The daily sentinel., 1912-08-07
WILSON'S SPEECH
OF ACCEPTANCE

Continued from Page IL
mines and waterways, of the building
of an adequate merchant marine.
Where the Failure Lays.
eve have got into trouble in re-
cent years chiefly because these large
things. which ought to have been
handled by taking counsel with as
large'a number of persons as possi-
\ Bile, because they touch every inter-
est and the life of every class and
region, have in fact been too often
handled in private conference. They
have boen settled by very small, and
often deliberately exclusive groups of
men who undertook to speak for the
whole nation, or, rather, for them
selves in the terms of the whole ma
I tion-yery honestly, it may be, but
very ignorantly sometimes, and very
shortsightedly, too,-a poor substi-
tute for genuine common counsel, no
group of directors. economic or po-
1 litical. can speak for people. They
have neither the point of view nor
the knowledge. Our difficulty Is not
that wicked and designing men have
plotted against us. but that our com
mon affairs have been determined
upon too narrow view, and by too
private an initiative. Our task now
is to effect great readjustment and
get the forces of the whole people
once more into play. We need no
revolution; we need no excited
change; we need only new point
of view and a new method and spirit
of counsel.
The Tariff Out of Politics.
''The tariff question, as dealt with
in our time at any rate, has not been
business. 1t has been politics. Tar
iff schedules have been made up for
I the purpose of keeping as large a
number as possible of the rich and
influential manufacturers of the
country in good humor with the
republican party which desired their
constant financial support. The tar
III has become a system of favors,
which the phraseology of the sched-
ule was often deliberately contrived
to conceal. Who, when you come
down TO the hard facts of the matter.
have been represented in recent years
when our tariff schedules We're be-
ing discussed and determined, not on
the floor of congress, for that is not
where they have been determined.
but in the committee rooms and con-
ferences? That is the heart of the
whole affair. VIII you, can you.
bring the whole people into the part
nership or not?
Must Revise downward.
we do not ignore the fact that
the business of n country like ours is
exceedingly sensitive TO changes in
legislation of this kind. 1t has been
built up, however ill-advisedly, upon
"a GGIt ht,l ktf,t,t 4.
have indicated, and its founda tions
must not be too radically or too sud
denly disturbed. When we act, we
should act with caution and pru-
. dence, like men who know what they
are about, and not like those in love
with theory. II is obvious that the
changes we make should be made
only at such a rate and in such n
way as will least Interfere with the
normal and healthful course of COM
merce and manufacture. But we
shall not on that account act with
timidity. as II we did not know our
own minds, for We are certain of our
ground and of our object. There
should be an immediate revision, and
1t should be downward unhesitating-
ly and steadily downward.
High Cost of Living.
The nation as a nation has grown
immensely rich She is Justly proud
OF her industries and of the genius
OF her men of affairs. They can mas
ter anything they set their minds to,
and we have been greatly stimulated
under their leadership and COM
mand. Their laurels are many and
very green. We must accord them
the great honors that are their due.
and hn al hn
built up for us. But, what of the
other side of the picture? 1t is not
as easy for us to live as II used to
be. Our money will not buy as much
High wages, even when We can get
them, yield us no great comfort. We
used TO be better off with less he
cause dollar could buy so much
more. The majority of us have been
disturbed to find ourselves growing
poorer, even though our earnings
, were slowly increasing. Prices climb
faster than we can push our earn
ings up. We know that they are not
liked by the competitions of the mar
ket, or by the ancient law of supply
and demand which is to be found
stated in all the primers of econom-
les, but by private arrangements
with regard to what the supply
should be and agreements among the
producers themselves. Those who
buy are not even represented by
counsel. The high cost of living is
| arranged by private understanding.
"We naturally ask ourselves How
did these gentlemen get control of
] these things? Who handed our eco
nomic laws over to them for legisla-
tive and contractual alteration? We
!: have in these disclosures still another
view of the tariff, still another proof
tnat not the people of the United
States but only a very small number
of them have been partners in that
legislation.
Labor Question.
The so-called labor question is a
question only because we have not