Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1912-05-03
WHAT SUSTAINS
OUR PROSPERITY?
Not Captains Of Industry, but
the Masses Of the People.
DECLARES WOODROW WILSON.
Business, Politics and Wealth Of the
Country Como Up, Not Down. Hs
Says-AII the People % Not Believe
In Democ ratio Government.
BY WOODROW WILSON.


What fills me with confidence in the
future is that the world is not waiting
upon the stupidity of politics. The
world has an awkward way of taking
things into its own hands. The life OF
the people must in the long run ex-
press itself in its politics. and it does
not now express itself in this country
in the politics we have been accustom-
ed to in the last decade.
There are two or three theories of
government in this country Don't de-
ceive yourself by supposing all the
people believe in democratic govern
ment, because they do not. You have
only to listen to the utterances OF
very distinguished Republican speak
ers to see that they do not believe and
do not pretend to believe in represent
alive government. They will tell you
they do not believe the Judgment Of
the people can be trusted. And are
you going to take counsel from these
gentlemen as to the preservation Of
our representative institutions when
they don't want them to represent the
great body Of the people?
Prefers Judgment Of Rank and File.
! don't know whether was born so
or learned so or what happened to me.
but know this. that the deepest con-
| viction ! have, arising out Of observa-
ton and experience is this. that
would rather take the Judgment Of the
rank and file than the judgment Of the
men who have become absorbed and
successful leaders in great undertake
ings.
And l want to ask these gentlemen
this query: What sustains business in
the United States? What is it that
makes the United States prosperous?
Is it that we have great captains Of
industry? What would they do with
out the cunning and skill, the muscle
and the indomitable aspiring hope Of
the American people? II these people
were to find hope dying out Of their
hearts they would become dumb driv-
en- beasts. and your enterprises would
fail for lack Of the very breath that
sustains them.
II you want to find whether a ma
ton is prosperous ask the men who
are on the make what they hope and
what they fear. Go to the country
districts and ask anxious fathers who
are looking for openings for their sons.
! where they expect to get them In.
where they find doors open and where
they End doors shut Go through the
places where men are making earn
ings and see whether they dread or
confidently look forward to the future.
and then you will find whether Ameri-
ca is waxing or waning. for il these
men are confident, full Of hope; if they
know they are going to get fair treat
ment wherever they go. then America
can conquer the world of enterprise in
their hope
But If you find what you do find
men every where asking themselves
whether the doors Of opportunity have
not been locked in their faces-then
you will have to take new reckoning
as to the future of America.
II only those who are chosen at the
top have the right Of way in. what Is
going to happen to America? Did you
ever hear Of nation that was renew
ed from the top? Did you ever hear
Of nation that was not made virile
that did not account for its youth by
renewal from the bottom? Did you
ever hear OF tree that drew its sap
from its flowers? Does it not draw 1t
from the dark and silent places of the
soil7 Does not nation draw its pow
er Of renewal and enterprise and all
its future from the ranks of the great
body Of unnamed men?
Friend Of American Business.
If you are going to discourage these
men. II you are going to put the chill
of fear In their hearts. then American
captains Of industry can whistle for
their future. and they will whistle in
n wilderness.
l am the friend Of American bust
ness because know where its fonnda-
lions are laid and where they are
weak. These foundations are solid
only when laid In the confidence of
the common people.
A Democratic Why. man does not
understand history who isn't Demo
crat. man doesn't understand enter
prise who isn't Democrat And ter
me shy this, Democracy is not merely
a matter Of programs: 1t is a matter of
sympathy and insight. 1t depends
upon whether your heart is in connec
tion with the great heart Of the PEG.
pie. 1t does not depend upon whether
you can cunningly devise a platform
that looks Just and good. You can
build a flmsy platform and stand on
1t successfully, provided its basis is in
the right kind of spirit
1t ts a matter of seeing. not from
your eyes out. but from the eyes OF
other men In. Getting the vision that
is In the back Of the other mans head
is the thing; getting the hope that is
the universal! hope; getting that i'm
pulse that is the common human i'm
pulse, forward This world has been
swept by wave after wave Of Demo
cratic impulse.
pa1ne A T,,dro n Rod E;y