Evening star., 1925-07-27
BRYAN MEMORIALS
ARE PEACE PACTS
Investigation Agreements
Were Greatest Work
of Commoner.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
SWAMPSCOTT, Mass, July 27-If
William Jennings Bryan could have
been asked today to point to the great
est achievement of his career, he
would unhesitatingly have answered:
1.-The treaties of peace concluded be-
tween the United States and 80 ma
tions whereby 1t is agreed that each
shall wait nine months before re-
sorting to hostilities, so that an i'm
partial commission may investigate
the causes Of dispute and recon-
mend a solution
Few people realize the extent to
which Mr.. Bryan, as Secretary Of
State, tied the hands of the United
States against war by impulse of pas
sion. Not only did the great Com
moner as Secretary of State win the
approval of his chief, President VIII
son, for the negotiations of those
treaties, but they passed the United
States Senate with hardly a dissent
ing vote.
Principle of Investigation.
And then the principle of investiga-
ton was embodied in the covenant Of
the League of Nations, which, while
not ratified by the United States, is
still binding as between So nations.
All the governments which signed the
covenant have agreed not to make war
on each other for nine months after
dispute develops, until an impair
tial commission can investigate. Sir
Edward Grey is quoted as having
said that If Europe could have waited
hppn
European war in 1914.
The only countries of importance In
| the whole world which have never
made agreements with the United
| States along the lines of the Bryan
| treaties are Germany, Japan, Turkey
and Mexico. Curiosly enough, these
| four countries are not members of
| the League of Nations either. Ger
| many would have signed a Bran
| treaty; in fact, she had accepted. The
principle and the subject were under
negotiation when the European war
broke out. Japan baked because the
California anti-alien land law contro-
versy was unsettled. Turkey had her
| own troubles in revising treaties gen
orally with other nations. Mexico was
in state of revolution when Mr..
Bryan was Secretary of State.
Treaties Memorials.
The biggest memorial that could
ever be made to William Jennings
Bryan would be the conclusion by the
United States of four treaties with the
countries that have not signed the
investigation agreements. They meant
more to him than anything else in his
whole career. To the critics who
called him a crusader without ac-
complishment, he always used to point
to the treaties as a practical step
against war.
Mr.. Bryan scorned the critics, too,
for calling him a "pacifist." In the
sense that he was against war, he
accepted the term. In the sense that
1t was used as conveying the impress
sion of timidity, he bitterly resented
it. His last wish was that he be
buried in Arlington National Gene
terry, where he will repore beside those
who gave up their lives fighting for
their country. AS a colonel in the
Spanish American War, he was ready
to give his life to humane cause.
Once the decision of the Government
was for war in 1914. William Jennings
Bryan never swerved in his loyalty
to the prosecution of war.
President Coolidge esteemed Mr..
Bryan and felt for him the same high
regard as many other men in the op-
posite political party. President Taft
always considered himself a friend of
the Commoner, so did the late Presi-
dent Harding. Mr.. Bryan had a way
of fighting issues and not persons.
Influence ON Wane.
Politically, Mr.. Bryan's influence
was on the wane in his own political
party. Possibly it was because in his
late years he concerned himself with
issues of foreign policy and religion
and did not crystalline the thoughts of
his own following on any paramount
domestic question. In a way, this is
the weakness of all political leaders
of today, who find the confusion of
after-the-war politics difficult to dis
entangle. William Jennings Bryan
found himself in 1925 no longer
radical in the same way that the
term was used 80 years ago. Most of
the things which he advocated have
since been accepted into law.
The platform of the Democratic ma
tional convention of 1924, which Mr..
Bryan declared the greatest platform
his party had written, was satisfac-
tory to him because 1t breathed lib
eralism, but 1t was not hailed as radi-
cal by the country. Senator La Fol
lette reflected in 1924 the radicalism
of the hour, and even beyond La Fol
lelle was group VI IIluCu InCTG eX-
treme radicals.
Religion Overshadowed Politics.
Mr.. Bryan's interest in religion in
his later years overshadowed his politi-
cal activities. He was an eternal cam
paigner. He dieted carefully and kept
in good physical condition. This, no
doubt, deceived him as to his physical
resources. He called on his heart too
much. And it failed him at the age
of 60. His life was useful one. He
was sincere, honest and tolerant. The
writer was one of his close friends in
the newspaper business. and never
failed to see in him an earnestness of
purpose and a courage so rare in
public men, particularly those in politi-
cal life. He was the veteran political
leader of this generation. He was
running for President of the United
States long before Taft, Roosevelt,
Wilson, Harding or Coolidge were
heard of beyond their local spheres.
And but for the overtaxing of his
strength in campaining he might have
rivaled Chauncey Depew in longevity.
His untimely death is the result of a
sacrifice to the cause of anti-evolution,
i l.