Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-06-11
BRYAN SENDS NOTE
TO AMERICAN PEOPLE
CONTINUED from First Page.

that day when swords shall be
into plowshares.'"
Text of Statement
The text of Mr.. Bryan's statement
To the American People:
You now have before you the text
of the note to Germany-the note
which 1t would have been my official
duty to sign had I remained Secre-
tary 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 honorable motives, but that is
not enough. Good intentions could
not alone for a mistake at such a
time, on such a subject and under
such circumstances.
If your verdict is against me, l
ask no mercy; 1 desire none if I have
acted unwisely. A man in public life
must act according to his conscience,
but however consoientiously he acts,
he must be prepared to accept with
out complaint any condemnation
which his own errors may bring upon
him; he must be willing to bear any
deserved punishment from ostracism
to execution. But hear me before
you pass sentence.
The PRESIDENT and l agree in our
pose; we desire a peaceful solution
of the dispute which has arisen be-
tween the United States and Ger
many. We not only desire II, but
with equal fervor we pray for it,
but we differ irreconcilably as to the
means of securing it.
Differences Not Personal
If 1t were merely a personal differ
ence it would be a matter of little
moment, for all the Prescriptions are
on his side-the presumptions that
go with power and authority. He is
your President. 1 am a private citizen
without office or title-but one of the
hundred million of inhabitants.
But the real issue is not between
Persons; IL is between systems; and
! rely for vindication wholly upon
the strength of the position taken.
Among the influences which row.
ernments employ in dealing with
each other there are two which are
pre-eminent and antagonistic-force
and persuasion. Force speaks with
firmness n acts through the ulti-
matum; persuasion employs argu-
ment. courts investigation Inc de-
ponds upon negotiation. Force rep
resents the dc system-the system
that must pass away; persuasion
represents the new systematic sys-
tenn that has been growing, all too
slowly. 1t is true. but growing for
1900 years.
In the old system war is the chief
cornerstone-war which at its worst;
the new system contemplates an uni
Versal brotherhood established
through the uplifting power of ex-
ample.
Fears Note to Germany Means War
If / correctly interpret the note to
Germany, IL conforms to the stand
ards of the old system rather than to
the rules OF the new, and l cheerful
~ admit hat 1t Is a~bundantly sup
ported by precedents-precedents
written in characters of blood upon
almost every page of human history.
Austria furnishes the most recent
precedent; 1t was Austria's irmness
that dictated the ultimatum against
Servia, which set the world al war.
Every ruler now participating in this
unparalleled conflict has proclaimed
his desire for peace and denied re-
sp%onsibility 70 rthe war, and 1t is only
charitable that we should credit all
of them with good faith.
They desired peace, but they
sought ii according to the rules of
the old system. They believed that
firmness would give the best assur-
ance of the maintenance OF peace
and. faithfully following precedent,
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 system been so
clearly revealed as now. The most
civilized and enlightened-aye, the
~A ChSistinn-of The nationa af