The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-06-30

cerned I am challenger to all corners.
 It is important, therefore, since I am in
 a fighting mood, to let you know what
 are some of the things that I do be-
 lieve in.
 Tn the first place, I believe, and I
 summon you to show your belief in the
 same thing, that it is the duty of ev-
 cry American in everything that he does, in his business and out of it, to think
 first, not of himself or of any interest
 which he may be called upon to sacri-
 flee, but of the country which we serve.
 America first means nothing until you
 translate it in what you do. So I be-
 lieve most profoundly in the duty of ev-
 cry American to exalt the national con
 seriousness by purifying his own motives and exhibiting his own devotion.
 II believe, in the seconu .-.ce, that
 America the country that we put first
 in our thoughts, should be ready in ev-
 cry point of policy and of ,acrlon to Nlii-
 dicate at whatever cost the principles
 of liberty of justice, and of humanity
 to which we have been devoted from the
 first. You cheer the sentiment, but do
 you realize what it means? It means that
 you not only have got to be just to
 your fellow men, but that as nation y NN~
 tions It comes high. It is not an easy
 thing to do It is easy to think first
 of the material interest of America, but it is not easy to think first Of what
 America, if she loves justice, ought to do in the field of international affairs I believe that at whatever cost America should be just to other peoples and treat other peoples as she demands that they should treat her. She has right to demand that they treat her with jus tice and respect and she has right to insist that they treat her in that fash ion, but she cannot with dignity or With self-respect insist upon that unless she is willing to act in the same fashion to- ward them That I am ready toN fight for at any cost to myself.
 CENTRAL AMERICAN PRINCIPLE
 '"Then, in the third place, touching our selves more intimately, my fellow citizens, this is what I believe: If l understand the life of America, the central principle of it is this, that no small body of per sons, no matter how influential, shall be l trusted to determine the policy and de- velopment of America You know what l you want in your business. You want fair field and no favor. You want to l be given the same opportunity that other l men have, not only make known what | you have to sell, but to sell it under as ! favorable conditions as anybody else; and the principle of the life of Ameri- l ca is that she draws her vitality, not /! from small bodies of men who may wish ] to assume responsibility of guiding and controlling her, but from the great body l of thinking and toiling and planning
 men from whom she draws her energy | and vitality as nation. I believe and 1 this is the reason l am a democrat not merely with big D, but
 with a little d. I am all kinds | O. a democrat so far as l can dis cover-but the root of the whole business | is this: thatI believe in the patriotism and energy and initiative of the average man. Some men say they believe in it
 but when they act, they show that they
 do not They show that they think the only advice that it is safe to take is their advice.
 I was not referring to any individual, but I could give you an interesting and a very short list of a group of individuals who have that opinion, namely. that it is not safe for the United States to escape from their control feel perfectly safe ir the hands of the average body of my fellow citizens. You are bound to feel safe in their hands If they do not be-
 leve in you, you cannot sell anything, If they do not believe in you. you can
 not conduct your business. Your vital ity comes from them to you it does not go from you to them. The theory of gov ernment which decline to subscribe to is that the vitality of the nation comes out of c,oseted councils where a few
 men determine the policy of the country. So. gentlemen, I feel at home in this company. not because I advertise, but
 because I have got principles that I am | perfectly willing to expose to the public view, and because I want to express my l sympathy with, not only, but my adm 1 ration for a body of men who think il ] is worth while to get together in order te l tell the truth. The only thing that ever
 set any man free. the only thing that ever set any nation free, is the truth. A man l that is afraid of the truth is afraid oi l the law of life. A man that does not 1 love the truth is in the way of decay 1 and of failure and I believe that if you will just let the vitality that is in you
 and the enthusiasm that is in you run be