The interior journal. [volume] (Stanford, Ky.) 1912-1984, 1916-09-08
PROMISES KEPT,
SAYS PRESIDENT
Mr.. Wilson Reviews His Work
as Chief Magistrate.
PARTY HAS DONE ITS DUTY.

Tariff Revised, Laws Against Trusts
Clarified, Banking System Reformed,
Farmers and Workinsmsn Benefited
by Remedial Measures, American
Merchant Marine Revived, National
Defense Provided For.
In his address at Shadow Lawn,
Long Branch, n. j., accepting the
Democratic nomination for president,
Woodrow Wilson said:
Senator James, Gentlemen Of the Noti-
f1cation Committee, Fellow Citizens:
1 cannot accept the leadership and re-
Sponsibility which the national Dem
ocratic 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 unpre-
cedented difficulty, and the keen sense
OF added responsibility with which this
honor fills Il had almost said burdens)
me as l think Of the great issues of
national life and policy involved in the
present and immediate future conduct
of our government. / shall seek, as l
have always sought, to justify the ex-
traordinary confidence thus repOsed in
me by striving to purge my heart and
purpose Of every personal and of every
misleading party motive and devoting
every energy have to the service Of
the nation as a whole, praying that 1
may continue to have the counsel and
support of all forward looking men
at every turn of the difficult business.
For / do not doubt that the people
OF the United States will wish the
Democratic party to continue in con-
troll of the government. They are not
in the habit of rejecting those who
have actually served them for those
who are making doubtful and con-
jectural promises of service. Least of
all are they likely to substitute those
who promised to render them particu-
lar services and proved false to that
promise for those who have actually
rendered those very services.
Boosting is always an empty bust
ness, which pleases nobody but the
boaster, and have no disposition to
boast of what the Democratic party
has accomplished. 1t has merely done
its duty. 1t has merely fulfilled its ex-
plicit promises. But there can be no
violation Of good taste in calling at
tentiOn to the manner In which those
promises have been carried out or in
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
part of the business of this year of
reckoning and assessment. There is
no means Of judging the future except
by assessing the past. Constructive
action must be weighed against de-
Structive comment and reaction. The
Democrats either have or have not I'M
derstood the varied interests of the
country. The test is contained in the
record.
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? 1t is a record of extraordinary
length and variety, rich in elements
of many kinds, but consistent in prin-
ciple throughout and susceptible of
brief recital.
A Record of 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-
tablished guides, Of those who still
make its choices, it had lost touch
with the thoughts and needs of the
nation and was living in past age
and under a fixed illusion, the illusion
of greatness. 1t had framed tariff
laws based upon a fear Of foreign
trade, a fundamental doubt as to
American skill, enterprise and capac-
fly, and a very tender regard for the
profitable privileges of those who had
gained control of domestic markets
and domestic credits, and yet had en-
acted antitrust laws which hampered
the very things they meant to foster,
which were stiff and inelastic and in
part unintelligible. 1t had permitted
the country throughout the long period
of its control to stagger from one finan-
cial crisis to another under the opera
ton Of a national banking law Of its
own framing which made stringency
and panic certain and the control of
the larger business operations of the
country by the bankers Of few re-
serve centers inevitable; had made as
IL it meant to reform the law, but had
faint heartedly failed in the attempt,
because it could not bring itself to do
the one thing necessary to make the
reform genuine and effectual-namely,
break up the control of small groups of
bankers. 1t had been Oblivious or in
different to the fact that the farmers,
upon whom the country depends for
fits food and I'm the last analysis for
its prosperity, were without standing
I'm the matter of commercial credit,