The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-31

1t by the kind of movement in which
 we are now engaged
 Our movement Is one of resolute in
 sistence upon the rights and full ac-
 | lknow1edgement of the duties of every l man and every woman within this
 l great land of ours. We war against | the forces of evil, and the weapons we
 use are the weapons of right We do
 not set greed against greed or hatred l a ganst hatred. Our creed Is one that lids us be just to all, to feel sympathy
 for all and to strive for an understand
 ing of the needs of all Our purpose IS
 to smte down wrong. But toward 1 those who have done the wrong we feel only the kindliest charity that is com-
 patble with causing the wrong 10 cease. We preach hatred to no man. and the spirit in which we work Is as I far removed from vindictiveness as | from weakness. We are resolute to do away with the evil and we intend to proceed with such wise and cautious sanity as will cause the very minimum | of disturbance that is compatible with achieving our purpose. Importance of Character | Do not forget, friends, that we are not proposing to substitute law Tor character. We are merely proposing 1 to buttress character by law. We fuliY
  past, so it is true now and ever Wlil De ] true, the prime factor in each man | or womans success must normally De | that man or womans own character I character, the sum of many quailties' l but above all of the qualities or non esty, of courage and of common sense | Nothing will avail a nation If there Is not the right type of character among | the average men and women, the plain | people, the hard working, deeent-hVlhe' l right tn hiking people who make up the great bulk of our citlzensh1p- Know | my countrymen; I know that they are of this type. But 1t is In CIVIL llfe as u | is in war. In war it is the man oehlnd | the gun that counts most, and yet ne | cannot do his work unless he has the right kind of gun. In civil lire, Inv the every day life of our nation 1t IS inol- v.dual character which counts most and yet the individual character cannot l avail unless in addition thereto these | lie ready to hand the social weapons which can be forged only by law and | by public opinion operating through and operated upon by law
 No New Principles
 Again friends do not forget that we are proposing no new principles The doctrines we preach reach back to the | Golden Rule and the Sermon on the | Mount. They preach back to the Com- nandments delivered at Sinai. All that we are doing is to apply those doctrines | in the shape necessary to make them available for meeting the living issues of our own day. We decline to be bound by the empty little cut-and-dried l formulas of bygone philosophies, use ful once, perhaps, but useless now. our purpose is to shackle greedy cunning as we shackle brutal force, and we are not to be diverted from this purpose tno Aaty if a vanished past. We propose to lift the l burdens from the lowly and the weary, l from the poor and the oppressed. We I propose to stand for the sacred rights | of childhood and womanhood. Nay, more, we propose to see that manhood | is not crushed out of the men who toll, l by excessive hours of labor, by under payment, by injustice and oppression. When this purpose only be secured | by the collective action Of our people through their governmental agencles. sscc propose so to secure 1t. We brush aside the arguments of those who seek | to bar action b ythe repetition of some l formula about States rights" or about tthe history of liberty" being "the his | tory of the limitation of governmental power" or about the duty of the courts finally to determine the meaning Of | the constitution. We are for human rights and we intend to work for them | inefficient IaShion. where they can | be best obtained by the application of | the doctrines of states rights, then we | shall invoke to it's uttermost limits | that mighty power. We are for lib- l erty. But we are for the liberty of the oppressed and not for the liberty of | the oppressor to oppress the weak and | to bind burdens on the shoulders of I the heavy laden. It is idle to ask us not to exercise the power of the gov ernment when only by the power of | the government can we curb the greed I that sits in high places, when only by | the exercise of the government can We exalt the lowly and give heart to the | humble and the downtrodden
 Care for Facts
 | We care for facts and not for for | mulas. We care for deeds and not Tor words. We recognize no sacred right | of oppression. We recognize no divine l right to work injustice. We stand for I the constitution. We recognize that one of it's most useful functions is the protection of property. But we will not l consent to make of the constitution a l fetich for the protection of fossilized 1 wrong We call the attention of those who thus interpret it to the fact that in l tnat great instrument of justice life and | liberty are put on a full level with prop erty, indeed. are enumerated ahead of it | In the order of their importance. We stand for an upright judiciary But
 where the judges claim the right to
 make our laws by finally interpreting l them by finally deciding whether or not | tIa tf, ,al lxa haD1