Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1916-09-02


K Promises Made and Kept.
X This extraordinary recital must
X sound like a PLATFORM, a list of
X sanguine promises; but it is not. 1t is
X a record of promises made four years
X ago and now actually redeemed in con-
x structive legislation.
X These things must profoundly dis
X turb the thoughts and confound the
X plans of those who have made them
X selves believe that the democratic
X party neither understood nor was
X ready to assist the business of the
X country in the great enterprises which
X it is its evident and inevitable destiny
X to undertake and carry through The
X breaking up of the lobby must es-
X pecially disconcert them; for it was
x through the lobby that they sought
X and were sure they had found the
X heart of things. The game of privilege
X can be played successfully by no other
X means.
X Are Progressive, Too.
X This record must equally astonsh
X those who feared that the democratic
X party had not opened its heart to COM
X prehend the demands OF social justice.
X We have in four years come very near
X to carrying out the platform of the
X progressive party as well as our own,
x for we also are progressive.
X There is one circumstance connected
X with this program which ought to be
X very plainly stated. It was resisted at
X every step by the interests which the
x republican party had catered to and
= fostered at the expense of the country,
X and these same interests are now
y earnestly praying for a reaction which
X will save their privileges - for the
X resoration of their sworn friends to
X power before it is too late to recover
x what they have lost. They fought
X with particular desperation and in
X finite resourcefulness the reform of
X the banking and currency system,
X knowing that to be the citadel of their
X control; and most anxiously are they
x hoping and planning for the amend
ment Of the federal reserve act by the
he concentration of control in single
:. bank which the old familiar group of
u ~ bankers can keep under their eye and
,s direction.
So Cannot Meet New Conditions
y But while the "big men" who used
an to write the tariffs and command the
to assistance of the treasury have been
No hostile all but u few with vision =
IL. the average business man knows that
~ he has been delivered and that the
as fear that was once every day in his
os heart, that the men who controlled
co credit and directed enterprise from
n. the committee rooms of congress
- would crush him, is there no more
nj and will not return - unless the party
that consulted only the "big men
should return to power - the party OF
mastery inactivity and cunning re-
n sourcefulness in standing pat to resist
Cd change.
GU The republican party is just the
- party that cannot meet the new con
~ ditions of a new age. 1t does not
y know the way and it does not wish
eu e new conditions. 1t tried to break away
VI from the old leaders and could not
.e They still select its candidates anC
~ dictate its policy, still resist cnanges
- IN still banker after the. old conditions
} still know no methods of encouraging
business but the old methods Wher
en it changes its leaders and its purposes
an az and brings its ideas up to date it will
VI have the right to ask the American
10 10 people to give it power again; but no
ne until then. A new age, an age of revo
hhs lutionary changes, needs new purposes
Nv and new ideas.
Forelgn Affairs Discussed.
In foreign affairs we have beer
:. guided by principles clearly conceived
- - and consistently lived up to. Perhap
:. they have not been fully comprehendet
~ ~. because they have hitherto governed
,,1s international affairs only in theory
gu gu not in practice. They are simple
~ obvious, easily stated, and funda
mentals to American ideals.
20 We have been neutral not only be
u, ne cause it was the fixed and traditiona
el policy of the United States to stant
~ aloof from the politics of Europe an'
&c because we had had no part either o
"a "a action or of policy in the influence
,uS which brought on the present wal
nu but also because it was manifsetly ou
~ duty to prevent, if it were possible
'u the indefinite extension Of the fires O
hate and desolation kindled by tina
we terrible conflict and seek to serv
lal mankind by reserving our strength
we and our resources for the anxious ant
icy difficult days of restoration and heal
ISL ing which must follow, when peac
we will have to build its house anew.
Ia United States Record Is Clear.
,Weu W The rights of our own citizens, o
% ns, course. became involved: that was in
,rS evitable. Where they did this was on
III guiding principle: that property right
''n can be vindicated by claim
W. for damages, and no modern ma
os tion can decline to arbitrate sue
.La claims; but the fundamental right
'n os of humanity cannot be. The los
~; ~ of life is irreparable. Neither ca
~ direct violation of a nation g SOY
'I 'Ie ereignty await vindieation in suits fo
wy Wv damages. The nation that violate
20 these essential rights must expect t
"' be checked and called to account b
direct challenge and resistance, 1t a
once makes the quarrel in part ou
I'VE own. These are plain principles an
on, we have never lost sight of them Q
n s departed from them, whatever tn
stress or the perplexity of circun
ex' stances or the provocation to hasty n
'ro, sentiment. The record is clear and coI
TED sistent throughout and stands distinC
Oh and definite for anyone to judge VIII
re- wishes to know the truth about it.
ing Disloyalists Not Feared.