The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-04-14
GOV. WILSON ON
sP'EC|AL|zAT|ONs
OF DEMOCRACY
Wants the Party to Specify in
the Concrete What It Is
Fighting
INTERESTS ARE FRAMING
LEGISLATION N COMMITTEE
Panacea for Favorite Legislation II
Longer Time For Open Debate in
the Law Making Bodies So That
Jokers May Be Found.

the Law Making Bodies So That
Jokers May Be Found.
Indianapolis. Ind, April 14-Urgine
the Democratic party to state its
creed in the concrete and define clear
~ the especial form Of privilege It
declares against in a general cam
patgn for the rights Of the people" !"
Governor Woodrow Wilson Of New
Jersey in an address to the National
League Of Democratic clubs here to-
day set forth the objects of the party
as he believed they exist and should
be stated. Governor Wilson said in
part:
I'VE 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 party touched
With the ideals which made these
men great, whose names we recall
with such reverence and enthusiasm,
because the breath of our party's life
ts It's utter faith in the principles Of
Democracy. It is it's devotion to the
rights OF the people Of whatever class
or degree as against all claims of
privilege, as against all selfish vest
ed interests which seek control in
stead Of freely serving the life and
development Of the nation.
1T Is so far from being party of
mere reminiscence, party which
tries to draw the country back to
policies which belong to another time,
to the circumstances of another age,
that 1t is, above oil others, young
mans party, because party of
movement, Of readjustment, a party
that presses toward the future with
unshaken faithfi with unwayering con-
fdence and ever renewed hopes and;
aspirations FOR the principles Of free
dom, which are none other than the
principles, Of opportunity. the: prin-
:ciples of men not made, but on the
make, struggling from achievement
to achievement In a free exercise Of
their powers. III. %tss,
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, indomitable nature; and
so we see embodied in them the two
sides of Democracy, its thoughtful
ness, its visions Of hope, its conf
dence in, the progress and liberation
Of mankind, and linked with these its
force as Of the common people, it's
aboundfng energy outside as we'll as
within the field Of cultivated thought.
Democracy Alive
Democracy is not q mere theory of
government. 1t is AN energy of life
dwelling in the rank and file, inter-
preted once and again by 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. Its hopes are the hopes Of all
rational civilization.
''This Is the day upon which we ut
ter our creed and renew our views.
1t behooves us to ask ourselves what
our creed is, and to answer the ques-,
tion without subtlety or sophistica-
tion in the plain terms of everyday
life. We must state our creed in the
not In the abstract. Our
thoughts run back of course. to the
great Declaration Of independence,
which Jefferson gave US, but we can
not stop with that. The Declaration
Of Independence did not mention the
questions Of our day. l, is. a mere
starting point for: our thoughts. 1t
Is of no consequence to us unless We !,
can translate It's general terms into
examples of the present day and SUBJ
stitute them In some vital way for the
it itself gives, SO concrete,
80 intimately involved in the cir
cumstances Of the day in which it
was conceived and written. 1t is an
practical document, meant
for the use of practical men; not a
thesis for philosophers, but a whip
Tor tyrants! not theory Of govern
ment. but program of action. Tn
less we can translate 1t into questions
of our own, day, we are not worthy
of it, we are not sons of the ,sires who
acted In response to its challenge.
eve say that We are against privi-
ege and for the rights Of the people,
but privilege has worn many forms.
What is the especial form Of privilege
We now fight? How does 1t endan-
ger the rights Of the people, and what
10 we mean to do in order to make
our contest against it effectual?
What are to be the items Of our new
of independence?
BY privilege, as we now fight it,
We mean control of the law of legis.