Polk County news-gazette. (Benton, Tenn.) 190?-191?, 1913-12-04
PRESIDENT WILSON DELIVERS
ANNUAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS
The Document Departs in Some Degree from the Usual
Custom Of Giving Digest Of Departmental Work
of the Government
THE ONE CLOUD UPON THE HORIZON is MEXICO

hardly more than the semblance Of ma
tional authority II originated in the
usurpation of Victoriano Huerta, who
after brief attempt to play the part
of constitutional President, has al
last cast aside even the pretense OF
legal right and declared himself die
tator AS a consequence, a condition
of affairs now exists in Mexico which
has made it doubtful whether even
the most elementary and fundamental
rights either of her own people or
of the citizens of other countries resi-
dent within her territory can long be
successfully safeguarded, and which
threatens, if long continued, to inn
peril the interests of peace, order, and
tolerable life in the lands Immediately
! to the south of us. Even If the
usurper had succeeded in his pur-
poses, in despite of the constitution of
the Republic and the rights of its
people, he would have set up moth
! ing but a precarious and hateful
power, which could have lasted but
little while, and whose eventual
downfall would have left the country
in a more deplorable condition than
ever. But he has not succeeded. He
has forfeited the respect and the
moral support even of those who were
at one time willing to see him sue
coed. Little by little he has been
completely isolated BY little every
day his power and prestige are
crumbling and the collapse is not
far away. We shall not, believe, be
obliged to alter our policy of watch
full waiting. And then, when the end
comes, we shall hope to see constitu-
tional order restored in distressed
Mexico by the concert and energy of
such of her leaders as prefer the
liberty of their people to their own
ambitions.
/ turn to matters of domestic con-
Germ. You already have under con-
sideration a bill for the reform of
our system of banking and currency,
for which the country waits with i'm
patience, as for something funda-
~ z.aL to its whole business life and
Necessary to set credit free froIi al,
bitrary and artificial restraits:
need not say how earnestly ! hoTe
for it's early enactment into law.
take leave to beg that the whole
energy and attention of the Senate be
concentrated upon it till the matter
is successfully disposed of. And yet
| feel that the request is not needed
that the Members of that great
House need no urging in this service
to the country.
present to you, in addition, the
urgent necessity that special provision
be made also for facilitating the
credits needed by the farmers OF the
country. The pending currency Dill
does the farmers a great service. 1t
puts them upon an equal footing with
other business men and masters OF
enterprise, as it should; and upon Its
passage they will find themselves quit
of many of the difficulties which now
hamper them in the field OF credlt.
The farmers, of course, ask and
should be given no special privilege,
such as extending to them the credit
of the Government itself. What they
need and should obtain is legislation
which will make their own abundant
and substantial credit resources
available as foundation for joint,
concerted local action in their own
behalf in getting the capital they
must use. 1t is to this we should now
address ourselves.
1t has, singularly enough, come to
pass that we have allowed the indus
try of our farms to lag behind the
other activities of the country in Its
development. ! need not stop to tell
you how fundamental to the life OF
the Nation is the production OF It's
food. Our thoughts may ordinarily be
concentrated upon the cities and the
hives of industry, upon the cries OF
the crowded market place and the
clangor of the factory, but 1t Is from
the quiet interspaces of the open val
levs and the free hillsides that we
draw the sources of life and of pros
perity, from the farm and the ranch,
from the forest and the mine. With
out these every street would be silent,
every Office deserted, every factory
fallen into disrepair. And yet the far
mer does not stand upon the same
footing with the forester and the
miner in the market of credit He is
the servant of the seasons. nature
determines how long he must wait for
his crops, and will not be hurried in
her processes. He may give his note,
but the season of its maturity de-
ponds upon the season when his crop
natures, lies at the gates of the mar