The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-02-16

Last night, under the auspices of
the Lakeland Chautauqua, and be-
fore a large and appreciative audi
pnce, William Jennings Bryan deliv-
cred his great address on the sub
iect of The War in Europe and Its
Lessons for U.s." Mr. Bryan was
presented by Rev. C. L. Stacy, of
the First Presbyterian church. His
observations were listened to with
profound attention, and he was fire.
quently interrupted by applause.
Mr.. Bryan Is one of the greatest
living Americans, and. regardless Of
ones attitude towards his views, it
must be conceded that his utterances
are worthy of careful consideration.
For this reason the Telegram takes
pleasure in printing his great speech
of last ni2ht for the benefit of its
host of readers, many of whom were
unable to hear the address delivered.
Mr.. Bryan spoke as follows:
In order that you may follow me
more easily shall outline in advance
the address which I am to deliver to
you. 1t naturally divides itself into
three parts-first, the war as it is and
its injury to neutrals; second. the false
philosophy out of which the war has
grown and the natural results of that
false philosophy; and, third, the way
out, or the road to permanent peace.
The subject is presented with a view
to emphasizing the lessons which
this country can draw from the con-
fict beyond the ocean.
No matter by what standard you
measure this war, it is without pre-
cedent or parallel. | will not call ii
the greatest war in history, for the
word great" implies something moro
than bigness. When we speak of a
great institution or a great movement
we have in mind something more than
mere size. There have been, l think
greater wars than this. but none that
approached it in bigness. 1t is the big
gest war ever known, if we measure II
by the population of the nations al
war-never before have so many peo
pie lived in belligerent nations. It IL
also the biggest war of which history
tells il we measure It by the number
of enlisted men who face each Other
upon its many battle fields. The esti
mates run from twenty-one to thirty
one millions. Rather than risk ex
aggeration, let US take the lowest esti
mate; it insufficient to make the wal
impressive, In fact, the number is SC
great that the mind can scarcely com
prehend it. Let me translate it into
everyday language by comparing II
with our voting population. We have
never cast as many as 21,000,00o votes
at an election. That means that II
all in every State who have on a single
day exercised the right of suffrage
could be gathered together in one
place, the concourse, vast as 1t would
be. would fall several million short oi
the number now actually engaged In
| fighting.
More than two million have beer
killed thus far. If on any part Of the
globe 100000 persons were swept tc
death by pestilence. or flood. or fam
inc. the world would stand appalled,
and vet in a little more than a veal
more than twenty times 100000 have
! been summoned to meet their God
and everyone owes his death to the
deliberate intent and act of fellow
man. More than five million have
been wounded-this will give yot
some idea Of the awful toll that this
awful war is exacting In life and suf
fering.
II we measure the war by the de
structiveness of the implements em
ployed, nothing so horrible has eve
been known before. They used to b'
content to use the earth's surface fol
the maneuvrs of war, but now the,
have taken possession Of the air, an'
thunderbolts more deadly than thu
thunderbolts Of Jove fall as IL from
the clouds on unsuspecting people
And they have taken possession of th'
oceans depths as well. and death
dealing torpedoes rise out of the dark
ness to multiply the perils of the sea
They have substituted a long-rang'
rife for a short-range rife, a big
mouthed gun for little-mouthed gun
a dreadnaught for battleship. and &