The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-21
L0v6mdnJ iji ;l;ii iiiil Joseph. ji;;il .SLO1cb

are of these I do not know, but do know that special privilege in the repub-
 lie is breeding them day by day like rabbits in a warren.
 "The third grade of citizens It pleases
 me to call old-fashioned constitutional
 democrats. These are they who believe
 that the equality of mankind does not consist in an equality of brain and brawn
 but in an equality whereby every man.
 native and foreign born, has an inalien-
 able right to exercise all of his ability 1 in getting on in the world just so he | realizes that in getting on he owes It to
 himself, to his family and to the repub- | lie to see to 1t that he gets son honestly
 and that he does not prevent any other
 man from obtaining the reward Of his honesty and enterprise. These old-fash-
 toned democrats believe in making money
 but they believe that every dollar made should be so clean that an infant may cut l It's teeth upon it. They hold that it Is
 no part of government to boost one man and to boot another. and that any sys- tenn of government which enables one man to take advantage of another is not a | system under which a democratic condi- | ton of life can thrive They hold that l from age to age. social and economic conditions change but that the great prln- ciple of the equality of all men before
 the law can never change while time
 shall last. and that the honest inter pretation of this great principle in stat sitory enactment, judicial construction and 1 executive conduct will take from the life I Of people the mighty avarice of the
 few, bind up the broken hearts of the many and loose the bonds of all who are l In slavery to wrong, injustice and ignor- ance.
 ''The indivldualism of Thomas Jefferson l is not dead It has not mouldered back to dust in the grave at Monticello. It
 walks the earth this day knocking at l the door of rich and poor. of wise and
 ignorant alike. calling upon all men to
 make of this age the millennium of state craft wherein no one shall claim to be I the master and all shall be glad to be
 the servants of the republic
 Tt cannot be that 1t is the system of government which is wrong. It IS the
 unjust use of the system. From Jefferson
 to Lincoln the republic grew in might, I in majesty, in pomp and splendor and the himblest of it's citizens could ob- | tain justice, not as a beggar crawling l in the sun but as a man. It has not been the use but the misuse of the pow CTS of government which has produced this discorltent in the minds of men This historic democratic party moves forward now as always true to
  | depenee, loyal to the constitution and confident that if men will be fmbued | with the spirit of these two documents and will guide their public and private 1 life by the concepts of righteousness therein contained peace and plenty will bless their homes and come IS a beni- son to every weary, down-trodden and oppressed soul
 The contending forces in America
 are as they are in nature. There is a centripetal force which Is ever draw l ing the earth toward the sun. There
 Is a centrifugal force which Is ever
 drawing it away. These two contend | ing forces acting each upon the other
 has kept this old world of ours safely
 in it's orbit. and springtme and har-
 vest have not failed. Should either
 force become superior. desolation and
 destruction only could result. The cen | tripetal force would draw the earth i into the sun and make 1t but fuel for
 the warmth of other planets. The cen- trifugal force would send it whirline
 out of its orbit to the northern pole of
 stellar spaces There are times in
 July when we long for the north pole
 We pray to be nearer to the sun. But
 our sober second thougN convinces us ! that the middle course is the safe course for the world.
 The contending forces of political
 life are commonly denominated reac-
 tionarv and revolutionary. They are
 the paternalistic forces of the republi-
 can party which would draw our gov ernment out of its orbit and consume l it in the fiery heat of the lust and greed 1 of the favored few, and the socialistic l forces whicliswould draw II away from
 its constitutional conception of three coordinate branches and from its | guaranty to each individual of an op-
 portunity to assert his natural and ac-
 quired talents in an honest endeavor
 to succeed The historic democratic
 party of which I am an humble mem ! Der, stands between these contending i forces and believes that some harvests
 for humanity may be garnered by pro ceeding in the old orbit which the
 fathers founded. by meeting in the old way each generation of men as they shall rise, by never forgetting that this
 government was founded, not for busi- ness nor success, nor for incompetency- and for failure, but to guarantee in i lawful ways the opportunity of every
 man for liberty and for the pursuit of
 happiness. Old principles applied in new ways will convince these two ex- trenes of thought that our historic
 party can make exist what now is but
 q name-democracy under a represen
 tative form of government
 If doubted that the return of the historic democratic party to power would fail to right the wrongs of in-
 dustrial life. to wipe out the injustices