The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-04-21
Bryan President if Roosevelt SayS
 Soj Vice Versa
SAYS JOHN TEMPLE GRAVES
Georgian on Regeneration of Parties" at Iroquols Club Declares Party Loyalty Hangs By
 Hair.

Chicago. April 2o.-"Bryan and Roose- welt, the two greatest men in all the world"
 John Temple Graves of Atlanta. Ga., thus approached the conclusion of his speech at the twenty-seventh annual din- ner of the Iroquos club on the "Regener- ation of Parties
 It was an address of which the keynote was the speakers assertion that party lines in general had never been held so lightly as today. MT. Graves spoke from the standpoint of a democrat. and de- elared:
 "I have never been a better democrat that am tonight. and I have never been more hopeful of the ultimate success of democracy
 Following the tribute paid to MT. Bryan and President Roosevelt, the speaker said:
 "one word from Bryan would send Roosevelt omnpotent to the White House. One word from Roosevelt would just as surely make Bryan president and clothe him with the power for reform
 MT. Graves tribute to the two great political leaders was received by the banquetters with loud and prolonged ap- plause.
 His address follows:
 Party Ties Hang Lightly.
 Party ties in general" said the speaker, 'have never been held so lightly as they are today North south. in republican and in democratic ranks, loy- atty hangs by hair. The republican party formed upon the federalist idea which was reborn and prospered upon tho tides of abolition has progressed be- yond tho federaist theory of principles and beyond the anti-slavery agitation of graft.
 .The democratic party has been re- ertiited so rapidly from the ranks of the mighty in trade that its shibboleths have been weakened: it's platforms have been truckled, and in the last campaign it nominated candidate whose actual spoken commendation was based upon the bald and infamous confession :He was not offensive to the trusts. But times have changed and men have changed with them. The cheap news papers and the rural mail delivery have builded the dearest and most practical democracy in the world. The people know more than they have ever known before. They see clearer and they think moro individually than they ever thought be- fore.
 .,The principal citizen--and he is nine- tenths of the republic-cares the less than he ever did before for names and theories. He is less frightened and less inspired than he ever was before by shibboleths and organizations. What he fears is not ostracism but practical damage to what he produces. What he wants is good gov ernment without regard to names. He has lived in himself and in his fathers memories to see that no matter which I@a1 rAffr ,a1 a government at Washington still lived.
 To Proper Humility.
 What conservative democrat save AL ton B. Parker with his eonferees has been strong enough to put Bryan to in- dignity and Hearst to shame? What re- publican is strong enough to reduce the irrepressible Roosevelt to the ranks of the orthodox in private? And republi- cans say Roosevelt can coerce the throned magnates of the trusts to proper hu- nlility.
 Party names are nothing, their policies are everything. Party traditions are in- teresting, their results are all essential. Parties are to be measured not by their fair leaves of promise but by the fruit of fulfllment.
 From the stalwart ranks of either party from the opposite sides of the re- public; from the rich and finished east and from the virile and militant west there have risen and grown and broad ened two great men who more than all others are prevailing less to the throne of partisanshp and more to uplft the pa triot. They are great because they are above the partisan. Mir Bryan is great because in all his life he has never feared or hesitated to champion his conviction against his party, and to put them in the balance against his personal interest. He is the first democrat of the world today. N~ hoPanSa he. too. has risen above the partisan. Born and cherished in the campaign of privilege, he came with brave heart and an open hand to Washington. He followed orthodox in the wake of his party and in the path of his predecessor. But one day William R. Hearst flung at his feet an array of unanswerable sta tlstics to prove the baneful existence and Inequality of the trusts. The challenge rang against brave mans shield and Theodore Roosevelt was never the same man again He buckled on his sword and went forth to war with the merger of those northern railroads under Hill and Hartman. He has never sheathed since then the blade he barred in our demo- cratic battle against corporate greed and profit.
 These Two Great Men.
 There they are, these two great men the greatest men in all the world. By the record they SldnQ edcfl TUT ness and justice everywhere. They are the unmatched champions of the people in the supremest crisis of the people s need. Democratic-republican or republic an-democrat it matters not They are American statesmen and patriots in every pulse One or the other of these men should establish order and justice in this crisis of our economic life. One or the other should be the President and pilot of the people in these tremendous times Either is worthy Each de- serves Which can be? If it was never true before in all our history, it is true today that these two men leading oppo- site factions have on their lips the power to change the face of parties, and to re- generate the republics life. One word from Bryan would send Roosevelt omnip- otent to the White House One word from Roosevelt just as surely make Bryan President and clothe him with the power for reform. Roosevelt could elect Bryan almost as easily as Bryan
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