The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-06-25
BRYAN. SPEAKS
small part" with the standards 50
by the chairman.
Did Not Require Courage.

! small part" with the standards set
/ by the chairman.
Did Not Require Courage.
at did not require fhuSh courage
/ to resign he said in referring to his
! departure from the State Department.
/ ut would have required more cour-
! age to have remained without having
/ violated what believed to be the
requirement of duty, and / call your
! attention TO the fact that in this sepa-
I ration OF officials there Is no personal
/ element When history writes this
page IL will be said that two men,
I eacal doing what ne believed to he
! right, found it impossible to share
/ the responsibility together The
, President could not have done other
J wise, believing as he did. and | could
/ not have done otherwise, believing as
/ did. We separated as friends, and
/ am trying outside of the cabinet to
, assist him,
( 1T is my duty to crystalline the
} sentiment for peace until the demand
! for peace shall drown the demand
/ for war.
"a probably do not feel as indignant
| today as you do at the position taken
| by the New York newspapers. ] am
more accustomed to il than you. /
/ have been in politics for twenty
years and | have not known the New
York press to he on the side of the
American people on any question.
You who are not accustomed to
| burials suffer from the experience
Through which YOU are passing much
more than one to whom burials have
become commonplace.
New York Press Against Him.
For two years and three months
II have tried to assist the President
in dealing with the most momentous
questions that have ever come he
.tIore this country, and. never for one
day has the New York press given me
credit for honest intentions
! II have been the repository of IN
Il -ternational secrets. Representatives
Of foreign countries have come 10 me
and have whispered words into my
ears. that, If / had told them. might
have caused national calamities. But
because | would not take newspaper
reporters into my confidence. and tell
i them these secrets. newspapers nave
denounced me because / would not
\ surrender myself into the hands OF
irresponsible editors who have little
regard for the rights of the American
people For two years and three
months ! had to sit silent while the
New York press tried to ASA ss1nate
me But now ! am ready to meet
them and they shall not assassinate
me without reply
Tells of Arbitration Treaties.
Mr. Bryan then referred to his
Iarhitration treaties, and said:
when | had obtained the sigma
ture to such treaty, the newspapers
put a little story about it down IN
the corner of a page, while on the
front page they put some SANDER OF
me. For more than two years tne
, newspapers kept trying to tell the
/, people that | ought not to be there
, and then when | step out they all at
once find that | have endangered my
country by getting out. Ever since
August 1 1914. the newspapers nave
, daily told the President how TINS
country ought to he run. but when l
sipna1ize NV return to private life by
a statement, the newspapers say,
How dare he speak on matters OF
such great Importance
Then Mr.. Bryan explained that II
Won want to get anything right in a
newspaper you have TO write 1t out
in advance and hand 1t out. He said
no had an abstract of which ne
, would read because he wanted TO
= keen faith with the newspapers. lie
: begged the pardon of the audlence
while he read It. He then started
/. on his formal speech. In the course
, of it. however, he said that II the
President called for 100000 men
, those men would be in arms before
sunset. but he added, u think
; those 100000 men have the right
to say whether there shall be war.
a Mould sauander Opportunity
+ Mr., Bryan fflen safdf tifest the horst
thing about the present situation is
? not the lives that might be lost In
a war between this country and one
of the beligerents not the money
. that would be squandered, but the
, "surrendering of the greatest oppor-
tunity that ever came to any coun-
try in the history of the world"
MIR. Bryan argued that this eoun-
try could afford to consider the ac-
tual conditions on the other side. that
4 none Of the beiiigerents desires war
with the United States. TITS an UNI
INTENDED harm they may have done
MS God forbid that we go to war
to avenge an unattended wrong"
Mr. Bryan then referred to his ar
hitration treaties, saying that Ger
many had accepted the principle OF
those treaties He then added: The
question is not as to the right or
American citizens to travel over the
seas. But what man loves his coun-
try that he desires to drag 1t into
"a 3 W.
the protection of citizens rights. IL
ii is the duty of son of widowed
mother to die for his country, then
II is the duty of another citizen who
wishes to travel abroad to go by the
safest way
Treat Them All Alike.
Mr. Bryan argued IL we can't ar
range things amicably with Germany
now. we should walt until the war Is
over and until reason and calmness
has been restored. These nations
are our friends he SSH. Lets treat
them all alike. If we can't settle
our differences now. we'll wait I'M
til the war is over
| Resolutions were adopted by the
meeting In behalf of strict neu-
Etrafity, aud demands an embargo on
I the export Of arms ami munitions of
war to the warning nations.