The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1912-07-18
WOODROW WILSON'S SPEECH.
What He Said Before the Davenport Commercial Club last
March Regarding Tariff and Other Issues.

nerltance, New Jersey mas ueeu
handled about as a very convenient
piece of property; and it is only re-
Gently that we have foreclosed on
an ancient mortgage held by the peo-
pie themselves.
And ell of that was at ono time for
the benefit of the communities con-
cerned, only it lasted a little too
long. 1t lasted SO long that it ceased
to be for their benefit and was for
their detriment.
That illustrates what 1 want to
dwell upon chiefly tonight: that
while we sit and discuss things great
tendencies are grinding out like the
mills of the gods, and you can not
stop them by discussing them. and
you can not right them unless you
understand them.
You know before l got into the
public eye as politician l gave a
great deal of trouble at one of the
universities for trying to revise
things and change them; and some
of my friends thought had the I'M
easy temperament of a reformer.
l am not a reformer. l am simply
trying to keep up with the things
that are going on. l simply am not
a laggard; but these gentlemen
thought l was just for my own
amusement and pleasure, trying to
turn everything upside down. And
one OF my best friends said to me:
my dear fellow, can't you let any
thing alone?" New l said, "look
here: if you will guarantee to me
that these things will let me alone;
if you will guarantee that they will
stay still, l will let them alone; but
the blooming things won't stop, and
l see the direction they are bent in,
and what they are going to do to
men if don't do something to them;
and l mean to do things first"
am, in that respect, like a po1it-
ical friend of mine in New Jersey
who said: Governor, l didn't vote
for you because I agree with you,
but because my people made it nee
escary; and" he said, "thcy will
never get me if I see them coming
first 1t is so with the tendencies
of our age; if we see them coming
first, the so-called radicalicm OF our
time is simply seeing them coming
first, and meeting more than halt
way, so that they won't get the dom
ination before we know what it is
we are meeting; because l know per-
fectly well, gentlemen, that the po-
litical questions of this country are
largely business questions; and in
business questions a body like this is
the hardest body in the world to deal
with politically, because every one OF
you, almost without exception, is
interested in the stability of some
kind of business. You don't want to
see things disturbed. You don't
want to see processes upset. You
don't want to be in a position where
you will not see what is going to
happen tomorrow. You would
great deal rather that wrong should
happen tomorrow, provided you can
foresee it, than that something
should happen tomorrow that you
can not foresee. And, therefore,
you are constantly saying to the pol
iticiars of both sides, of both par
ties: "Let business alone
Now l have consulted with gentle
men on the other side of the house,
and we agree in this: that we are
perfectly willing to let business alone
if business will let politics alone.
Isn't that a fair bargain? What has
happened in New Jersey, and every
where else, is that business has got
in the game and has controlled poll
tics. Now, if you will take your
hands off, we will take ours on. Is
it bargain? If you will stop trying
to run legislation in order to suit
your particular business interests,
then you will find miracle accom-
plished; you will find the troubles
of business in connection with poll
tics beginning to cease. So that 1T is
necessary for a body like this to d.
vest themselves of the prepossession
of business men, and to come down
to a frank examination of our public
auctions as citizens of the United
States.
Are you really satisfied with the
present organization of business? Do
you really want to let it alone? Do
you like the way in which business is
organized? Do you think that the
question of the tariff, for example,
is the same question that it was
twenty years ago? Don't you know
it isn't the same question it was? 1t
is not the same question it was ten
years ago. Are you in command of
the situation as it stands as business
men? Isn't it true that the situation
is in command of you? Aren't you
caught in a great glacial drift which
you cannot command, and the direc-
ton of which you are not absolutely
certain: Of? Do men of middle life
now feel the same freedom to 60 this
way of that or the other that they
felt when they were young men?
Is there no ENHANCEMENT? Is there
no combination of forces which en-
harnesses free movement? Is bust
ness in a satisfactory condition when
you want to do something new?
Let US examine for moment the
change in the circumstances. Bust
ness was once free in this country,
and now it is not free. I make that
as proposition which I do not be-
lieve can be successfully controvert-
ed. It is not question of the tariff,
though the tariff has had a great
deal to do with it. Twenty years
ago, for example, there was tariff
almost as high as the superexcellent
tariff which we have now. A few
more rows of brick to the wall
have not made any great difference.