Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-09-02

ciaily discomfort them, for II was
through the lobby that they sought
and were sure they had found the
heart of things. The game OF privi-
lege can be played successfully by no
other means.
Resisted ut Every Step.
This record must equally astonish
those who feared that the democratic
party had not opened its heart to conf
Drehend the demands OF social justice.
We have in four years come very near
to carrying out the platform of the
progressive party as we'll as our own; ;
for we also are progressives.
There is one circumstance connect
ed with his program which ought to be
very plainly stated 1t was resisted at
every step by the interests which the
republican party had catered to and
! fostered at the expense of the coun-
try, and these same interests are now
earnestly praying for reaction which
will save their privileges the re
storatiOn of their sworn friends to
power before it is too late to recover
what they have lost. They fought with
particular desperation and infinite re-
sOurcefulness the reform of the bank
| ing and currency system, knowing that
to be the citadel of their control; and
most anxiously are they hoping AMI
planning for the amendment of the
federal reserve act by the cOncentra-
! ton of control in single bank which
the old familiar group of bankers can
keep under their eye and direction.
But while the big men who used TO
write the tariffs and command the as
sistance of the treasury have been
hostile-all but a few with vision
Z
! he has been delivered, and that the
/ fear that was once every day in his
| heart, that the men who controlled
! credit and directed enterprise from
| the committee rooms of congress
/ would crush him, is there no more,
/ and will not return-unleSS the party
! that consulted only the big men should
return to pOwer-the party of master
1 ly inactivity and cunning resOuTceful-
ness in standing pat to resist change
! The republican party is just the
party that cannot meet the new con-
| ditions of q new age. 1t does not know
| the way and il does not wish new con-
/ ditions. 1t tried to break away from
! the old leaders and could not. They
! still select its candidates and dictate
/ its policy, still resist change, still
/ banker after the old conditions, still
ness but the old methods. When il
| changes its leaders and its purposes
and brings its ideas up to date it will
! have the right to ask the American
people to give it power again; but not
until then. A new age, an age of re-
/ yOlutiOnary change, needs new pur-
poses and new ideas.
: I'm foreign affairs we have been
guided by principles clearly conceived
and consistently lived up to. Perhaps
they have not been fully comprehend
! ed because they have hitherto gov
/ erned international affairs only in
| theory, not in practice. They are
! simple, obvious, easily stated, and
| fundamental to American ideals.
! I'VE have been neutral not only be-
| cause it was the fixed and traditional
policy Of the United States to stand
alOof from the politics of Europe and
! because we had had no part either OF
action or of policy in the influences
which brought on the present war, but
also because it was manifestly our
duty to prevent, if it were possible
! the indefinite extension of the fires OF
| hate and deselatiOn kindled by that
! terrible conflict and seek to serve
mankind by reserving our strength
| and our resources for the anxious and
difficult days of restoration and heal
ing which must follow, when peace
will have to build its house anew.
The rights of our own citizens OF
| course became involved; that was in
/ evitabIe. Where they did this was ouf
! guiding principle: that property rights
| can be indicated by claims for dam
ages, and no modern nation can de-
cline to arbitrate such claims; but
the fundamental rights of humanity
| cannot be. The loss of life is irrepar-
able. Neither can direct violations OF
a nations sovereignty await vindica-
! ton in suits for damages. The nation
| that violates these essential rights
must expect to be checked and called
to account by direct challenge and re-
! sistance. 1t at once makes the quarrel
| in part our own. These are plain prin-
| ciples and we have never lost sight OF
them or departed from them, whatev-
| er the stress or the perplexity of cir
Fcumstances or the prOvOcatfOn ID
/ hasty resentment. The record is clear
| and consistent throughout and stand
distinct and definite for anyone to
/ Judge who wishes to know the truth
/ about it.
The seas are not broad enough to
| keep the infection of the conflict out
| of our own politics. The passions and
! intrigues of certain active groups and
/ combinations of men amongst us who
were born under foreign flags inject
| ed the poison of disloyalty into our
/ own most critical affairs, laid violent
! hands upon many Of our industries,
and subjected us to the shame of di-
versions OF sentiment and purpose in
I which America was condemned and
/ forgotten. 1t is part of the business OF
this year of reckoning and settlement
to speak plainly and act with unmis-
taxable purpose in rebuke of these
/ things, in order that they may be for
ever hereafter impossible. / am the
| candidate of a party, but | am above
all things else an American citizen.
| neither seek the favour nor fear the
/ displeasure Of that small alien eIe-
ment amongst us which puts loyalty
10 any foreign power before loyalty to
| the United States.
While Europe was at war our own