The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1912-07-26
DECLARES WOODROW WILSON.
Business, Politics and Wealth Of The
Country Come UP, Not Down, He
Says--All the People Do Not Believe
In Democratic Government.
BY WoopRow WILSON.

9y VS0Sn0Nt rst60OtSsa1
What fills me with confidence In the
| 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 Its 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 supposing all the
| people believe In democratic govern
ment, because they do not You have
| only to listen to the utterances Of
very distinguished Republican speak
| ers to see that they do not believe and
do not pretend to believe in represent
ative government. They vii! 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 want them to represent the
great body of the people?
Prefers Judgment Of Rank and File
don't know whether | was born so
or learned so or what happened to me,
but ] know his. that the deepest ron
viction have. arising out of oDServa-
tlon and experience is this. that /
would rather take the Judgment Of the
rank and file than the Judgment Of the
men who have become absorbed and
successful leaders In great undertak.
ings.
And want to ask these gentlemen
this query: What sustains business in
the United States! What il it that
makes the United States prosperous?
Is it that we have great captIins Of
industry? What world they do with
out the cunning and skil. the muscle
and the indomtable aspiring hope Of
| the American people: II llese people
| were to find hope dying out Of their
| hearts they would bccorle dumb driv
| Ell beasts, and your enterp" IS would
| fail fOI lack of He very brIth that
sustainS them.
II you want to find whether M
| ton is prosperous ask the men who
! are OH 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 sons.
| where they expect TO get them IN,
where they find doors open and where
they Gnd 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 Amerl'
| ca IL waxing or waning, for II these
| men are confident, full of hope; If they
know they are going to get fair treat.
ment wherever they go, then America
can conquer the world of enterprise in
their hope.
But If you find what you do find
men everywhere asking themselves
whether the doors Of opportunity have
not been locked In their faces-then
you will have to take 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 nation that was renew
ed from the top? Did you ever hear
of q nation that was not made virile
that did not account for its youth by
renewal from the bottom? Did you
ever hear of tree that drew Its sap
from It's nowers2 Does 1t not draw it
from the dark and silent places of the
soil? Does not a nation draw its pow
or of renewal and enterprise and all
Its future from the ranks Of the great
body of unnamed men?
Friend Of American Business.
If you are going to discourage these
men, If 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 In
a wilderness.
/ am the friend Of American busl.
ness because know where Its founda.
tions are laid and where they are
weak. These foundations are solid
only when laid In the confidence of
the common people.
A Democrat? Why, man does not
understand history who isn't Demo.
crat. A man doesn't understand enter.
prise who isn't Democrat And let
me say this, Democracy is not merely
a matter of programs; 1t is matter of
sympathy and insight. 1t depends
upon whether your heart is In connec.
tion 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
Suild fllmsy platform and stand on
It successfully, provided its basis is in
the right kind of spirit.
1t is matter of seeing, not from
your eyes out, but from the eyes of
other men In. Getting the vision that
is In the back Of the other mans head
Is the thing; getting the hope that Is
the universal hope; getting that i'm.
pulse that is the common human i'm.
pulse, forward. This world has been
swept by wave after wave of Demo.
cratic impulse.
nnPAnal HAAaAun ~.s 49,.