The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-09-02


 The Presidents address fO "senator James, | Gentlemen of the
 Notification Committee, Fellow
 Citizens:
 q cannot accept the leadership and responsibility which the National Democratic Convention has again, in such generous fashion, asked me to accept without first expressing my profound gratitude to the party for the trust it reposessin me after four years of fiery trial, in the midst of affairs of,unprecedented difficulty, and l, the keen sense of added responsibility with which this honor fills q had all most said burdens0 me as I think of theN eNgreats issues. of national life and policy involved in the present and inn mediate future conduct of our gov ernfnent. I shall seek, as I have al- ways sought, to Justify the e&traor- dinary confidence thus reposed in me by strivingt to purge my heart and purpose 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 thatG I may continue to have the. counsel and support of all for ward-lookng mentat every turn of the difficult business.
 For I do not doubt that the people of the United States will wish the Democratics party to continue in con- trol 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 particular services and proved false to that promise for those who have < actually rendered those very ser- vices.
 zr Roasting fis talways an empty busi- ness, which { pfeases nobody but the boaster, andI I have no disposition to boast of what the Democratic party has accomplished.i,, It has merely done its 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 promises shave been carried out or in advertingsto the interesting fact that many of the things accomplished were what the iopposition party had again and again, promised to do but had left undone. Indeed that is mani festly part oftthe business of this year of reckoning and assessment There is no means of judging the future ex- cept by assessing the past. Construct i've action must be weighed against destructive comment and reaction. The Democrats either have or have not understood the varied interests of thee ,ountry. 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?' It is a record of extraor- dinary length and variety, rich in ele- ments of many kinds, but consistent in principle throughout and suscepti- ble of brief recital.
 ''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 established guides. of those who still make it's choices, it had lost touch with the thoughts and the needs of the nation and was living in a past A60 dAQ uuQcT u IlAeu llluSlOT, Lu0 illusion of greatnesss It had framed tariff laws'based upon a fear of for eign trade. a fundamental doubt as to American skill, enterprise. and ca pacity, and 8 very tender regard for the profitable privileges of those who had gained control of domestic mar kets and domestic credits ;and yet had enacted antitrust laws which hampered the very things they meant to foster, which were stiff and inelas- tic, and in part unintelhgible It had permitted the country through out the long period of it's control to stag- ger from one financial crisis to an- other under the operation of a na- tional banking law of it's own framing which made stringency and panic cer- tain and the control of the larger business operations oG Sne counxyy by the bankers of a few reserve centres inevitab ble; had made as if it meant to reform the law but had faint hearted1y failed in the attempt, be- cause it could not bring itself to do the one thing necessary to make the re- form genuine and effectual, namely, break up the control of small groups of bankers. It had been oblivious, or indifferent, to the fact that the farmers, upon whom the country de- pends for it's food and in the last analysis for it's prosperity, were with out standing in the matter of con- mercial credit, without the protec- ton of standards in their market transactions, and without systematic knowledge of the markets themselves; that the labourers of the country, the great army of men who man the in- dustries it was protesting to father ond promote, carried their labour as a mere comm odity to market, were subject to restraint by novel and dras- tic process in the courts, were without assurance of compensation for indus ! trial accidents. withou federal as- sistance in accommo odating labour disputes, and without national aid or advice in finding the places and the industries in which their labour was most needed. The country had no national system of road construction and development. Little intelligent attention was paid 70 the army. and