Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-04-19

cOrdanCe with your Will ana suppose II
were suggested to you that occasionally,
when it was necessary. in order to bring
these gentlemen to a realization of what
the government consisted In, you should
| take legislation into your own hands.
Would that be very shocking? All, gen.
tlemen, the south is conservative re-
gion; but the south has operated on the
fundamental principles upon which these
very measures rest.
QUOTING HISTORIC PRECEDENTS.
| I had the pleasure of speaking, not long
ago, before my fellow citizens in the city
OF Richmond, Virginia. knew that Vir-
ginia was conservative-as Georgia is
and / took the liberty Of asking how long
since it was that they had thoughtfully
read the great Virginia Declaration of
Rights. written by George Mason, and the
very soil out of which all of our declara-
tons of rights sprang; and 1 took the lib
erty of reading some OF the sentences
from that great declaration to them. /
wish that carried those immortal sem
fences accurately in my memory-but /
can only approach them.
ONE OF THE FIRST PRINCIPLES
LAID DOWN. THERE IS THAT ALL
MAGISTRATES, ALL ELECTED Off
GERS, ARE TRUSTEES OF THE PEG
PIE, AT ALL TIMES RESPONSIBLE
TO THEM. Does that sound as II the
responsibility was confined to certain
revolutions of the seasons when elections
come around? At all times amenable to
their direct responsibility to the people.
PIN the next sentence it goes on to say
tina. the people have established our gov
ernments in order to PROMOTE THEIR
OWN CONVENIENCE, HAPPINESS
AND PROSPERITY, and that whenever,
in their judgment, those institutions do
not promote thhese purposes thhey can
alter or abolish them.
Did you ever hear any more radical
doctrine than that? Now, we don't
want to abolish things, we don't want
radical alterations but we do want
every public servant TO realize that HIS
MASTERS ARE NOT PRIVATE
GROUPS OF SPECIAL INTERESTS,
BUT THE GREAT MASSES OF THE
PEOPLE, OF the commonwealth of the
nation. (Applause)
WHAT HIS CAMPAIGN MEANS.
This is a preliminary campaign. This
is campaign which has to do with the
question who shall be chosen as the
representatives and spokesman of the
people. During this campaign 1t is not
worth your while to discuss the great
economic problems now pressing upon
America.
! Why should you discuss the tariff un-
til you know whose judgments are go
ing to settle the tariff question?
why should you discuss the trusts
until you know what body of the ma
ton IS going to settle the question OF
how we are to deal with the trusts?
Don't you see that the fundamental
question, the only question worth dis
cussing, is whose government is this?
For, tell you that for the last genera
ton 1t has not been the government
Of the people. (Applause.)
When I look at the utterances Of
| some of the most conspicuous Republi-
can leaders, I read very ominous
thing in their utterances. 1 read that
they hold that theory of government
which is AT THE ANTIPODES FROM
THE THEORY WHICH CAN SUSTAIN
A WHOLESOME DEMOCRACY. They
maintain that only those are able to
Judge what will promote the prosperity
i 70 America who have the biggest ma
terial stake in that prosperity, And If
you want to know how to govern Amer
lea, you must resort to the men who
are at the head of the great enterprises
by which great fortunes have been &C
cumulated here. say that that is turn
ing the whole doctrine of government
upside down.
WHERE AMERICAS FUTURE RESTS.
1 Who constitutes the strength of Amer
| lea? The little handful Of men who have
succeeded, the little body of men who
have accumulated great fortunes and led
In great enterprises? Are you going to
fertilize the tree out OF its blossoms and
its fruits? Do you not know that you
must fertilize and renew the tree out
Of its roots-out OF the silent soil? DO
YOU NOT KNOW THAT THE FUTURE
OF AMERICA RESTS NOT WITH THE
MEN WHO HAVE SUCCEEDED, BUT
WITH THE MEN WHO ARE GOING TO
SUCCEEDED CGreat applause.l And that
no man can predict whence those sources
of youth .s-,d renewal are going, to be
drawn? Does any man know where the
leaders OF the next generation are going
TO come from? Can you pick out the sort
OF house they are going to be born in2 Do
you know whether they are coming from
the mines. or the farms, or the factories,
or the palaces--or not? Do you not know
that America has proved not only the
virlity, but the validity. of democracy,
by opening wide all those avenues of sue
cess which are absolutely necessary for
the stimulation of individual genius?
THE DOCTRINE HE BREACHES.
When preach the doctrine of the rule
OF the people repudiaate absolutely
the suggestion that there is any touch of
the demagogue in the suggestion; because
If hadn't read history, 1 might dream
Of the leadership of a little coterie of
men of specially trained genius But I
turn, with e yer renewed admiration, to
that great founder of the Democratic
party, Thomas Jefferson, and remember
that he. BRED AN ARISTOCRAT AND
SCHOLAR, AND COMPANION OF MEN
OF LEARNING; man who lived to delve
into the secrets of science and philoso-
ply, nevertheless looked forth upon the
masses of the people with that divination
WHICH is the divination of knowledge,
knowing that OUT OF THESE GREAT
MASSLS OFlHIS FELLOW MEN WE'RE
TO COME THE HOPE AND SALIVA
TON OF THE GREAT COMMON
WEALTH with which ne was connected.
So that he wished every man to know
that his fame was to be linked with the
foundations of universities, with the car
rying Of learning to the people, with the
i cutting off of all class distinctions. with
the philosophy that the government be-
longs to the great body of the people
themselves.
Every thoughtful man, every man to
whom the vision of humanity has been
revealed, must hold this vital philoso-
ply: 4.E MUST KNOW THAT THESE
ARE THE SOURCES AND THESE
ONLY ARE THE SOURCES OF GREAT
POWER IN POLITICS.
WHAT DEMOCRATIC SUCCESS
MEANS.