Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1912-05-09
Not Captains Of Industry but
the Masses Of the People.
DECLARES WOODROW WILSON.
Business, Politics and Wealth Of the
Country Come Up, Not Down, He
Says-AlI the People DO Not Believe
In Democratic Government.
BY WILSON.

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 It's 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 s~upposing all the
people believe in democratic govern
ment, because they do not. You have
only to listen to the u~tterances 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 a them to represent the
great body of the peopef
Prefers Judgment Of Rank and File,
don't know whether | was born 81
or learned SO or what happened to me,
but know this. that the deepest con-
sviction | have. arising out of observa-
ton and experience ia this, that /
would rather take the judgment Of the
rank and file than the judgment Of the
mnn Whn h oun honnnn absorbed and
successful leaders In great undertak-
ings.
And | 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-
Ell beasts. and your enterprises would
fail for lack of the very breath that
sustains them.
If 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 SOL
where they expect to get them in.
where they find doors open and where
they find 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 If these
men are confident, full of hope; If they
know they are going to get fair treat
ment wherever they so. then America
can conquer the world Of enterprise in
their hope.
But II you find what you do find
men everywhere asking themselves
whether the doors Of opportunity have
not been locked In their f~aces-then
you will have to take a new reckoning
as to the future of America.
If 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 a nation that was renew
ed from the top? Did you ever hear
of q nation that was not made vlrile
that did not account for its youth by
renewal from the bottom? Did you
ever hear Of a tree that drew Its sap
from its flowers? Does 1t not draw 1t
from the dark and silent places of the
soil? Does not a nation draw its pow
.er of renewal and enterprise and all
its future from the ranks of the great
body of unnamed men? 70
Friend Of American Business.
II 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 10
a wilderness. "+..
am the friend Of American bust
ness because / know where its founda-
lions are laid and where they are
weak. These foundations are solid
only when laid in the confidence of
the common people. ....
A Democrat7 Why, a man does not
understand history who isn't a Demo
crat. A man doesn't understand enter.
prise who isn't a Democrat And let
me say this. Democracy Is not merely
Il matter of programs: it is a matter Of
and insight It depends
npon whether your heart is in come
ton with the great heart Of the peo-
pie. 1t does not depend upon whether
you can cunningly devise a platform
that looks Just and good. You can
build a fimsy platform and stand o.
1t successfully. provided its basis ts IN
the right kind Of spirit
1t L. 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 CT the other mans head
is the thing; getting the hope that ia
The universe! hope: getting that i'm
pulse that is the common human I'M
pulse. forward This world has been
by wave after "a Of Demo
Impulse.