Perth Amboy evening news., 1912-08-07

honor to speak very rainly the faith
that Is In me. You will expect me, In
brief, to talk politics and open the cam
paign In words whose meaning no one
need doubt. You will expect me to
speak to the country.
We cannot intelIigently talk politics
unless we know to whom we are talk
present circumstances are clearly I'M
usual. No previous political campaign
in our time has disclosed anything like
them. The audience We address is in
no ordinary temper. 1t is no audience
of ~partisans. Citizens Of every class
and party and prepossession sit to-
gether, q single people, to learn wheth-
er we understand their life and know
how to afford them the counsel and
guidance they are TO- keenly aware
that they stand In need of. We must
speak not to catch votes, but to satisfy
the thought and conscience Of a people
deeply stirred by the conviction that
they have come to q critical turning
point in their moral and political de-
~yelopment.
The Awakened Nation.
We stand in the presence Of an
awakened nation, impatient of parti-
san make believe. The public man
who does not realize the fact and feel
its stimulation must be ~singularly I'M
susceptible to the influences that stir
in every quarter about him.
Plainly, 1t is a new age. The tonic
Of such a time is very exhilarating.
1t requires self restraint not to attempt
too much, and yet 1t would be cow
ardly to attempt too little.
1t is in the broad light Of this new
day that we stand face to face-with
what? Plainly not with questions Of
party, not with a contest for office, not
with a petty struggle for advantage,
Democrat against Republican, liberal
against conservative, progressive against
r~eactionary. With great questions OF
right and Of justice, rather-questions
Of national development, Of the devel-
opment OF character and Of standards
Of action no less than Of a better bust
, ~ sSStShA AACIy LhoA CAuAtoDtS
more open to ordinary men, practicable
TO live under, tolerable to work under,
OF q better fiscal system whose taxes
shall not come out Of the pockets of
! the many to go into the pockets of the
few and within whose intricacies spe-
cial privilege may not SO easily find
covert.
At such a time and in the presence of
such circumstances what is the mean
ing OF a8r platform and what is our re-
sporsittlity under it? What are our
duty and our purpose? The platform
is meant to show that we know what
the nation is thinking about, what 1t is
most concerned about, what it wishes
corrected and what it desires to see at
tempted that is new and constructive
and intended for it's long future. But
for us it is a very practical document.
We are not about to ask the people of
the United States to adopt our plat
form. We are about to ask them to
iutrJlst us with office and power and
the guidance Of their affairs. They
VIII wish to know what sort Of men
We are and of what definite purpose
what translation Of action and of pol
ley we intend to give to the general
terms Of the platform which the con
vention at Baltimore put forth should
we be elected.
The Work TO Be Done.
The platform is not d program. A
proora m rn1ct copcist of mnasurns al
illustrative acts and acts of legisla
ton. The proof Of the pudding is the
eating thereof. How do we intend It
make it edible and digestible? From
this time OH we shall be under interro
cation. How do we expect to handle