davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-08-09
We Are All Servants
Of the Whole PEOPLE

We are servants OF the people, the
whole people. The nation has been I'M
necessarily at war within itself. Inter
est has clashed with interest when there
we're common principles of right and of
fair dealing which might and should
have bound them all together not as ri
walls, but as partners. AS the servants
Of ALL we are bound to undertake the
great duty OF accommodation and ad-
Justment. -.
We scanots undertake IT except in a
spiFit (which some find IL hard to under
stand. Some people only smile when you
speak OF yourself as a servant Of the
people; IL seems to them like affectation
OF mere demagoguery, They ask what
the 'unthinking crowd knows or COM
prehends OF great complicated matters
OF government They shrug their shout
ders and lift. their eyebrows when you
speaks as IL you really believed in pres
idential primaries. in the direct election
OF United States senators. and in an ut
ter publicity about everything that con-
Germs government from the sources OF
campaign funds TO the intimate debate
OF the highest affairs Of state
They do not, or viii not, comprehend
the solemn thing that is in your
thought You know as well as they do
that there are all sorts and conditions
or mens-the minimizing mixed with the
wise. the reckless with the prudent,
the INSCRIPTIONS with the fair and hon
est-and you know what they sometimes
forget. that every class. without excep-
ton, affords sample Of the mixture,
the learned and the fortunate no less
than the uneducated and the struggling
mass. But you see more than they do.
You see that these multitudes of men,
mixed Of every kind and quality, con-
stitute somehow an organic and noble
whole, a single people, and that they
have interests which no man can pri-
vately determine without their knowl-
edge and counsel That is the meaning
OF representative government itself.
Representative government is nothing
more nor less than an effort to give
voice to this great body through spokes-
men chosen out of every grade and
class.
You may think that I am wandering
OF into a general disquisition that has
little to do with the business in hand;
but 1 am not. This is business-busi-
ness OF the deepest sort 1t will solve
our difficulties If you will but take 1t
as business. ~
Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-08-09
Panama Canal Is Great
International Highway

The very fact that we have at last
taken the Panama canal seriously In
hand and are vigorously pushing It to-
wards completion is eloquent of our re-
awakened interest in international
trade. We are not building the canal
and pouring out million upon million of
money upon it's construction merely to
establish a water connection between
the two coasts of the continent, impor-
tant and desirable as that may be. par
ticularly from the point OF view OF
naval defense. 1t is meant to be a great
international highway. 1t would be q
little ridiculous If we should built 1t
and then have no ships to send through
It. There have been years when not a
single ton Of freight passed through the
great Suez canal in an American bot
tom. too empty are the seas of our ships
and seamen. We must mean to put an
end to that kind Of thing or we would
not be cutting a new canal at our very
doors merely for the use OF our men Of
war We shall not manage the revival
by the mere paltry device of tolls. We
must build and buy ships in competi-
ton with the world. We can do IL IL
we will but give ourselves leave.
This is another duty which the DeulA
Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-08-09
Movement of Prices
Concerns Us Deeply

Moreover, we begin to perceive some
things about the movement of prices
that concern US very deeply, and fix
our attention upon the tariff schedules
with amore definite determination than
ever 10 get to the bottom OF this mat
ter. We have been looking into 1t, at
trials held under the Sherman act and in
Investigations in the committee rooms
Of congress. where men who wanted to
know the real facts have been busy with
inquiry; and we begin to see very clear
ly what at least some of the methods
are by which prices are fixed. We know
that they are not fixed by the competi-
tons OF the market, or by the ancient
law OF supply and demand which is to be
found stated in all the primers OF eco
Monies, but by private arrangements
with regard TO what the supply should
be and agreements among the producers
themselves. Those who buy are not even
represented by counsel The high cost
Of living is arranged by private under
standing.
We naturally ask ourselves. how did
these gentlemen get control Of these
things2 Who handed our economic laws
over to them for legislative and con-
tractual alteration We have in these
disclosures still another view Of the tar
if, still another proof that, not the peo-
pie Of the United States but only a very
small number OF them have been part
Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-08-09
Old Government Grand
Dispenser of aVorS

There has been no more demoraliz-
ing influence IN our politics in CUR
time than the influence OF tariff legis-
letion, the influence of the. idea. that
the government was the grand dispen-
ser of favors. the maker and unmaker
of fortunes, and OF opportunities such
as certain men have sought in order to
control the movement Of trade and in
dustry throughout the continent 1t
has made the government prize to be
captured and parties the means Of eff
fecting the capture. 1t has made the
business men of one Of the most virile
and enterprising nations in the world
timid, fretful, full OF alarms: has
robbed them of self-confidence and
manly force, until they have cried out
that they could 90 nothing with tout the
assistance of the government at Wash
ington. 1t has made them feel that
their lives depended upon the ways and
means committee of the house and the
finance committee of the senate Tin
these later years particularly the fl
nance committee Of the senate.) They
have insisted very anxiously that these
committees should be made up only of
their friends; until the country in
it's turn grew suspicious and wondered
how those committees were being guid1
ed and controlled. by what influences
and plans OF personal advantage. Gov
eminent cannot be wholesomely con-
Quoted in such an atmosphere. Its
very honesty is in jeopardy. Favors
are never conceived in the general In
terest; they are always for the benefit
of the few. and the few who seek and
obtain them have only themselves TO
blame If presently they seem to be con-
demned and distrusted.
For what has the result been2 Pros
perity? Yes, II by prosperity you mean
vast wealth no matter how distributed,
or whether distributed at all, or not; If
you mean vast enterprises built up to
be presently concentrated under the
control of comparatively small bodies
of men, who can determine almost at
pleasure whether there shall be compe-
tition or not The nation as a nation
has grown immensely rich. She is Justly
proud of her industries and of the genius
of her men OF affairs. They can master
anything they set their minds to, and
we have been greatly stimulated under
their leadership and command. Their
laurels are many and very green. We
must accord them the great honors that
are their due and we must preserve what
they have built up for us. But what
of the other side of the picture? 1t is
not as easy for us to live as IL used to
be. Our money will not buy as much
High wages, even when we can get
them, yield US no great comfort. We
need to be better off with less, because
a dollar could buy so much more. The
majority OF US have been disturbed to
find ourselves growing poorer, even
though our earnings were slowly in
creasing. Prices climb faster than we
can push our earnings I'M.
Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-08-09

cant, among the lawyers who are their
expert advisers; and that this spirit has
displayed itself very notably in the last
few months in an effort 70 return, in
some degree at any rate, to the prac-
tees of genuine competition. Only a
very little while ago our men of bust
ness were united in resisting every pro-
posal OF change and reform as an at
tack on business, an embarrassment to
all large enterprises, an intimatton that
settled ideas of property were to be set
aside and a new and strange order Of
things created out of hand. While they
thought in that way progress seemed
impossible without hot contest and a
bitter clash between interests, almost
a war of classes. Common counsel
seemed all but hopeless, because some
OF the chief parties in interest would
not take part--seemed even to resent
discussion as a manifestation OF hos
tility towards themselves. They talked
constantly about vested interests and
were very hot.
1t is a happy omen that their atti-
tude has changed. They see that what
is right can hurt no man; that new
adjustment OF interests is inevitable
and desirable, is in the interest of
everybody; that their own honor. their
own intelligence, their own practical
comprehension OF affairs is involved.
They are beginning to adjust their bust
ness to the new standards. Their hand
is no longer against the nation; they
are part of it, their interests are bound
up with its interests. This is not true
of all of them, but 1t is true Of enough
of them to show what the new age is
to be. and how the anxieties of states
men are to be eased. IL the light that is
dawning broadens into day.
Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-08-09
Tariff Has Been Politics
Instead of Bushes

See how IL makes business out Of the
tariff question. The tariff question, as
dealt with in our time at any rate, has
not been business. It-has been politics.
Iarin schedules have been made up for
the purpose OF keeping as large a num-
Der. as possible of the rich and infiu-
entail manufacturers OF the country in
a good humor with the Republican par
~, which desired their constant financial
support, The tariff has become a sys-
tenn OF favors, which the phraseology Of
the schedule was often deliberately con-
trived TO conceal 1t becomes a matter
OF business. of legitimate business, only
when the partnership and understanding
Il represents is between the leaders of
congress and the whole people of the
United States, instead of between the
leaders OF congress and small groups
OF manufacturers demanding special
recognition and consideration That is
why the general idea of representative
government becomes a necessary part
OF the tariff question. Who, when you
come down to the hard facts of the mat
ter. have been represented in recent
years when our tariff schedules were be-
ing discussed and determined, not on
the floor Of congress. for that is not
where they have been determined, but
in the committee rooms and confer
ences? That is the heart of the whole
affair. VIII you. can you. bring the
whole people into the partnership or
not? No one Is disconnected with rep
resentative. II is at bottom a question
question only yhen IT ceases to be rep
resentative. II is at botto ma question
OF good faith and morals.
How does the present tariff look in
the light Of it2 / say nothing for the
moment about the policy OF protection.
conceived and carried out as a disin-
terested statesman might conceive IL.
Our own clear conviction as Democrats
Is. that in the last analysis the only safe
and legitimate object Of tariff duties, as
of taxes OF every other kind, is to raise
revenue for the SUPPORT OF the govern
Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-08-09

ss.s nm tba r,,Ie of Justice and OF right
IN such matters as the tariff, the regu-
lation OF the trusts and the prevention
OF monopoly, the adaptation OF our oaIlh-
ing and currency laws 10 the Narieu
uses TO which our people must put the a,l
the treatment Of those who DO the oaliy
labor in our factories and mines and
throughout all out great Industrial ana
commercial undertakings, and the point
zeal life OF the people of the Philippines
for whom we hold governmental power
in trust for their service not our own
The other, the additional duty Is the
great task Of protecting our people ana
our resources and Of keeping open TO the
whole people the doors OF opportunity
through which they must generation
by generation, pass II they are to make
conquest OF their fortunes In health IN
freedom. in peace, and IN contentment.
in the performance OF this second great
duty we are face 10 face with questions
OF conservation and OF development
questions OF forests and water powers
and mines and water ways, or the build
ing OF an adequate merchant marine,
and the opening Of every highway ano
facility and the setting up of every safe
guard needed by a great Industrious ex-
panding nation.
These are all great matters upon
which everybody should De heard we
have got into trouble in recent years
chiefly because these large things which
ought to have been handled by taking
counsel with as large a number Of per-
sons as possible, because they touched
every interest and the life Of every
class and region. have in fact been too
often handled in private conference.
They have been settled by very small
and often deliberately exclusive groups
OF men who undertook to speak for the
whole nation or. rather for themselves
In the terms of the whole nation
very honestly it may be but very ig-
norantly sometimes and very short
sightedly too--a poor substitute for gem
uine common counsel No group Of di-
rectors. economic or political can speak
for people. They have neither point
OF view nor the knowledge. Our diff
hculty is not that wicked and design
ing men have plotted against US but that
cur common affairs have been determin-
ed upon too narrow a view. and by too
private an initiative. Our task now is to
effect a great readJustment and get the
forces Of the whole people once more
into play. We need no revolution; We
need no excited hcanges we need only a
new point OF view and a new method
and spirit OF counsel"
Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-08-09
We Are Excused From
Attacks On Opponent.

We should go into this campaign con-
fdent OF only one thing-confident of
what we want to do If entrusted with
the government. It is not partisan fight
we are entering upon. We are happily
excused from personal attacks upon OPP
ponents and from all general indictments
against the men opposed to US The facts
are patent to everybody; we do not have
to prove them; the more frank among
our opponents admit them. Our thinking
must be constructive from start to finish.
We must chow that we Understand the
problems that confront us. and that We
are soberly minded to deal with them,
applying to them, not nostrums and no.
tons. but hard sense and good courage.
A presidential campaign may easily de-
generate into a mere personal contest
and so lose its real dignity and signifi-
canoe. There is nos Indispensable man.
The government win not collapse and 20
to pieces If any one of the gentlemen who
are seeking to be entrusted with its
guidance should be left at home. But men
are instruments. We are as important as
the cause we represent, and in order to
be important must really represent a
Is
cause? That is easy to say, but what
does it mean? The common as against
any particular interest whatever? Yes.
but that, too, needs translation into acts
and policies. We represent the desire to
set up an unentangled government a
government that cannot be used for prf-
vate purposes, either in the field of bus
mess or in the field OF politics; a gov
eminent that win not tolerate the use
OF the organization of a great party to
serve the personal aims and ambitions
OF any Individual. and that will not per-
NIT legislation 70 be employed to fur
Their any private interest It is a great
conception, but I am free to serve Ii. as
you also are. I could not have accepted
q nomination which left me bound to
any man or any group OF men, No man
can be just who is not free: and no man
who has to show favors ought TO under
take the solemn responsibility Of govern
ment in any rank OF post whatever. least
Of all in the supreme post of president OF
the United States
To be free is not necessary to be wise.
But wisdom comes with counsel. with
the frank and free conference Of un-
trammeled men united in the common in
terest. Should be entrusted with the
great office OF president, I would seek
counsel wherever IT could be had upon
free terms. / know the temper Of the
great convention which nominated me;
know the temper Of lna country that
lay back Of that convention and spoke
through It, I heed with deep thank
fulness the message you bring me from
It. I feel that / am surrounded by men
whose principles and ambitions are those
Of true servants OF the people. I thank
God. and viii take courage.
Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-08-09

ment; but that is not my present point
We denounce the Payne-Aldrich tariff
as the most conspicuous example ever
afforded the country of the special ia
vors and monopolistic advantages which
the leaders of the Republican party
have so often shown themselves willing
to extend to those to whom they looked
for campaign contributions. Tariff du-
ties, as they have employed them, have
not been a means of setting up an
equitable system of protection. They
have been, on the contrary, a method of
fostering special privilege. They have
made IL easy to establish monopoly in
our domestic markets. Trusts have
owed their origin and their secure pow
er to them. The economic freedom of
our people, our prosperity in trade, our
untrammeled energy in manufacture de-
pend upon their reconsideration from
top to bottom in an entirely different
shirt
Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-08-09
We Know Our Minds,


We do not ignore the fact that the
business Of a country like ours is OK
ceedingly sensitive to changes in legIs-
lation Of this kind. 1t has been built
up. however ill-advisedly. upon tariff
schedules written in the way I have
indicated. and it's foundations must
not be too radically or too suddenly
disturbed. When we act we should
act with caution and prudence, like
men who know what they are about,
and not like those in love with the
ory II is obvious that the changes
we make should be made only at such
a rate and in such a way as will least
interfere with the normal and health
full course OF commerce and manufac-
ture. But we shall not on that ac-
count act with timidity, as II We did
not know our own minds, for we are
Ger tain Of our ground and of our OBJ
ject. There should be an immediate
revision, and it should be downward,
unhesitatingly and steadily downward
It should begin with the schedules
which have been most obviously used
TO kill competition and to raise prices
in the United States, arbitrarily and
without regard to the prices pertaining
elsewhere in the markets of the world;
and 1T should before IL Is finish ed or
intermitted be extended TO every item
In every schedule which affords any
opportunity for monopoly, for special
advantage to limited groups Of bene-
ficiaries, or for subsidized control of
any kind In the markets or the enter
prises Of the country; until special fa-
vors Of every sort shall have been alb
solutely withdrawn and every part Of
our laws Of taxation shall have been
transformed from a system of govern
mental patronage into a system of Just
and reasonable charges which shall
fall where they will create the least
burden. When we shall have done
that, we can fix questions Of revenue
and of business adjustment in new
spirit and with clear minds. We shall
then be partners with all the business
men of the country. and day of frecr,
more stable prosperity shall have
"A
Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-08-09

SEAGIRT. n. J.. Aug I'm accepting
the Democratic nomination Mr.. Wilson
spoke. in fun. as follows:
Dir. James and Gentlemen OF the NOd-
sncation COMMITTEES:
Speaking for the national Democrats
convention. recently assembled at Balti-
more, you have notified me OF my nonli-
nation By the Democratic party for the
high once OF president OF the United
States. Allow me to thank you very
warmly for the generous terms In which
YOU have. through your distinguished
chairman. conveyed the notification and
FOR the thoughtful personal courtesy with
which you have performed your interest
lag errand.
i accept ths nomination with deep
sense OF It's unusual significance and OF
the great honor done men. and also with
q very profound sense OF my response
biuty 10 the party and 10 the nation
You viii expect me in accepting the nom
or to sneak rez-ys plainly the faith that Is
ia me-. You viii expect me. in brief, TO
talk politics and open the campaign IN
words whose meaning no one need doubt
You win expect me tosspeak 70 the eoun-
Try as wei as TO yourselves.
we cannot intelligently talk politics un-
less we know TO whom we are talking
and IN what circumstances. The pres
-eut circumstances are clearly unusual
No previous political campaign In our
time has disclosed anything Ike them
The audience we address Is in no ordina-
~ temper. It Is no audience OF parusans.
Citizens OF every class and party ana
prepossessi0n sit together, single peo-
pie. TO learn whether we understand their
life and know how 70 AFFORD them the
counsel and guidance they are nov keen
" awal that they stand in need of.
We must speak, not to catch votes, but
70 satisfy the thought and conscience
Of a people deeply stirred by the con
vfction that they have come to a crit
cal turning point In their moral and
political Development
Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-08-09
Not Owners of the
Philippines; Just Trustees

In dealing with the Philippines we
should not allow ourselves to stand upon
any mere point of pride. as ir, In order
to keep our countenance in the families
OF nations, It were necessary for US to
make the same plumbers of selfishness
that other nations have made. We are
not the owners of the PI4-..ppIne Islands.
We hold them in trust for the people
who live in them. They are theirs, for
the uses of their life. We are not even
their partners. 1t is our duty as trus-
teers to make whatever arrangement of
government will be most serviceable to
their freedom and development. Here,
again, we are to set up the rule of jus
tice and of right
The rule OF the people Is no idle
phrase, those who believe in it, as who
does not that has caught the real spirit
of American believe mat there can be
no rule of right without IT: that right in
politics is made up of the interests of
everybody, and everybody should take
part in the action that is to determine
it. We have geen keen for presidential
primaries and the direct election oil
United States Senators, because we
wanted the action of the government
to be determined by persons whom the
people had actually designated as men
whom they were ready to trust and fol-
low we nave been anxious that all
campaign contribution ana expenditures
should be disclosed to the public in full
est detail, because we regarded the in
fiuences which govern campaigns to be
as much a part of the peoples business
as anything else connected win their
government. We are working towards
very definite object. the universal
partnership in public affairs upon which
the purity Of politics and its aim and
spirit depend.
For there Is much for the partners
to undertake. In the affairs of a great
nation We plan and labor. not for the
present only. but for the long future as
well. There are great tasks of protec-
ton and conservation and development
to which we have 10 address ourselves
Government has much more to do than
merely to right wrongs and set the house
IN order.
l do not know any greater question
than that of conservation. We have been
a spendthrift nation and must now
husband what we have left We must
DO more than that. We must develop
as we'll as preserve, our water powers
and must add great waterways TO the
transportation facilities of the nation. to
supplement- the railways within our bor-
ders as well as upon the isthmus We
must revive our merchant marine, too,
and I'LL the seas again with our own
fleets We must add to our present
Dostoffice- service a 0arcAlS naaA IA sans=-