Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1916-07-18
God helps them that help them
selves.-Benjamin Franklin.
MR.. BRYAN,s ADDRESS.

effort from his viewpoint. He said
MANY good things and nobody can
say good things in more captivat-
ing manner. However, the Free
man-Tribune disagrees with many OF
the assertions and conclusions of the
distinguished speaker and believes
that on the whole his address along
these lines are more productive of
evil than of good because they are
misleading. President Wilson put
the case we'll when he said we must
accept the world as it is, not as we
would have it, and govern ourselves
accordingly.
Mr.. Bryan undertook to waive
aside the. arguments of the press In
favor of preparedness by declaring
that it is subsidized. Possibly some
OF. the big newspapers are influenced
by wealth and special considers
tions, but the Freeman Tribune has
absolute confidence in the press as
a whole and doesn't believe money
can buy the editorial sanctums of
this country. The press of today
is the most fearless and useful cham
pion of the peoples cause in exis-
tence. The press attacks graft and
evil wherever found and has no hes
itancy in condemning the methods
of the ,Rockfellers, the Amours, the
4 DuPonts, the Morgans and the other
gigantic interests all along the line.
The metropolitan press is not a
coward and it does more to right
wrongs than any other agency in the
country.
Mr.. Bryan's charge that the great
manufacturing concerns of the coun-
try want a big standing army to
bring striking workmen to terms Is
but REPETITION of what he said at
Ackley twenty years ago when he
was candidate for president against
William Mckinley. He still had in
mind the action of President Cleve-
land who had called upon the troops
to restore order in Chicago when
rioters and hoodlums had destroyed
property and interfered with the
United States mails. In that Ack-
ley address he said the election Of
Mckinley meant big standing army
that was to be used to quell labor
disturbances. He also said in that
address that if Mckinley should be
elected there would be no more
Fourth of July celebrations in this
country. But the Freeman-Tribune
had supposed that the twenty years
which has elapsed since Mr.. Bryan
relieved himself of that bunch of
nonsense, had sobered his judgment
and rendered him more susceptible
to the voice of reason. But he seems
to be the same Bryan with the same
vagaries he had when expanding his
energies in efforts to saddle a flimsy
and unstable financial system upon
the country founded upon the impos-
sible structure of monetary STAN
dard based upon free. coinage Of both
gold and silver at the dishonest ra-
ito of sixteen to one.
His contentious that the people
should vote upon the question Of war
or no war is all right from a theo-
retical standpoint and seemed to
. catch the crowd. But how would 1t
work out? 1t might work all right
if no nation except the United States
had the power to declare war. But
what would we do if in the position
OF Belgium, for instance? On the
first day of August, 1914, Germany
declared war on Russia and on the
next day Germany's army was in
Belgium on it's way to France.
Where would France and Belgium
be today had the governments been
compelled to wait for vote of the
people before accepting war?
Mr.. Bryan's allusion to the three
farmers who lived along the banks
of the lake was likewise deceptive.
II one, should get battleship the
others must do likewise. Then the
first must get two, and the Others