Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-02-18

handed down like sacred tab
let's from the mountain in Nebraska, will
have no other meaning for sophisticated and
obscrvant minds. They are worth reading.
They are radiant with Significance. In them
you may read all that Is wrong with Amcri-
can politics.
Illunined within by childlike faith in
the security of all things, with eyes lifted
high above the moilinG world and all its
harsh and conflicting realities, Mr.. Bryan
is again enchanted by the sound of fine
words. As blithe. as assured. as distant
from real life, as oblivious to cold fact is he
as Pan piping on a windy and sunlit hill.
He would. for example restore the rule Of
the people"
Well, who rules now?
Who elected Harding?
Whose will. whose work. whose faults and
virtues are reflected every day in Congress
and in the Legislatures of the states?
Votes are votes. They make our govern
ment what il is.
Still. as he complains about that same
government, Mr.. Bryan's faith in the people
is unshaken. They would never elect him to
the presidency. So his faith may be in a
way justified. But it is about time that the
people of the United States got out of the
habit Of blaming their leaders for all their
own mistakes.
The people speak in Congress. They speak
wherever laws are made II would be far
fairer IL the Congressional Record were to
say that ''the people today introduced q bill
intended to keep up the cost of their food
and their coal" or "the constituency Of
South Philadelphia today presented n reso-
luton in the House to provide billion dol
lars out Of the treasury to pension super
animated ward bosses
All the suualor Of the present legislative
session at Harrisburg. as we'll as all the
fine and humane things that are done occa
sionally in the name Of the state or the ma
tion. shows the people at the business Of
ruling.
Elected representatives are merely Incl
dental 70 the process.
Does the master OF the old fashioned
Democracy know all this? We believe that
h" does. But he is not the man to tell
plain and wholesome truths TO the people or
to talk 10 them like John the Baptist. He
probably has desire 70 do anything so
unconventional. For he has in him a great
faith He has in truly magnificent form
| the will TO believe.
That is better than being hard boiled, any .
way. We have always liked-we always
shall like--the sweet middewesterness OF
| Mr.. Bryan. He clings to his illusions
/ InTOukD lnVh ana INlU, Inc tTOuDIP WIN
| him is that he insists on believing that all
| peoples everywhere are as sim Pile hearted
| and as Trustworthy as the folk of the corr
| belt, and upon that assumption his eX-
! tremely dangerous theories OF national and
! International politics Nre based.
To such a man facts and the evidence Of
| progressive events can mean little. Whet
will the world be like after four wears
| What will II be like in year from now
What will life and the problems Of govern
ment be like?
Th" sage. sitting down to write his epistl,
70 the Democracy, seems never to have pu
these questions to himself. To hear Mr.
| Bryan talk you would suppose that We wcr
| still living in 1910-that in other words
| the motive power Of civilization was still
| being smoothly applied that people every
| where were at peace and working happily
that standards and codes Of human ronduc
were fixed and accepted, that nations wer
prosperous. busy and able and willing T.
pay their debts. that all governments vrer
stable.
None Of these things Is true. Statesme,
are now working twenty four hours n da
to regain control and direction of viii
| forces that they deliberately let loose The
may succeed and they may fail. Lloy
| George and ~ BRAND, like the Russian
and the Germans. nre for all the world lik
| lion tanners who have let tho beasts out &
| the cage.
Suppose the lions get into the grandstan
or decide IN take a turn among the spcct6
tors' What then:
Tho Democratic party, II II Is guided fro,
Nebraska, viii piously refuse even To thin
Of n possibility 10 terrible. so repellent
ip1u TO uhviCa5 ~
Bryan 10 work tirelessly in order that thel
can be no declaration of war by Congre.
until after the matter has been decided /
| n national referendum.
II is hard 10 believe that men so reckless
trnstfnl as 10 make that proposal in tin
like this still dwell upon the earth 4
enemy might seize Cuba. An enemy mig
snatch every important naval base in II
| Pacific and bring heavy guns actually to BET
on coast cities while we were voting 10 d.
terminc a course of action under the plf
outlined by Mr.. Bryan. The man who NJ
| hopes apparently, 60 regain control Of ol
| Of the two great parties suggests further
, nlon OF international arbitration" for mo
issues under which any nation could witt
, draw whenever it felt 80 moved or rcfu
. altogether TO accept the ruling Of the wor
: | court.
> Here Mr.. Bryan talks. oddly enough, Ii
the former German kaiser. World cour
without power, arbitration systems that ca
a NOT arbitrato are precisely tho sort OF sed
a ,iyes that militarists have always sought
, ouiet public opinion and conceal their oS
= dcvilment.
Referendum before war would be mC
4 excellent thing IL IL were TO be held SIM
II tnneously by all the peoples and an I
II nations concerned. To one nation standi
a alone Il might mean disaster utter and col
: plet.. The Peace Conference sought TO Z
! fablish a system that would make a 81
(. Of universal et'ndum necessary 1ef'