The Newport plain talk. (Newport, Tenn.) 1909-1939, 1913-03-06
INAUGURATION
OF DEMOCRAT
Continued from Page II

Tenewai, unresarded waste heaps a,
every mine. We ..ccye : s.ssicd as per-
gas no C.act nation has tie most ef-
fectiye means of production, but we
have not studied cost or economy as
we should either as organizers Of w.
dustry, as statesmen or as individuals.
soeisty's Duty to Itself.
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 health of its men and its women
and its children. as well as their rights
in the struggle for existence. This is
NO sentimental duty. The firm basis
OF government Is justice, not pity.
These are matters of justice. There can
he no equality or opportunity, the first
essential of justice in the body polite,
IL men and women and children be
not shielded in their lives, their very
vitality, from the consequences of great
industrial and social processes which
they cannot alter. control or singly
cope with. Society must see to it that
1t does not itself crush or weaken or
damage its own constituent parts. The
first duty of law is to keep sound the
society 1t serves. Sanitary laws. pure
food laws aud laws determining con-
ditions of labor which individuals are
powerless to determine for themselves
are intimate parts OF the very bust
ness Of justice and legal efficiency.
These are some of the things we
ought TO do and not leave the others
undone, the old fashioned, 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 rs a nation TO the light that
shines from the hearth fire of every
mans conscience and vision OF the
right. 1t is uncomfortable we should do
this as partisans; it is inconceivable we
should do it in ignorance OF the facts
rs 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 we had Il 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
Tn LODI, Sl
ton or the excitement of excursions
whittier they cannot tell. Justice, and
only justice, shall always be our motto
Task Net Merely One of Politics.
And yet it will be no cool process Of
mere science. The nation has been
deeply stirred stirred by a solemn pas
sion. stirred by the knowledge of
wrong. Of ideals lost. of government
too often debauched and made an in
strulnent OF evil The feelings with
which we face this new age of right
and opportunity sweep across our
heartstrings like some air out of Gods
own presence, where justice and mercy
are reconciled and the judge and the
brother are one. We know our task to
be no mere task of politics, but task
which shall search us through and
through. whether we be able to UNDER
stand our time and the need of our
people. whether we be indeed their
spokesman and interpreters, whether
we have the pure heart to comprehend
and the rectitied will to choose our
high course Of action.
This is not day Of triumph; it il
2 day Of dedication. Here muster not
the forces of party, but the forces of
humanity. Mems hearts wait upon MS;
mems lives hang in the balance: mems
hopes call upon MS to say what we
will do Who shall live mp to the great
trust? Who dares fail to try? sum-
mon all honest men. all patriotic. all
forward looking men. to my side. God
helping me. | will not fail them IL they
will but counsel and sustain me.