Imperial Valley press., 1912-10-24
DEMOCRATIC COLUMN
LThis department is under the contro
of the Democratic county committee
and the publishers assume no respon
Wilson's Logical Communicating

1t is rare good fortune to have this
year at least one presidential candi-
date who bases his arguments on sound
economic principles. That candidate is
Woodrow Wilson. 1t iS~ not always
popular to stick to logic and common
sense in discussing current problems.
There are more people who will ap-
plaud a suggestion to send trust mag
mates to Jail than will appreciate the
suggestion to deprive trusts of the
privileges which give them powe;
More will demand an arbitrary mini
mum wage law than understand the
fact that more freedom instead Of less
is what workers need to get what they
produce. SO when a candidate dis
cusses such questions as trusts and
minimum wage and appeals to reason
and logic rather than to ignorance and
prejudice, there is good ground for
hope that his election will result in
establishing a policy that will deal
with evils in such a way that their
cause will be removed and make no
spectacular but useless efforts to strik e
at symptoms.
In speaking on the trust problem
Wilson leaves to his opponents the
!
regulation, prosecution and litigation
He points to the privileges which have
given them power-the privileges
which his opponents would leave un-
disturbed-and says that these must
be removed.
That Governor Wilson is possessed
Of great moral courage was shown two
years ago. He then showed that he
was big enough t. admit that he had
been mistaken. To the ordinary mar
that may not seem a rare quality
But of the three leading candidates of
this year he seems to be the only
one who possesses it. Although one
of his opponents is now advocating
many things inconsistent with and di-
ametricaliY opposed to many acts OF
his previous career, his position still
is one of stubborn insistence that he
has always been right.
Before his election as governor and
for a brief period afterward, Mr.. Will
son was known as a strong opponent
of the initiative and referendum and
looked upon as more inclined toward
reactionary than progressive views
But one day ne was visited by w. ).
U'Ren of Oregon, who, in the course
OF an hours conversation, made clear
to him many things regarding direct
legislation which he had misund derstood
before. This soon led to a public ad-
mission that he had been mistaken.
Woodrow Wilson wrote the follow
ing words as long ago as 1884, says the
Milwaukee Journal:
The more open eyed we become, as
a nation, to its defects, and the prompt
er we grow in applying with the un-
hesitating courage Of conviction all
thoroughly tested or we'll considered
eXpedients necessary to make self-gov-
ernment among us Straightforward
thing of simple method, single, un-
stinted power and clear responsibility,
the nearer will we approach to the
sound sense and practical genius of
the great and honorable statesmen of
1887. And the first step toward eman-
cipatiOn from the timitdity and false
pride which have led us to seek to
thrive despite the defects of our ma
tional system, rather than seem to de-
ny its perfection, is a fearless criti-
cism of that system. When we shall
have examined all its parts without
sentiment, and gagged all its functions
by the standards OF practical common
sense. we shall have established anew
our right to the claim Of political sa
gacity; and it will remain only to
act intelligently upon what our opened
eyes have seen in order TO prove again
the justice of our claims to political
genius"