation of tho
Christian faith." They Include six Methodlsta,
four CongrogationaliBtB, threo Episcopalians, ono
Baptist, and ono Presbyterian (only fifteen the
other two boing hoped for).
It will be noticed that they want "a more ra
tional, scientific and progressive Christian faith."
This would seem to indict orthodox Christianity
as unreasonable, unscientific, and unprogresaivo.
The issue is roally botweon religion and mind
worship. Religion gives supremacy to tho heart
and makes tho mind tho servant of tho hoart to
carry out tho heart's decrees. Tho "Theological
Sovonteen" (but why use tho word "theological"
when their attack is aimed specially at thoolo
gy?) want a "rational religion." That puts tho
reason first. It Is tho RATIONAL against tho
SPIRITUAL conception of life.
They want a "scientific" rollglon; that puts tho
scientist above tho minister. They bow to him
as if ho were tho custodian of truth, a supromo
court before which tho minister must take his
sermons for approval. The Bible is AUTHENTIC;
it is the Word of God, but we are told by tho ra
tionalists that thinking people cannot accopt tho
Bible because it is contrary to science. The con
flict is not between tho Bible and scionco, but be
tween the Bible and tho GUESSES of scientists
which are NOT SUPPORTED BY FACT. Evolu
tion applied to man, for instance, which some
substitute for the Bible account of creation, is
not supported by a single fact only by presump
tions and assumptions. A million separate and
distinct species deny and dlsprovo the hypothesis;
not a single species can be found to testify to its
truth, yet this unsupported guess Is substituted
for the Bible.
The "Theological (?) Seventeen" want a
"progressive" religion. "What progress can they
hope for if Christianity Is tho final word in re
ligion? We go back to the Ten Commandments
for the foundation of our statute law and to the
Sermon on the Mount for rules that govern our
spiritual development. What are the Seventeen
expecting in the future? They seem dissatisfied
with God, the Bible, and Christ to whom and
to what do they look? Progress means motion
forward. Would it not bo well for them to indi
cate the direction in which they are going and
their objective? They assume to look down upon
the Bible and to decide what parts of It aro
worthy to be accepted. They thus give tho pre
sumption of infallibility to their own judgments
instead of to the Bible. What reason have thoy
to believe these rationalists that they are bet
ter authority than Moses and the prophets, than
Christ and the apostles?
But the situation is not hopeless; there are
about two hundred and fifty ministers In Colum
bus and considerable less than one-tenth of them
are dissatisfied with Christianity as it is taught.
The masses have little use for the doctrine of
a monkey ancestry or for the philosophy of those
who look to the brute for interpretations of
themselves. The people prefer to believe that
man was made in the image of God and should
look upward for inspiration. Spiritual, heartfelt,
authentic Christianity still stands and will
stand.
W. J. BRYAN.
DRY WORLD IN 15 YEARS, PUSSYFOOT
TELLS ENGLAND
A Liverpool, dispatch, dated July 2, says: Wil
liam E. ("Pussyfoot") Johnson invaded England
yesterday and began to organize what he termed
a world convention against alcoholism, which is
to be held at Toronto, November 19. The reform
er told the British newspapers he expected Eng
land to go dry in ten years and the world In
fifteen. He said tho economic burdens of the
European nations was so overwhelming that thoy
had to unload something, and alcohol was the
easiest.
The raw wool duty in the Senate tariff bill is
almost on a level with that in Schedule K, which
President Taft declared was indefensible, and
which, when he tried to defend it, cost him a re
election. Apparently the Republican party does
not belong to that gallant group of adventurers
who are willing to try a thing just once. Tho Re
publican leaders, we would guess, rather belong
to those whose lives are guided by the motto; if
at first you don't succeed try, try again.
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