The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-20
ISSUES ARE
 DISGUISED MT. Bryan 5eaks in Ch' sgo. ADDRESSES s3EMocRATIc CLUB Points Out Taft's Unfitness for Presidency. Says President Roosevelt Has Carried Out His Reform Ideas only Spas nodicany-TeIIs People what Democrats win Do.
 

modiealiy--TeiIs People What
 Democrats win Do.
 Chicago, March 1s.-Declaring that the greatest of present day evils IS "The domination of politics by the fa- vor seeking corporations. and assert ing that the Democratic Party Is the best qualified to undertake the task of correcting this, William Jennings Bryan tonight celebrated his 18th birthday by delivering speech On na- tional issues before big mass meet ing in the 7th Regiment Armory on Sixteenth Street.
 MT. Bryan took for his subject, Why Democracy" and after discussing the records of President Roosevelt, Cover nor Hughes and Secretary Taft as re- gards corporation legislation. ne an- swered the question by saying:
 Because the Democratic Party Is the only party sufficiently large to give hope of success and sufficiently Demo- cratic to give hope of relief after victory has been won."
 The speech of Mir. Bryan was the only one delivered at the meeting. Car ter H. Harrison, former Mayor of Chi- cago, presided. About 10000 persons CEOWQGQ lnLO LAS D&8 G0AA0tAt6 NA0 se was nearly an hour past the scheduled time of g o'clock when Mir. Bryan be- gan to speak
 Mir. Bryan's Speech.
 Mir. Bryan said in part;
 Assuming that reforms are neces- sary which party can best be intrust- ed with the work of serving thsm2 beg to present the claims of the Dem ocratic Party. what are the evils to be corrected? The greatest of ell the eviis--and 1t is the fruitful source of almost all the other evils--is the domi- nation of politics by the favor seeking eoruorations. By dominating politics. they dominate the Government. Nation al and State. There is no question up- on which the people are thinking which does not to a greater or less extent involve thfaf ouestion--shall the Cow ernr1ent he administered in the inter est Of the who people, by unpurehase- able and fncorrrupttbie representettyes of the people, or shali the laEoE seeM- @ fns cofporakions control the elections, vaisa theIr representatives to power | and through them to exploit the coun- | tryY If the present situation is safis- | factory; if the people are contenteo wtth tha distribution of wealth and vvlth fha predominating influence or these combinations then there 10 no good reason why the Republican Party should not be continued in power. TOT 1t has created the conditions which now exiat and must have credit or blame according to whether tnese conoisaons are desirable or undesirable.
 T think I can safely assert that the conditions are not satisfactory and m support of this assertion can point | te' tha fact that remedial legislation ts demanded by practically all of the TSemocratic Party. Whatever popular ,tv tha President has is due to She et- forts that he has made in the direction of reform. although these enorts nave been spasmodic rather than eonsin uous M ana have not been supported by his own party. .,.,,,, th i. r,1ht to carry out these reforms nrst' because that party is almost unAnl- ,,se,sIv in favor of reform, while In the RsnubIican party there is q very large ! minority, If not an actual majority arainst any and all important re- forms. 4. snendinE It's time between reformers and stand-patters. the Democratic nartv Is ready for action. Then, too. Democratic administration wilL 1T alected. enter office pledged to specific reforms named In the platform while the Republican party will ask the pup lie to trust 1t to carry out such re- eorr,s aa may be outlined after the election. In the one case. the people know what to expect. in the other case thev are left in uncertainty. But this la not the worst of 1t, Republican President will have no straightforward nIatform declaration with which to draw Republican legislators up to snecihc reform. while a Democratic PresIdent will have a platform which will commit those elected with him to certain clearly defined measures.
 ROosevelt's Trouble.
 president Roosevelt's trouble has hAen that his platform promised noth- ing and. with ali his great energy he has not been able to secure any sub stantial reforms. The Democrats have thA advantage also in that they make a distinction between the natural man and the fictitious persons called cor poration. They recognize that man was placed on earth to carry out Di- vine decree, while the corporation was created to make money and this differ ence In the purpose of creation, neces- sitates a difference In the treatment of the two. The Republicans on the oth- er hand have confused the natural man the corporation all the rights of the natural man besides the special rights given the corporation by law.
 "rhe difference between the Demo cratic position and the Republican position can be illustrated by the posi- tion taken by three prominent Re- nublicans. Take the Presidents posi- ton on national interpretations. He favors the incorporation of railways and interstate commerce corporations by the Federal government and by so doing he ignores the right of the state to regulate corporations doing busi- ness within the state. Now the Demo- crats believe that it is better for the corporation to suffer such annoyance as may be occasioned by state regula- ton rather than that the individual shall be denied the protection that comes from state legislation. If you will read the speeches of Governor Hughes you will find that they are very general when they come to the discussion of remedial legislation and very earnest when they refer to pos sibie injustice to the corporations. He is just now finding faults with fines. whether he has in mind the S2s, ,OOO. 900 fine or other fines. I don't know. He spoke of the injustice to the stockholders; and yet, what has he said about the injustice that he stockholders have permitted the cor porations to work against the general