Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1912-09-26
For President
WOODROW WILSON
For Vice President
THOMAS r. MARSHALL
The Key to Two Political Positions

''The history of liberty is history
It the limitation of governmental pow
sr, not Of the increase of it," This
quotation from a speech by Mr.. Will
son. Mr.. Roosevelt calls "the key to
Mr.. Wilson's position" 1t is a fair
characterization. Limitation OF gov
ernmental power rather than increase
Of 1t. Ia of the essence of the issues
In this campaign of Mr.. Wilson's side.
On Mr., Roosevelt's side it is the other
way. The question, then. between
those two candidates is whether gov
srnmental powers shall be greater or
less.
Now precisely what does this direct
conflict on governmental policy mean?
The answer requires consideration of
more than single utterance of either
candidate, and more than can be
quoted here. The speeches, the plat
forms, the public record of the two
men must be considered as whole.
Tried by that test, Mr.. Roosevelt ad-
vocates the retention of governmental
powers than maintain private monop-
olies, supplemented with further gov.
ernmental powers to keep private
monopolies from doing harm. Tried
by the same test, Mr. Wilson advo-
Gates such a lessening of the govern
mental powers that maintain private
monopolies as to make private monop-
olies non-existent.
Perhaps the difference may be il
Illustrated by a quotation from Mr..
RoOsevelt's San Francisco. speech of
the 14th, in which he characterized
Mr.. Wilson's statement about limita-
ton of governmental power as the
kay to Mr.. Wilson's position. 80
long as governmental power was en-
clusively for the king and not for the
people," said Mr.. Roosevelt, 1.-The his
tory of liberty was history of the
limitation of governmental power; but
now the governmental power rests in
the people, and the kings who enjoy
privileges are the kings of the finan-
cial and industrial world. and what
they clamor for is the elimination of
governmental power, and what the
people sorely need is the extension
of governmental power" That the
successors to the privileged kings of
the past are those of the financial and
industrial world, is true. But it is
also true that they, like their prede-
cessors, get their privileges through
is as imperative now that govern
mental power be limited in its main
tenance of Industrial privileges for
financial and industrial kings-limit-
ed even to the point of aboition-as
it ever was in history with reference
to the privileges of political kings.
Mr.. Roosevelt does not think so; Mr..
Wilson does.
For illustration: Mr.. Roosevelt s
policy means protective-tariff privileg.
es established by governmental power
but guarded from doing harm by eX-
tensions of governmental power;
whereas Mr.. Wilson's means abolition
of protectve-tariff privileges them
selves, by limitation of governmental
power. Nor is the tariff question the
only one to which this conflict of
policy similarly applies. There are
many others. Mr.. Wilson has indeed
disclosed the key to his position; and
in denouncng Mr. Wilson on that
point Mr.. Roosevelt acknowledges the
key to his own. Mr.. Roosevelt would
remedy excessive governmental power
with more governmental power, Mr.,
Wilson with less