Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1913-03-13
President Wilson's
Inaugural Address.

OF the world, violates the just principles
OF taxation, and makes the government
facile instrument in the h ands Of pri
vate interests; banking and currency
system based upon the necessity of the
government to sell its bonds fifty years
ago and perfectly adapted to concentra-
ting cash and restricting credits; an in
dustrial system which, take in on all
its sides, financial as we'll as admins
trative, holds capital in leading strings
restricts the liberties and limits the
pportunities of labor. and exploits
without rem ewing or conserving the
natural resources of the country; body,
of agricultural activities never yet
given the efficiency of great business
undertakings or serve as it should be
through the instrumenta!ity of science
taken directly to the farm, or afforded
the facilities of credit best suited to its
practical needs; watercourses undevel-
oped, waste places unreclaimed, forests
INTENDED, fast disappearing without
plan or prospect of renewal, unregarded
waste heaps at every mine. We have
studied as perhaps no other nation has
the most effective means of production
but we have not studied cost or economy
as we should either as organizers of inc
dustry. as statesmen, or as individuals
Nor have we studied and perfected
the means by which government may
be put at the service of humanity, in
safeguarding the health of the nation,
the healt h Of its me n and its women and
its childr en-, as we'll as their rights in
the struggle for existence This is no
sentimental duty. The firm basis of
government is justice not pity. Taese
are matters of justice. There can be
no equality or opportunity, the first es-
sential of justice 10 the body politics.
if men and women and childreo be not
shielded in their lives, their vitality,
from the consequences of great indus
trial ard social processes which they
can not alter, control, or eingly cope
with. Society must see to it that it
does not itself crush or we aiken or dam
age its own consti uent parts The
first duty of law is to keep sound the
society it serves. Sanitary laws, pure
food laws, and laws determining CON
ditlons of labor which individuals are
powerless to determine for themselves
are intimate parts of the very business
of justice and legal efficiency.
These are some of the things we
ought to do, and not leave the others
undone, the oldfashioned, never-to- be-
neglected, fundamental safeguarding of
property and of individual right. This
is the high enterprise of the new day
to lift everything that concerns our life
as nation to the light that shines from
the hearthfire Of every mans con-
science and vision of the right. It is
inconceiYable that we should do this as
partisans; it i, inconceivable we sh ould
do it in ignorance of the facts as they
are or in blind haste. We shall restore
not destroy. We shall deal with our
economic system as it is and as it may
be modified, not as it might be if I'VE
had clean sheet of paper to write
upon; and step by step we shall make
it What it should be, in the spirit of
those who question their own wisdom
and seek counsel and knowledge, not
shallow self-satisfact ion-or the excite
ment of excursions whittier they can
not tell. Justice, and only justice,
shall always be our motto.
And yet it will be no cool progress of |
mere science. The nation has been
deeply stirred, stirred by solemn pas
sion. stirred by the knowledge of wrong
of ideals lost, of government too often
debau ched and made an instrument of |
evil The feelings with which we face
this new age of right and opportunity
sweep across cur heart strings like |
some air out of Gods own presence,
where JUS tice and mercy are reconciled
and the judge ard the brother are one.
Ne know our task to be 10 mere task |
of politics but rask which shall search |
US through and through, whether we
be able to understand our time and the |
need of our people. whether we be in
deed their spokesman and Interpreters,
we have the pure heart to
comprehend and the rectifed will to
choose our high course of action.
This is not day of triumph; it is a
day of dedication. Here muster, not |
the forces of party, but the forces of
Mems hearts wait upon US;
mems lives hang in the balance; mems
hopes call upon US to say what we will
do. Who shall live up to the great
trust? Who dares fail to try? l sum-
mon all honest men, all patriot tic, all
forward-looking men to my side. God
helping me, ! will not fail them, if they
but counsel and sustain me!