Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1915-06-17
BRYAN ASKS PEOPLE TO HEAR
HIMJBEFoRE PASSING JUDGMENT

. M Washington, June 10--W1I1am Jen
Enings Bryan, in an appeal addressed
. Ito the American people" tonight asks
ID them to hear him before they pass sen
tence on his laying down the portfolio
Of secretary of state in the midst o.
international stress.
Confident that the public will credit
him with honorable intentions, Mr.
Bryan frankly says that good inten-
. tions are not enough, and that If the
public verdict is against him he asks
no mercy, asserting that men in pub
lie life must be willing to bear any
deserved punishment from ostracism
to execution"
The statement entitled by the form
Ell secretary as "the real issue" is as
fellows:
Mr.. Rryan's Statement.
The text of Mr.. Bryap's statement
follows:
'To the American People:
"You now have before you the text
i of the note to Germany-the note
which it would have been my official
duty to sign had / remained secretary
of state. ask you to sit in judgment
upon my decision to resign rather than
to share responsibility for it. / am
sure you will credit me with honor
able motives, but that is not enough.
| Good intentions could not atone for a
mistake at such time, on such sub
ject as under such circumstances. Ii
your verdict is against me ask no
mercy; / desire. none if I have acted
unwisely. A man in public life must
act according to his conscience, but
however conscientiously he acts he
must be prepared to accept without
complaint any condemnation which his
own errors may bring upon him: he
must be willing to bear any deserved
punishment from ostracism to execu-
ton. But hear me before you pass
sentence.
Agree in Purpose.
"The president and agree in pur-
pose: we desire a peaceful solution of
the dispute which has arisen between
the United States and Germany. Wei
not only desire it, but with equal fer
vor we pray for it, but we differ irrec-
oncilably as to the means of securing
it. If it were merely a personal diff
ference it would be matter Of little
moment, for all the Prescriptions are
on his side-the Prescriptions that go
with power and authority. He is your
president; l am a private citizen with
out Office or title-but one of the hun
dred million of inhabitants.
SUIT the real issue is not between
persons; it is between system; and
l reply for vindication wholly upon
the strength of the position taken.
80 SaI,
eminent employ in dealing with each
other there are two of which are pre-
o,ninent and antagonistic-force and
persuasion. Force speaks with firm
ness and acts through the ultimatum;
persuasion employs argument, courts
Nstigation and depends upon nego- |
tiation. Force represents the old sys-
tem-the system that must pass away; |
3ersuasion represents the new system |
the system that has been growing
all too slowly, it is true, but growing |
for nineteen hundred years. In the |
old system was the chief corner |
stone-was which at its best is little |
better than war at its worst; the new
system contemplates a UNIVERSAL |
brotherhood established through tho /,
uplifting power of example.
His Interpretation.
eff 1 correctly interpret the note to
Germany, it conforms to the standards
OF the old system rather than. to the |
rules of the new, and / cheerfully adj |
NIT that it is abundantly supported by
recedents-preceden written in
characters of blood upon almost every
page of human history. Austria fur
NC ho
was Austria's firmness that dictated
the ultimatum against Serbia, which
set the world at war. Every ruler
now participating in this unparalleled
conflict has proclaimed his desire for
peace, but they sought it, according
to the rules of the old system. They
believed that frmness would give the
best assurance of the maintenance of
peace and faithfully following prece-
dent, they went SO near the fire that
they were, one after another, sucked
into the contest Never before have +
the frightful follies of this fatal sys-
tenn been SO clearly revealed as now.
The most civilized and enlightened;
aye, the most Christian of the nations
of Europe-are graphing with each
other as if in death struggle. They
are sacrificing the best and bravest of
their sons on the battlefield; they are
converting their gardens into GENE
teries and their homes into houses of
mourning; they are taxing the wealth
of today and laying a burden of debt
on the toll of the future; they have
filled the air with thunderbolts more
deadly than those of .Jove and they
have multiplied the horrors of the
deep. Adding fresh fuel to the flame
of hate, they have daily devised new
horrors, until one side is endeavoring
to drown non-combatant men, women r
and children at sea, while the other
side seeks to starve nom combatant
men, women and children on land
And they are SO absorbed in alternate