The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-06-15
BRYAN ON WAR.
He Expresses Little Faith in
Arbitration.
Says There Will Be War While
In justice Lasts.
OPPOSES CONQUEST.
S CONQUEST.
OPPOSES
Would Have the Principle Of the
Declaration.
Of Independence Carried Into
the Orient.

Omaha, June 15.-The Nebraska build
ing at the exposition was dedicated yes
terday with appropriate ceremony amid
the plaudits of thousands of the states
citizens. Governor Holcomb and his
staff took part in the exercises, along
with many of the states most distin-
guished residents. The speakers of the
day We're Constantine J. Smyth. Will
liam F. Curley and W. J. Bryan. Mr..
Bryan'S grafton was notable as his first
public declaration on the war issue. He
takes high ground on the question, urg
ing that the war is for humanity and
not for the extension of United States
territory. Concluding, he said, the
manifest destiny of this nation is not
to acquire new realms to govern, but to
carry out the fundamental principles of
democracy to the end that equality
among the citizens may be secured.
After discussing the resources of Ne
braSka, Mr.. Bryan made the following
reference to the war and its results:
1t means hardshipS and trials. 1t
means a vast expenditure of money.
We may well pray for the coming of
the time, promised in Holy Writ, when
the spears shall be beaten into pruning
hooks and the swords into pillow shares;
but universal peace can not come until
justice Is enthrOned throughout the
world. Jehovah deals with nations as
He deals with men and for both de-
creeS that the wages of sin is death.
Until the right has triumphed in every
land and love reignS in every heart,
governments must, as a last resort, ap-
peal to force. As long as the oppressor
Is deaf to the voice of reason, so long
must the citizen accuStom his shoulder
to the musket and his hand to the sa-
Der.
Our nation exhausted diplomacy in
its efforts to secure a peaceable solu-
ton of the Cuban question and only
took up arms when it was compelled to
choose between war and servile ac-
quiescence, in cruelties which would
have been a disgrace to barbarism.
History will Vindicate the position
taken by the United States in the war
with Spain. In saying this 1 assume
that the principle as invoked in the in
auguration of the war will be observed
in it's prosecution and conclusion. If q
contest undertaken for the sake of hui
mainly degenerates into a war Of con-
quest, we shall find it difficult to meet
the charge of having added hypocrisy
TO greed is our national character SO
weak that we cannot withstand the
temptation to appropriate the first piece
of land that comes within our reach?
ITO infiict upon the enemy all posi-
BILE harm is legitimate war, but shall we
contemplate a scheme for the colonial
ton of the Orient merely because our
fleet wen a remarkable victory in the
harbOr of Manila?
''Our boats may destroy a Spanish
ship, but can they destroy that self
evident truth that governments derive
their first just powers-nOt from SUI
perior fOrce-but from the consent of
the governed?
shall we abandon a just resistance
to European encrOachment upon the
western hemisphere in order to mingle
in the controversies of Europe and
Asia?
Nebraska, standing midway between
the oceans, will contribute her full
share toward the protection of our sea
coast; her sons will support the flag at
home and abroad, wherever the honor
and the interests of the nation may re-
quire. Nebraska will hold up the hands
of the government while the battle
RACES and when the war clouds roll
away her voice will be heard pleading
for the maintenance of those ideas
which inspired the founders of our gov
eminent and gave the nation it's proud
eminence among the nations of the
earth.
Good faith shall characterize the
making of peace as it did the beginning
of war. Goldsmith calls upon states
men:
ITO judge how the limits stand
"BetwiXt a splendid and a happy land
'If some dream of the splendors of a
heterogeneous empire encirclfng the
globe, we shall be content to aid in
bringing enduring happiness to a homo
geneOus people, cOnsecrated to the pur-
pose of maintaining a government of
the people by the people and for the
peOple.'