The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-09-03

The following is the complete address of President Wilson, delivered at Shadow Lawn, N. J., Saturday after noon, when he was formally notified the democrats:
 Senator James, Gentlemen of the Mo- tif1cation Committee, Fellow Citizens: I cannot accept the leadership and re- sponsibiIity which the national demo- cratic convention has again, in such generous fashion, asked me to accept without first expressing my profound gratitude to the party for the trust it reposes in me after four years of fiery trial in the midst of affairs of unprecedented difficulty, and the keen sense of added responsibility with which this honor fills q had almost said burdens) me as I think of the great issues of national life and pol icy involved in the present and inn mediate future conduct of our gov ernment. I shall seek, as I have all ways sought, to Justify the extraordi- nary confidence thus reposed in me by striving to purge my heart and pur- pose of every personal and of every misleading party motive and devoting every energy I have to the service Of the nation as a whole, praying that I may continue to have the counsel and support of all forward looking men at every turn of the difficult business.
 For I do not doubt that the people of the United States will wish the dem- ocratic party to continue in control of the government. They are not In the habit of rejecting those who have ac- tually served them for those who are making doubtful and conjectura1 prom ises of service. Least of all are they likely to substitute those who prom ised to render them particular services and proved false to that promise for those who have actually rendered those very services.
 NO ROASTING
 Roasting is always an empty busi- ness, which pleases nobody but the bcaster, and I have no disposition to boast of what the democratic party has accomplished. It has merely done it's duty. It has merely fulfilled its explicit promises. But there can be no violation of good taste in calling attention to the manner in which those
  adverting to the interesting fact that many of the things accomplished were what the opposition party had again and again promised to do but had left undone Indeed that Is manifestly part of the business of this year of reck- cning and assessment. There is no means of judging the future except by assessing the past. Constructive ac- tion must be weighed against destruc- tive comment and reaction. The demo- cfats either have or have not under stood the varied interests of the coun- try The test Is contained In the rec ord
 What is that record? What were the democrats called into power to do? What things had long waited to be done and how did the democrats do them? It is record of extraordinary length and variety. rich in elements of many kinds, but consistent in prin- ciple throughout and susceptible of brief recital.
 REPUBLICAN FAILURE
 The republican party was put out of power because of failure, practical failure and moral failure; because it had served special interests and not the country at large; because, under the leadership of its preferred and es- tahlished guides, of those who still make its choices, it had lost touch with the thoughts and the need of the nation and was living in past age and under fixed illusion, the illu- sion of greatness It had framed tariff laws based upon a fear of foreign trade, a fundamental doubt as to American skill. enterprise, and capac- ity and a very tender regard for the profitable privileges of those who had gained control of domestic markets +io orodftc and vet had n- acted antitrust laws which hampered the very things they meant to foster which were stiff and inelastic, and in part unintelligible. It had permitted the country throughout the long pe- riod of it's control to stagger from one financial crisis to another under the operation of national banking law of it's own framing which made strin- gency and panic certain and the con- trol of the larger business operations of the country by the bankers of few reserve centers inevitable; had made as if 1t meant to reform the law but had int-heartedly failed in the at tempt, because 1t could not bring it. self to do the one thing necessary to make the reform genuine and effectual, namely, break up the control of small groups of bankers. It had been ob- livious, or indifferent, to the fact that the farmers, upon whom the country depends for its food and in the last analysis for its prosperity, were with out standing in the matter of commer- cial credit, without the protection of standards in their market transactions, and without systematic knowledge of the markets themselves; that the la Aorers Of the country, the great army of men who man the industries it was protesting to father and promote, car ried their labor as a mere commodity to market. were subject to restraint by novel and drastic process in the courts, were without assurance of com- pensation for industrial accidents, without federal assistance in accommo- dating labor disputes, and without na- tional aid or advice in finding the places and the industries in which their labor was most needed. The country had no national system of road