The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-04-14
THROW OPEN GATES
Of OPPORTUNITY
Let Specia | Privileges
and Patronage Be
No More.
WOODROW WILSON
SOUNDS KEYNOTE
In Address Before National
League of Democratic Clubs
He Declares the Objects Of
Party Of Jefferson and Jack
son-Open Politics to
Public View.

the Democratic party to state It's creed
In the concrete and define clearly the
especial form Of privilege it declares
against in a general campaign for the
rights of the people" Governor Wood
row Wilson, of New Jersey, in an adj
dress 10 the National League OF Dem
ocratic Clubs here to-day set forth
the objects Of the party IS he believed
they exist and should be stated. Gov
ernor Wilson said in part:
we are fond OF speaking of our
selves as the party OF Jefferson and
jackson, not because we are a party
of old men. reminiscent of things gone
by and in love with what has been.
but because we are a party touched
with the ideals which made these men
great. whose names we recall with
such reverence and cnthusia sm because
the breath Of our party's life is its
utter faith in the principles of Demo
cracy. 1t is it's devotion TO the rights
OF the people of whatever class or de-
gree as aginst all claims of privilege
as against all selfish vested interests
which seek control Instead OF freely
serving the life and development Of
the nation.
a Young Mans Party.
1T is so far from being a party OF
mere Renaissance. a party which tries
TO draw the country back to policies
which belong TO another time, to the
circumstances of another age, that it
Is. above all others, q young mans
party. because q party Of movement,
OF reimbursement, a party that presses
toward the future with mistaken faith.
with unwavcring confidence and ever
renewed hopes and aspirations for the
principles OF freedom, which are none
other than the principles of opportu-
nifty, the principles OF men not made
but on the make. struggling from
achievement to achievement in a free
exercise of their powers:
These things are embodied In JEFF
ferson. the thoughtful, philosophical
penetrating thinker for mankind. and
In the rugged Jackson, who seemed
to cut his way toward the right by
rough instinct and the mere energy
of an honest. indomita Bile nature, and
SO we see embodied In them the two
sides Of Democracy, It's thoughtful
ness, its vision of hope its confidence
in the progress and liberation Of man
kind and linked with trese its force
as of the common people. its abound
Ing energy outside as we'll as within
the field of cultivated thought
Not Mere Theory.
Democracy IS not mere theory OF
government 1t is an energy OF life,
dwelling in the rank and file, inter
preted once and again hy great lead
ers. but not confined to their private
cult and understanding. Its blood is
the blood of the people. Its purposes
are the purposes shared by all man
kind. It's hopes are the hopes of ali
rational civilization.
This is the day upon which we utter
our creed and renew our views. Ii be-
hooves us to ask ourselves what our
creed is, and to answer the question
without subtlety or sophistication in
the plain terms of everyday life We
not in the abstract. Our thoughts run
back, of course. to the great Decla-
ration of independence, which Jeffer-
son gave us, but we cannot stop with
that The Declaration OF Independ-
ence did not mention the questions of
our day. 1t is mere starting point
for our thoughts. 1t is of no conse-
quencc TO MS unless we can translate
its general terms into examples of the
present day and substitute them In
some vital way for the examples it
itself gives. SO concrete, SO intimately
involved in the circumstances OF the
day in which it was conceived and
written.
III is an emincntly practical docu-
mcnt meant for the use OF pra ctical
men; not a thesis for philosophers, but
a whip for tyrants; not a theory of
government, but a program of action
Unless we can translate it into ques-
lions of our .own day. We are not
worthy of it. we are not sons of the
sires who acted in response to its
challenge.
We say that we are against privi-
lege and for the rights of the people
but privilege has worn many forms
What is the especial form Of privi-
lege we now fight? How does it en-
danger the rights of the people, and
what do we mean to DO In order to
make our contest against it enectual?
What are to be the items, of our new
declaration of independence?
Meaning Of '.PrfvflcEe."
by privilege, as we now fight it
wc mean control OF the law. Of legisla-
ton and Of adjudication, by organiza-
tons which do not represent the peo-
pie, by means Which are private and
selfish and worthy of all condemna-
ton We mean specifically the con-
duct of our affairs and the shaping
of our legislation in the interest OF
special bodies of capital and those who
organize their use. We mean the al
lance for this purpose Of political
machines Will me captains or organ
lied industry. We mean the exploi.n-
ton OF the people by legal and political
means. We have seen our govern
ments under these influences cease to
be representative governments, cease
to be governments representative Of the
people, and become governments rep
resentative Of the special interests,
controlled by machines, which. in their
turn are not controlled by the peo-
pie.
''We are not attacking men. we are