The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1913-03-06
WILSON'S IDEA Of
HUMAN LIBERTY
A Chapter In His Book 1.-THE
New Freedom. "
HEURGES PERFECT HARMONY

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President Elect Gives His Profession Of
Faith on Big subject-says Politics
Must Be Made Occupation In Which
Honest Men Can Take Satisfaction.
Tells What Freedom Consists Of.
Copyright by Doubleday, Page & Co.
One of the strangest chapters in
Woodrow Wilson's new book, The
New Freedom" is that on liberty. It
is as follows:
What is liberty?
l have long had an image in my
mind Of what constitutes liberty.
Suppose that l were building a great
piece of powerful machinery. and sup
pose that should so awkwardly and
unskillfully assemble the parts of it
that every time one part tried to move
it would be interfered with by the 9TH
ers, and the whole thing would buckle
up and be checked. Liberty for the
several parts would consist in the best
possible assembling and adjustment OF
them all. would it not? If you want
the great piston Of the engine to run
lutely perfect alignment and adjust
ment with the other parts of the ma
chine so that it is free. not because it
is let alone or isolated, but because it
has been associa ted most skillfully
and carefully with the other parts OF
the great structure.
What is liberty? You say of the To-
conceive that it runs free What do
you mean? You mean that it's parts
are so assembled and adjusted that
friction is reduced to minimum and
that it has perfect adjustment We
say of d boat skimming the water with
light foot. How free she runs when
we mean how perfectly she is adjust
ed to the force Of the wind. how per-
fectly she obeys the great breath out
or the heavens that fills her sails
Throw her head up into the wind and
see how she will halt and stagger. how
every sheet will SILVER and her whole
frame be shaken. how instantly she is
in irons.' in the expressive phrase OF
the sea. She is free only when you
nave let her fall off again and have re-
covered once more her nice adjustment
to the forces she must obey and can
not defy.
Human Freedom.
Human freedom consists in perfect
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human activities and human energies.
We have got to make politics thing
IN which an honest man can take his
part with satisfaction, because be
knows that his opinion will. count as
much as the next mans and that the
boss and the interests have been de-
throned. Business we have cot to un-
trammel, abolishing tariff favors and
railroad discrimination and credit de-
mails and all forms Of unjust handi-
caps against the little man. Industry
we have got to humanize. not through
the trusts. but through the direct &C.
ton OF law guaranteeing protection
against dangers and compensate ton for
Injuries. guaranteeing sanitary condi-
tons, proper hours. the right to organ
ize, and all the other things which the
conscience of the country demands as
the workman's right. We have got to
cheer and inspirit our people with the
sure prospects of social justice and
due reward, with the vision Of the
open gates of opportunity for all. We
have got to set the energy and the mi
tiat1ve of this great people absolutely
free, so that the future Of America
will be greater than the past. so that
the pride of America will grow with
achievement. so that America will
know as she advances from genera ton
to generation that each brood of her
sons is greater and more enlightened
than that which preceded it, know
that she is fulfilling the promise that
she has made to mankind.
Purpose of Democracy.
Such is the vision of some of US who
now come to assist in it's realization.
For we Democrats would not have en-
dured this long burden Of exile if we
had not seen a vision. We could have
traded; we could have got into the
game; We could have surrendered and
made terms; we could have played the
role of patrons to the men who wanted
to dominate the interests Of the coun-
try-and here and there gentlemen who
pretended to be of us did make those
arrangements. They couldn't stand
prlvation. You never can stand it un-
less you have within you some imper-
1shable food upon which to sustain
life and courage. the food of those vi
s1ons Of the spirit where table is set
before US laden with palatable fruits.
the fruits Of hope, the fruits of imagi-
nation. those invisible things of the
spirit which are the only things upon
winch we can sustain ourselves
through this weary world without
falntlng. We have carried in our
minds, after you had thought you had
obscured and blurred them. the ideals
OF those men who first set their foot
upon America, those little bands who
came to make foothold in the wilder
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