Perth Amboy evening news., 1912-03-19
WILSON ON THE
ISSUES
Governor Analyses the Ques-
tions of the Hour.

club of Kansas City, Mo, on May 8 Of
last year, Governor Wilson spoke On
the topic, The Issues of Reform" he
said:
There can be no mistaking the fact
that we are now face to face with po-
htical changes which may have a very
profound effect upon our political life.
Those who do not understand the i'm
pending change are afraid of it. Those
who do understand 1t know that it Is
not a process of revolution, but a proc
ess Of restoration, rather, in which
there is as much healing as hurt.
There are strain and peril, no doubt,
] In every process of change, but the
chief peril comes from undertaking it
In the wrong temper. 1t lies not in the
change itself SO much as In the method
Of some of those who promote it. 1t is
a noteworthy circumstance that in pro-
/ portion as the people of the country
come to recognize what 1t Is that rem
ders them uneasy and what 1t is that
Is proposed by way of reformation
they lose their fear and take on a GER
tain irresistible enthusiasm.
1.-THE American people are naturally
a conservative people. They do not
wish to touch the stable foundations
| of their life. They have a reverence
for the rights Of property and the
rights Of contract which is based upon
a long experience In a free life, In
| which they have been at liberty to ac-
quirs property as they pleased and
bind themselves by such contracts az
suited them. No other people have
ever had such freedom in the establish
ment of personal relationships or prop
erty rights. They do not mean to lose
| this freedom or to impair any rights
at all, but they do feel that a great
many things in their economic life and
In their political action are out Of gear.
They have been cheated BY their own
political machinery. They have been
dominated by the very instrumental
ties which they themselvs created In
the field OF Industrial action. The lib
erty of the individual is hampered and
impaired. They desire therefore not a
revolution, not a cutting loose from
any part Of their past, but a read1ust-
ment of the elements Of their life, a
reconsideration of what 1t is just to do
and equitable to arrange in order that
they may be indeed free, may indeed
make their own choices and live theiI
own life u~ndominated, u~nafraid, unsus
picious, confident that they will be
served by their public men and that
the open processes Of their government
win bring to them justice and timely
reform.
Contest OF Ideals.
"What we are witnessing now is not
so much q conflict of parties as a con
test Of ideals, a struggle between those
who because they do not understand
what is happening blindly hold on to
what is and those who because they
do see the real questions of the present
and of the future In a clear, revealing
light know that there must be sober
change; know that progress. none the
less active and determined because 1t
LIS sober and just. La necessary for the
maintenance of our institutions and
| the rectihcation of our life. In both
the great national parties there are
| men who feel this ardor of progress
and Of reform, and in both parties
there are men who hold back, who
struggle to restrain change, who do not
| understand 1t or who have reason to
fear it. Undoubtedly the present mo-
ment offers a greater and larger oppor-
tunity to the Democratic party than
to the Republican party. But this is
not because there are not men in the
Republican party who have devoted
their whole intelligence and energy to
necessary reform, but because the
Democratic party as d whole is freer
to move and to act than the Republic
an is and is held back by a smaller and
weaker body of representatives of the
things that are and have been.
"We generally sum up what we mean
by the reactionary forces by speaking
Of them as embodied In the interests.
BY that we do not mean the legitimate,
but the illegitimate interests, those
which have not adjusted themselves
to the public interest, those which are
clinging to their vested rights as q bull
wark against the adjustment which Ia
absolutely necessary II they ara to be
servants and not masters of the pub
lie. The chief political fact of the
day is that the Republican party is
more closely allied with these interests
than the Democratic party. This cir
cumstance constitutes the opportunity
of the Democrats. They are free to
act and to move in the right direction
If they with but accept the responsible
fly and the leadership. The Democrat.
ic party is more in sympathy with the
new tendencies than the Republican,
Its free forces are the forces OF prog
ress and Of popular reform.
Both parties are of necessity break
ing away from the past, whether they
viii or no, because our life has broken
away from the past. The life OF
America is not the life it vas twenty
years ago. 1t is not the life 1t was
49, W. I.ax. al,n rr~n1 AIR