The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-05-02

balcony was packed to suffocation. 4 handsome maltese cat strode forward among the delegates and took a seal In the first row. nestling costly in the lap of a New Haven county delegate congressman Thomas l.. Reilly o1 Meriden, who was enthusiastically | greeted.
 Senator Archibald McNeiI, Jr., al l once claimed the floor and walking te the stage presented the Congressman I with a magnificent floral horseshoe the gift of Bridgeport branch No B of the National Association of Letter Carriers
 Senator McNeil said: Bridgeport Branch, No. 32 of the National Asso- ciation of Letter Carriers and clerks have delegated to me tonight the pleasant and agreeable privilege of pre- senting to the distinguished chairman Of this gathering a slight token of their appreciation and admiration for his admirable efforts in securing the passage of the S-hour law for the post al clerks and employees recently in the House of Representatives. A storm l he brought forth the handsome floral piece. When it subsided. Congress man Reilly said in response: Permit me to thank the letter carriers and clerks of the Bridgeport Postoffice through you for this very touching and beautiful appreciation. Whatever has been done for the postoffice clerks l and carriers in the so-called S-hour bill is simple justice that has long been delayed and Is now about to be meted out to those hard working and honest representatives of this govern ment"
 | Congressman Reilly then began the speech of the evening. His keen and logical analysis of the issues presented to the voters appealed with great force to his auditors. Unwonted enthus- 1 iasm soon took possession of the con- vention and ere he had progressed far | into his address he was repeatedly in- | terrupted by outbursts of applause. | His mention of the names of the various Democratic presidential can- didates brought forth much applause but it was noticeable that by far the greatest acclaim followed the mention of the name of Baldwin.
 Congressman Reilly's address fol- lows:
 Gentlemen of the Convention, Fellow | Democrats:
 i It is appropriate and significant that this convention. called to select four | teen Democrats who will in turn assist in nominating the next President of the United States, should be held in | the progressive city of Bridgeport, the city that has progressed to next to. the head of Connecticut municipalities. l This is an age of progress. If city is not progressive, it does not amount to much. The same is true of the State and the nation. It is true of Iiv,1 fvyf@, 1c, t. There are certain fundamentals that must remain unchanged, if this coun- try is to last as republic, and the true progressive spirit is the best safe guard of those principles. The man, the State, the nation, the party that is content to stand still will die of dry rot. This is day and a time when what an individual or a party has done in the dim past does not | amount to much. What he or his party is doing now is the vital ques- tion
 Progressiveness has been defined ad- mirably as not being caught standing still while every one else is moving. But progressiveness must not be con- founded with recklessness. :. It must not be confounded with a desire to make a change only for the sake of appearing busy. It must not be con- founded with an impulse to upset | things generally. Progressiveness has sometimes been termed radcalism in the hope of hurting 1t by the name, but no name or nickname, call it what you wiIl can injure truly progress sive cause. The real progressive to- day is the true conservative. It is the real progressive who is conserving and preserving to the people the fun damental doctrines Of the Republic It is the reactionary or standpatter who is trying to change those principles and make one content with conditions unnatural to a true Democracy, that he has brought about by his control Of big business and the control in turn by big business of the functions of the government. He is the dangerous factor that must be met and beaten if these United States are to remain what those who fought and died for them intended they should be.
 If this country is to be preserved representatives of all our people, not few people, must govern it. These representatives must be chosen by the people themselves; they must be men in whom the people have implicit faith; they must be men grounded in true Democracy and with an abiding faith in the people they serve. That faith only can beget hope, and a nation, like man without faith or hope, is dead
 Rapidly forming in battle array are two great armies of Americans who will settle by their ballots, not by bull lets nor bayonets, for four years, at least, whether this country is to he governed in the interest of all or only part of the people.
 That is the issue clearly drawn in the campaign that will be waged from June until election night in November. That is the issue that is being fought out now in the selection of standard bearers in the coming struggle. For sixteen years past, the Republican par ty had been in control of the govern ment in all it's branches, until thirteen months ago, a Democratic House of Representatives came into power as the result of the Congressional cleo