Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-07-27

hhC CuSAi atitE iul ptESOHdlOGs
was at the enemy and we happened to
be an innocent bystander
Philosophy Repudiated Here.
As TO the philosophy out of which
this war has grown, it is one that has
been so generally recognized as false
here in the United States that not a
single state in the union has failed to
enact laws TO abolish it Europe has
put itself in the way of its present
trouble by following the same line of
reasoning as prompts the individual to
carry a pistol. The pistol toter al
ways says his weapon is for defensive
purposes alone and that is what Eur
Ope taxed its people and raised vast
armies and navies for European ma
lions have been proceeding on the the
DRY that might makes right and trying
each to OveraWe and terrOrize the 9TH
er so that the latter would be afraid
TO fight. Mr.. Bryan gave an illus
tration in which he pictured two farm
ers taking a similar course in order
to be sure they would have no trouble
with each other and showed that there
could be no question that trouble
would come sooner or later from such
tactics. be they followed by men or
nations All states in this union long
ago abolished by statute, not only gun
toting, but dueling, which so-called
system of honor, taking precedence
over all the other obligations that man
was answerable to, made gun toting
common at one time.
Working on People.
Now, said Mr.. Bryan, there is a pro-
paganda in this country conceived for
the purpose of fastening upon us this
false philosophy. Powerful influences
are being brought to bear to convince
the people that they need a vast arma-
ment purely for defensive purposes"
the same motive as that which used to
put a pistol in a mans pocket. This
is the real issue that the country must
meet Il do not mean" added Mr..
Bryan. that this is the issue in the
present presidential campaign, for
there is little division between the
great political parties. The issue of
preparedness has its advocates and its
opponents in both parties"
Embracing of a gun tOting, dueling
! code by this country, the speaker held.
TO be out of keeping with our tradi-
tons and achievements. In the duel
ing days it required courage to decline
to meet a challenge, but gradually men
came to do just that as they saw the
wantOn folly of the system. No ma
ton is challenging the United States
now and none is likely to, the speaker
said, but if a challenge should come
from one of the madmen of Europe
Mr. Bryan declared, he believed this
country would be justified in answer
ing that it had traditions to preserve
and the welfare of 100, 1000, 900 people
to look after and that it would re-
fuse to wa1low in such warfare as
is now going on across the Atlantic
Not Against Defense.
Declining a challenge to fight, how
ever, is quite a different thing from
refusing to defend ourselves if at
tackled. Nobody would think of failing
to resist invasion by foreign foe.
/ This country will always find defend
ers as it has found them in the past
among the men who are ready to fight
when the nation needs fighters and to
work when the nation needs workers.
We need no great standing army for
defense. The professional soldier is
the one who gets US into war and the
volunteer is the one We must look to
get us out.
This country, Mr.. Bryan said, has
potential power of defense greater
than that of any other nation. Its
greatest asset in this respect is
the readiness of all the people
to uphold national standards, just
as they uphold the laws which
give protection TO the individual.
There is a conspiracy on foot to
change the character of this country
and induce us to follow the lead OF
Europe In other words, to confess
that the principles we have stood for
all along have been false ones ami
that Europe with all its militarism and
the horrors it has led to has been
right.
Three classes are taking the lead in
this conspiracy, the speaker held. One
is the big financiers who are making
vast profits out of war and who wish
to continue TO reap those profits here
after Europe has completely exhausted
itself in its present struggle Then
there is the professional soldier, who
is always for militarism, or course,
because that is his business. The third
class is made up of the large employ
ers of labor who wish large stand
ing army to overawe their employees
These influences, Mr.. Bryan de-
cIared. control most OF the large news
papers and through them they are
manufacturing war scares. Ihey know
the DeoDIe will not vote heavy taxes
on themselves unless they believe they
are about to be attacked. and so these
big newspapers print stories TO the Ell
feet that some nation - SeIIiH5 401HI
for invasion. Furthermore, avenues
for reaching the public in opposition
to the preparedness propaganda are
being sealed, as Mr.. Bryan said ne had
learned by personal experiences
ASK Billion a Year.
Nf5titarists in this country are the
same as those in other countries IL
tbev had their way all the national re
sources would go into the army and
navy. The president and congress IN