The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1916-09-05

lege can be played successfully by
no other means.
This record must equally astonsh
those who feared the democratic par
ty had not opened its heart ~ com.
i p-ehend the demands of social jus.
tice. We have in four years come
very near to carrying out the platform
of the progressive party as well as our
own; for we also are progressiycs.
There is one circumstance connect.
ed with this programme when ought
to be very plainly stated. ls was re
sisted at every step by the interests
which the republican party had cater
ed to and fostered at the expense of
the country, and these same interests
are now earnestly praying for rcaC-
ton which will save their privileges,
for the restoration of thei~ sworn
to recover what tLey have lost They
fought with particular desperation and
infinite resourceidlur.S the reform Of
the banking and currency system,
knowing that to he tha citadel of heir
control: and m lSt anXiously are they
hoping and planuEg tor the amend
ment of the fcde, Al reserve act by
the conCentratIcn If c0l-rL in a
single bank which The Oh familiar
crop of bankers can keep under their
eye and direction. But while ;he big
men" who used 10 w"ita the tariffs
and command the assistance of ;he
treasury have been hostile.-all Cut I
few with vision. the average bust
ness man knows that he has been de-
livered and that .he fear that was
once every day in ms neart, .ha: the
men who controlled credit anG H. eCt-
ed enterprise from the }mmit;ec
rooms of congress would crush him,
is there no more, and will not re-
turn,-nnless the party that consult
ed only the "big men" SHOULD return
to power,-the party Of mastery mac
tiyity and cunning resourcefulness in
standing pat to resist change.
The republican party is just the par
ty that cannot meet the new condi-
tons of new age. 1t does not know
the way and it does not wish nov con-
ditions. It tried to break away from
the old leaders and could not. They
still select its candidates and di tate
its policy, still resist change, e;ill
banker after the old conditions, still
know no methods of encouraging Lhs-
mess but the old methods. When It
changes its leaders and its IuTpoSas
and brings its ideas up to date it sill
have the right to ask the American
people to give it power again; but
not until then. A new age, an age
of revolutionary change, needs new
purposes and new ideas.
In foreign affairs we have been
guided by principles clearly concei'-
ed and consistently lived up to. Per
haps they have not been fully com
pretended because they have hitherto
governed international affairs only in
theory, not In practice. They are
simple, obvious, easily stated. and
fundamental to American ideals.
We have been neutral not only be-
cause it was the fixed and traditional
policy of the United States to stand
aloof from the policies 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 il was manifestly
our duty to prevent, IL it were pos
sible, the indefinite extension OF the
fires Of hate and desolation kindled
by that terrible conflict and seek to
serve mankind by reserving our
strength and our resources for the
anxious and difficult days OF restora-
tion and healing 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
evitable. Where they did this was our
guiding principle: that property rights
can be vindicated by claims for dam
ages and no modern nation can decline
to arbitrate such claims: but the fun
damental rights OF humanity cannot be.
The loss OF life is irreparable. Neither
can direct violations OF a nations
sovereignty await vindication In suits
for damages. The nation that vio-
lates these essential rights must e1-
pect to be checked and called to ac-
count by direct challenge and resist
ance. 1t at once makes the quarrel
in part our own. These are plain
principles. and We have never lost
sight OF them or departed from them.
whatever the stress or the perplexity
of circumstance or the provocation to
hasty resentment The record is clear