Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-12-11
RRYAN,s COMMENTS.

In his comment upon the message or
President Roosevelt to congress Will
liam j. Bryan says that there will be
general disappointment in the war
like tone, where the President dis
cusses the army and navy. To MI.
Roosevelt's statement that the navy IS
the surest guarantor of peace that
this country possesses, the Nebraskan
says:
'.Shame upon chief executive that
he should Mace an instr1rneot of 49, o
force against the nations sense OF JUS
tice as a guarantor OF peace 49, II
guarantor of peace is our nations prin-
ciple to deal justly with other ma
TONS"
Not yet. Mr.. Bryan may have read
about the time when swords shall
be beaten into plowshares and spears
into pruning hooks, but he will never
see it himself. Dealing Justly with
other nations is no guarantor that
they will deal justly with us, especial
ly if we are without army and navy.
Mr.. Bryan's words are high sounding
and are doubtless indicative of what
the world should be, but Mr.. Roosevelt
is dealing with the situation as 1T Is
today. His message is to congress
that is sitting and that is expected
to act 1t is not sermon on turning
the other cheek if smitten on the one.
He may believe in that scriptural ad-
vice personally, but it is not his person
nor his personal property with which
he is dealing, but that of a nation,
which believes in defending Its own,
whether it be citizens or property.
In all controversies there may lie
one right and one wrong If we are
right, the other nation must be wrong.
If we are just the other must be I'M
just. But the fact that we may be
right and just is no guarantee that
there will be no pretended grievance
against us in order that some of our
island possessions may be secured.
The best guarantor of peace in that
case is just what President Roosevelt
says it is, a navy. Upon the subject
of war the President says:
1t must ever be kept in mind that
war is not merely justifable, but i'm
perative, upon honorable men, upon
an honorable nation, where peace can
only be obtained by the sacrifice of
our conscientious conviction or of ma
tional welfare. Peace is normally a
great good, and normally it comedies
with righteousness; but it is right
eousness and not peace which should
bind the conscience of nation as it
should bind the conscience of an in
dividual; and neither a nation nor an
individual can surrender conscience to
another's keeping Neither can a ma
ton, which is an entity, and which
does not die as individuals die, re-
frain from taking thought for the in
terests Of the generations that are to
come, no less than for the interests
of the generation of today; and no
public men have a right whether
from shortsightedness from selfish in.
difference, or from sentimentality, to
sacrifice national interests which are
vital in character"
1t may be seen that the President
takes note of the fact that he is talk
ing to public men and not to private
individuals. He gives thought not
merely to the people Of today, but to
the generations to come. Mr.. Bryan
is not practical. His ideas are not for
application today, neither are they in
the interest of the next generation if
they are applied now.