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The Commoner
VOL. 22, NO. 8
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The Commoner
ISSUED MONTHLY
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as eccond-clann matter.
WILLtAM J. BRYAN, CHARLES W. BRYAN,
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Address all communications to
THIS COMMONER, LINCOLN, NED.
EUROPE'S WAR DEBTS TO AMERICA
The opinions of two of the country's most
prominent financiers and international bankers,
J. P. Morgan and Otto H. Kahn, are of interest
and importance on the eve of the sessions to be
held in Washington to consider tho war claims
of tho United States against its associates in tho
struggle. Bath men are strongly inclined to the
view that concellation of those debts is not only
justified and desirable, but the only solution of
tho problem. Aside from the practical difficul
ties in the way of getting blood out of some of
the European turnips, they are convinced that
from the standpoint of ethics we should consider
the money due to us as a part of our contribu
tion to a common cause.
Mr. Morgan is quoted as saying that there is
no chance of getting most of the billions and
that as a matter of principle we should not
press payment. The money, he points out, was
lent to our associates in war after we entered
the contest and had pledged all our strength and
resburces to the winning of the war. The mo
ment wo got in it was our war as well as theirs.
We .were all in the same boat. If the allies had
been defeated before we could mobilize we.
would have been left alone to make settlement
or to win single-handed, and in either case the
cost would have been many times the billions ad
vanced to the allies.
Tho money did not go out of this country and
did the allies no good except as it enabled them
to get needed food and equipment- to keep up
the fight until we arrived in force. There is no
question that the munitions and other supplies
sent to them contributed materially toward
wearing down the enemy and shortened the war.
If the allies had been weakened by the lack of
what we sent to them the task of our troops
would have been just that much more serious.
Those billions saved the lives of the many thou
sands of American soldiers who would have been
sacrificed had the war been prolonged so much
as even one week. Mr. Morgan says:
"When we entered the war in April, 1917, we
could not send soldiers because we did not have
them ready. We sent dollars in form of loans
to our allies. While we were sending dollars,
our allies were sending soldiers until ours got
there. I look upon these loans as being the
same sort of contribution toN victory as our send
ing 2,000,000 troops, both contributions to vic
tory." Mr. Kahn, who agrees with Mr, Morgan that
we should consider those debts a part of our
war bill as a matter of principle, does not see
what else we can do as a practical proposition.
He says he knows of no way they can be col
lected without ruinous results to our debtors and
serious damage to ourselvos. "By means of gold,
raw materials and other assets usable by us,
only a small fraction could possibly be paid," he
says. "By means of services and the import of
manufactured goods, we do not want them paid
because that would bo disastrous and destructive
to our commerce and industry."
Tho problem is not the simple one it may
seem to those who have given it no thought.
Most people have not considered the subject
seriously: Much that has ben said by those who
are insisting on collecting the last dollar has
been loud talk prompted by old-world prejudices
and appeals to comparatively few. Nine out of
every ten American citizens are concerned only
in seeing this country do the right thing by it--self
and by others. Indianapolis Star.
Republic of Germany
President Harding has sent the following tele
gram to President Ebert of the German Repub
lic: "President Ebert, Berlin, Germany. On
this anniversary of the day when Germany
adopted the republican form of government
I am happy to express to you my sincere
good wishes, and my hope that tho great
, Gorman republic may steadily go forward
.along the paths of peace which lead -to good
understanding and prosperity and happi
ness. WARREN G. HARDING."
It is well that our nation shoud officially give
encouragement to the new republic which is still
menaced by a decadent monarchy. As President
Wilson said when we entered the war, our fight
was against an arbitrary government, not against
the German people. The spirit of Americanism
might well be manifested more widely than it is.
Why not congratulatory resolutions by boards
of trade, Chambers of Commerce, and other or
ganizations? The German societies should give
expression to their enthusiasm over tho prog
ress made by representative government in Ger
many. The sympathy of our nation with de
mocracy in government should be expressed and
expressed strongly; it is not sufficient to assume
that Germany will know that we wish her well;
good wishes are valuable in proportion as they
are made known.
Thanks, Mr. President, far telling Germany's
President that America rejoices at the progress
she is making in popular government.
W. J. BRYAN. .
THE HEATHEN ARE RAGING ,,
Because William J. Bryan has commended
Senator Hitchcock's stand on revenue and tariff
legislation, the Lincoln Journal, ardent supporter
of R. B. Howell, angrily directs its' mud batteries
against the man who put Lincoln and Nebras
ka also, for that matter on the world's map.
It attacks Mr. Bryan not for his opinions and
principles, but as a man. It strives toJedaub his
character. It solemnly discusses the theory that
Mr. Bryan, as "a price for an Office for himself
or family" is "selling out" those who have faith
in him, is "betraying their confidence," and that
his commendatory mention of Senator Hitch
cock's services indicates that he is without "sin
cerity" or "devotion to principle." The govern
orship of Nebraska, the Journal intimates, is the
"price'of Mr. Bryan's soul.
The Journal's editorial is a demonstration of
the sort of gutter politics played by men and
newspapers professing to be reputable that dis
gusts men and women who are reputable in fact
and deters many from-taking an active and
proper part in discharging the duties and re
sponsibilities of citizenship. To forward a parti
san end the Journal sets up, as a tenable hypoth
esis, what every intelligent citizen, man or wom
an, Republican, or Democrat, knows to be wholly
and preposterously false. That the malicious
and reckless innuendo besmirches foully the rep
utation of a man who has gained the respect of
the world for his fearless devotion to principle
under all circumstances, is something to which
the Journal is callously indifferent.
rniXair?- baS fault doubtless, and -has made
mistakes, the same as the rest of us even th
Len m US' , ?ne mistake ne has nev-er made is to
sell his soul for a mess of pottage. He has never
hesitated to differ from leaders of his party even
from lis president and cabinet chief! when he
believed himself right and the other wrong He
has never, in such cases, stopped to count or con
sider the cost to himself. As for Senator HitchI
cock, when Mr. Bryan has believed him wrong
the senator has been made to feel the. flails of
his uncompromising wrath, the same a manv
another Democrat. And this has happened a
times when if Mr. Bryan had stopped to consider
his own personal or political advantage o? that
of his brother, Charles- W. Bryan, as the Journa
Jtiraa?1 doing' he wouid r-
entlJelic ISTilYi' X
done his fighting always out in theope? thl
same when he seemed to stand almost aw
when he was cheered on by admirinTmul StSeV
And it is for the principles in which Tho Tmiw!?'
not for individuals-or against inmviduals
cept as they stood in the way of his prSleSl
that he has fought. i'ucipies ,
The Journal is familiar enough with Mr
Bryan's life to know, without the telling, that
this' is true. It knows that Mr. Bryan in the
proaohing evening of his career stands just"
where he rir in its morning, loyal and devoted to
his ideals, and that there is no taint on his honnr
Yet for a selfish partisan purpose it is cheerfiiiiv
willing to hold a Christian gentleman, a splend X
citizen and civic- and moral leader, up to con
tumely as a cheap bargainer and trickster as
traitor to those who believe in him and to hll
own soul.
It is, we repeat, gutter politics. It reflects no
credit upon those who resort to it, upon the pn
litical party in whose name the filth is splashed
or upon those candidates who hope greedily to
profit by it.
Strip the Journal of sanctimonious pretense
and it will be found that the only crime William
J. Bryan has ever committed in its eyes is the
high crime of being a Democrat and of support
ing his party's policies and its candidates when
he held them worthy of support. It is that
crime for which it now endeavors, in its char
acteristic shameful way, to punish him.
Mr. Bryan arid Senator Hitchcock have had
their sharp differences, in times past, and they
have fought them out fearlessly. If today, with
those differences wiped out by the verdict of the
American people, to which both alike bow as
good Democrats, they should find themselves
fighting together as of old, to rescue state ana
nation from the evils of class government and
bad government and to restore government of
the people, by the people and for the people,
there will be reason for glad rejoicing in the
tents of Israel. The heathen of course will rage.
They are expected to rage whenever righteous
ness is forwarded. But surely it is not requiring
too much, even of heathen, to ask them to do
their raging decently. For even a heathen may
be an honorable gentleman.-rOmaha World-Herald.
BELL A FACT SCIENTIST
Alexander Graham Bell illustrates what sci
ence can do with a fact. Give science a fact and
and it is invincible; Bell was a scientist with a
PACT. He used a great fact in a new way and
made the world his debtor forever. Other sci
entists have demonstrated how measureless a
service one can render when he has a FACT to
work with. Water is a fact and science has
shown us how to convert a water fall into tre
mendous energy; a stream is a fact and science
has used it to revolutionize the world's traffic;
air is a fact and science has shown us how to
utilize it for the flying of air ships.
In agriculture science has shown us how to
make the best use of the soil and in medicine
how to prevent and to cure disease. Who will
measure the service rendered in the discovery
of the anesthetic and in the prevention of typhoid
and yellow fever? Nobody can overestimate the
importance and nobility of science when science
deals with a FACT.
It is only when a scientist leaves the realm of
fact and substitutes GUESSES for truth that he
becomes a danger to society. The confidence that
science has gained through the use of truth in
creased the menace of the guess when it is with
out foundation.
No truth, no matter by whom discovered, can
conflict with any other truth, but guesses know
no law. they run wild and are dangerous in pro
portion to the reputation of those who utter
them and in the proportion to tho "truths with
which they come in conflict.
Religion is scientifically established; it is as
necessary a part of man as his blood and his
bones. To starve his soul is as unreasonable as
to starve the mind or the body. Let us have
TRUTH from every source, but GUESSES that
revolutionize a philosophy pf life have no more
claim upon the mind 'than they have upon the
heart. w. J. BRYAN.
AN IMPORTANT RULING
The supreme court of Nebraska has held that
the city of Lincoln possessed no power, under
its charter, to operate a municipal coal yard,
and for that reason has decreed that the ordi
nance that established one is illegal. The retail
coal dealers who were the plaintiffs in the case
lost the one point, important to them, and that
was whether a1 municipal coal yard was a prop
er purpose for which public taxes might be main
tained. The court held that it was. This leaves
the way open for the adoption by the voters of
Lincoln, at a speoial election, of an amendment
to the charter authorizing the city council to
proceed as it did last year. C. W. Bryan, who
was the author of the coal yard project, has naa
the proper steps taken to have an election hem
Sept. 12th for this purpose.
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