Williams news., 1916-11-02

everywhere, that have brought on a new day in American politics. We have looked once more very critically at our own laws and our own prac- tices and have set about to square them with the actual conditions of our life and the life of the world"
 -Four years ago there were two parties in the field whose programme was conceived under the influence of these great forces of progress and ad- Justment, the Democratic party and the Progressive party. This year there Is but one, the Democratic party. In the presidential election of four years ago some fifteen million votes were cast. Of these, nearly ten and half millions were cast for the can didates of the two progressive parties, only three and half millions for the candidates of the Republican party, the party which fingered in the old ways and felt none of the new impulse of a new day. More than two-thirds of the voters of the United States favored then, and favor now, a pro- gramme whose object is to serve the changing needs of humanity and progress.
 "The Democratic party was entrust- ed with the task. These powerful forces of the new age were put under its direction. And under that direc- tion what have they accomplished?
 "They have put both the business and the life of the country upoa a new footing.
 Financial Credit Released
 "They have released the financial credit, upon which commerce and pro- duction alike depend, from the con trol of small groups of financiers and bankers at the speculative centers.
 "They have released the commerce and industry of the country from the domination of those who were build- ing up their power by selfish and unfair methods of competition.
 "They have supplied those who wished to conduct their business in conformity with the spirit of the laws with friendly guidance and delivered them from a nervous fear of the courts.
 "They have released our foreign trade from the shackles of tariff cOntrived in the interest of special groups of favored producers, and have created a Tariff Commission intend ed to substitute public for private influences, facts for theories and pretensiOnS, in all future legisla- ton with regard to duties and re StrictionS on imports.
 "They have made provision for the immediate and systematic develop ment of our carrying trade on the seas.
 ''They have at last supplied the means by which the nation may be bound together, materially and spirit ually,- by a network of good roads upon which both commodities and sympathies may move freely from community to community.
 "They have put the farmer upon a footing of perfect equality with busi- ness men and men of all other call ings in respect of his access to com mercial credit; have placed a great Ol IhO oOtCl dl hlS service in seeking and finding his best markets; have protected him by the establishment of definite stand ards in the sale of his products, and have put the scientific knowledge of the world at his disposal by practical demonstration at the expense of the Government upon the farms them selves.
 Have Emancipated Labor.
 "They have emancipated the la borers of the country from the unjus- tified restraints which the courts had put upon them by mistaken applica- tions of old law to new circumstances and conditions.
 '"They have released the children of the country in large part from hurt ful labor; have sought to safeguard the lives and the health of our la bOrers in dangerous occupations; and have put agencies of the Government itself at the service of those who seek employment. And most of these things have been done within the brief limits of a single administration.
 And still the great work is not finished. It can never be rounded off