Perth Amboy evening news., 1912-04-17
WILSON STANDS
FOR 4 NEW ERA
Tells Why Governor Is Con-
sidered a Conservative.
BY OTTO c. WlERUM
OF the Woodrow Wilson League of Es-

INF. Wierum is a lawyer practieing In
New York and residing in Montclair,
N. il
In this paper I shall attempt to set
out some reasons why q conservative
should support Woodrow Wilson for
the presidency. 1t seems to me that
the conservative Is the neglected mar
In the controversies which are now
raging in both political camps. If we
are to believe all that Is being written
about all the candidates and If there
is no other side to the matter, then
there Is no n who cares for Conserva-
tive support or appeals to conservative
voters. Now, although it is of no i'm
portance except to show the angle
from which this is written, l don't
mind confessing that l am a conserva-
tive.
| venture to think that a very large
proportion of the American electorate
is at heart and essentially conservative.
By this | do not mean that they are in
favor Of turning back the hands of the
clock, because that would mean serious
damage to the works. | mean that the
majority Of our people have faith in
the established institutions of this ma
ton and believe in thoroughly trying
out any suggested improvements before
~embodying them IN our fundamental
law, No II is opposed to progress,
but most of us doubt whether all change
is necessarily for the better.
l believe that Governor Wilson better
represents this attitude Of mind than
any other candidate now under discus
sion. Yet he is undoubtedly a radical.
Examinesyour histories and see II the
true conservers Of their country's high
est good have not In every case been
denounced by large numbers Of their
cOuntrymen as ~innovators, radicals or
worse. Golden and John Bright were
reviled by all the high priests of protec-
ton of their day as the most dangerous
men In England. When they won their
fight by the conversion of Peel 1t was
the prime minister who succeeded them
In the defamation of the mob of Tory
dukes and hunting squires as the de
stroyer of the constitution. Today their
anne lead all the rest as the makers
of England.s commercial greatness.
- Where viii you look for more daring
radicals in our own history than were
In the constitutional convention of 1881?
The constitution itself was the most
advanced progressive measure the civil
lized world eyer saw. The standpatter
of today talks as If that great docu-
ment came from his lineal progenitors
when In fact it was the product of the
Woodrow Wilson's of the eighteenth
century.
Since the adoption of the constitution
the greatest strides which this country
has taken were when it was forced to
keep step with Thomas Jefferson and
Abraham Lincoln, tnnovators and radl-
calls both of them-most dangerous men.
Woodrow Wilson alone of all the
men now before the public Is In the
class Of these leaders.
If you are inclined to doubt 1t look
ct the others, Mr.. Conservative.
Mr.. Taft, good and virtuous man that
he is, has he shown the independence
Of thought or action that the situation
demands, or has he shown a willing
ness to sink his own conviction of the
nations needs when party leaders put
on the screwsr Read his Winons tar
If sassch and his own messages be-
fore and since and you have the an
swer,
Roosevelt-there was a time no doubt
when enormous numbers of his coun-
trymen, without regard to party, rash
or thank God, the proposition needs no
argument today!
Clark-is there a single ray of hope
In his dirsction3 What do we know of
him except his foolish Canadian annex
alton speeches, his service pension vote
destroying every custom house7" Do
these commend him as a safe pilot in
. storm7
There remain Governor Harmon and
Governor Wilson. only these two, for
Mr.. Underwood himself knows and all
h&s friends know that he Is no more a
factor In the problem than any n of
q hundred others.
Now, I have a great respect for Gov
ernor Harmon. II we were living In
the last decade Of the nineteenth cen
fury, instead Of In the second decade
Of the twentieth, and II all the other
leading Democrats Of that CARRIER time
were Unavailable I should be for him.
For n thing, he would be Atty years
old instead Of nearly seventy. His
mental muscles would be more timber.