The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-07-12

roads. The republican party has sig
nally and sadly failed In its solution.
This convention nay well consider it
with the view of giving Iowa sys-.
tematic, practicable and permanent
method of road improvement to be ac-
complished not by the levying of ad-
ditional burdens upon the tax payers,
but through the judicious and eco
nomical expenditure of the money
now being aim1essly wasted.
Is Champion Of Toiler.
The democratic party is the friend
and champion of the wealth produc-
ers Of the land For years we have
striven to gain for them a just and
equitable share in the fruits of their
labor. We recognize that down at
the bottom Of our Industrial, eco
nomic and social fabric stands the
horny handed toiler bearing upon his
ample shoulders the superstructure of
our hopes. We proudly recall that it
was democrat who conceived and
caused to be written upon the statutes
of Iowa the workmen's compensation
act. A democrat who has labored in
season and out Of season, in all man
ner of places to better the condition
of the men who win their breed in
the workshops and damp mines of
Iowa-John T. Garrison, our candi-
date for attorney general.
This convention can address itself
to no more worthy purpose than the
amendment and modification of that
act in the interest of Iowa employees
has disclosed many glazing defects
and omissions that must, in the in
terest Of justice be speedily cor
rected.
We boldly stand for the fearless
and impartial enforcement of law.
The liquor question, believe, has
been, settled in this state by the adop-
ton Of statutory prohibition. The
time has come when it is no longer
ia question Of whether you are for
prohibition or against prohibition.
The question is whether you are for
law or against law. Upon that propo-
sition democrats will not differ.
Resolved to remedy existing evils
and solve the perplexing problems of
Iowa life we approach the coming con-
test under the leadership of a stu
dent and business man who has spent
his days among the men and women
of Iowa studying their problems and
sensing their needs. A man who has
dipped his pen in the wells Of pro-
gress and scattered tho seeds of
knowledge out into the highways and
byways. One who will bring to the
public service mind steered in the
lessons Of ripe experience, who
neither trims nor truckles, but holds
the banner OF his faith high up where
all the world may see it-E. T. Mere
IN nj
governor.
We earnestly ask the voters of
Iowa whether they want such man
to grace the highest Office within their
gift, or will they choose instead q
political chameleon, dry where it pays
to be dry and wet where it pays to
be wet. For good roads one day and
for bad roads the next. Fixed and
constant In nothing save the passion
for political success.
There are many important matters
that will engage the attention of this
convention, but greater than any
issue that concerns the state are the
mightier issues that concern the ma
ton. More important than the ques-
lions that touch the purse strings are
those that touch the heart strings.
| And in this year Of stirring events
the question that transcends every
other is whether or not the Ameri-
can people will, by the endorsement
of their votes, give courage to the
heart and strength to the hands that
have givensus peace amid the ravages
Of war and prosperity in the face OF
world wide desolation.
! The paramount issue Of this cam
paign is going to center around the
question of whether or not the people
OF this country are going TIC stand by
the man who has unYaveled the
tangled web Of our foreign relations
and held in generous hand the horn
Of plenty.
For two years the continent of
Europe has reveled in destruction.
The treasures Of the centuries, the
ornaments of art, the triumphs of
craftsmanship and all the sacred ira
ditions of the past lay at the mercy
stalks about breathing d blight OF
misery and woe.
| Praise for Wilson.
| While war has been consuming the
flower OF Europe's manhood, paralyz-
ing her industries and staining the
faces of her people with the inefface-
able lines of grief, we have been at
peace. Fortunately our fathers plant
ed deep in the marrow of American
thought the principle of neutrality and
mellowed our souls with a genius for
peace. That policy, conceived in the
prophetic wisdom of Washington, hal
lowed by the example of Adams. JEFF
lferson, Lincoln and Grant, is now, in
! the providence of God. committed to
the hands of Woodrow Wilson.
At the outbreak of war he pro-
claimed our neutrality. In the face
of foreign intrigue, hampered by
weaklings and goaded by hotheads, he
has maintained our neutrality. he
has dealt out to the warning countries
an even handed Justice. He has
spoken out for the rights of neutrals
with a voice that has been heard and
needed. Without the firing of gun
he has wrested from the world an
.clnowledgement of the freedom of
tho eaas-a principle for which thirty