The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1916-10-28

publican ToiCieS ARE ni9nt ToilSle
and Says Democracy Is Leading Us
on the Road to Ruin.
[By Hon. Charles N. Fowler, Congress
man, Fifth New Jersey Congressional
District, 1885 to 1911, inclusive.l
Nations, like individuals, have an or
ganic being-a spiritual attribute, a
soul.
We think of a human life in the term
of years, but of nations in the term of
centuries.
a nation comes into being predeter-
mined fundamentally by the character
of its component parts, but permanent
ly affected by the conditions of its be
ing-its struggles, the natural advan-
tages or opportunities strewn along its
pathway, and the full easur of its
appreciation of the responsibilities and
obligations which are the counterpart
of the possibilities of achievement.
1t Is the observation of every man
full of years that those who live right
ly and intensely up to their fullest
ability are those who pass the three
score years and ten, While those
whose lives are i'll spent and in whom
the vital force languiSheS are always
falling by the wayside long before
their allotted time. In this the lie OF
the nation is symbolized and typited.
Therefore, if the life of the nation is
to be measured by its highest POSSIBLE
tiles and be gloritied in its intellectual
achievements and moral advancement,
o,-or- ,r;t,1 forao yn,1c+ 10 4oU,I 70 tho
limit of its possible attainment.
Every single unit of our 100,000,000
people must express, so far as possible,
the best and most there is in it, if the
nation is to reflect in a high degree the
unmeasured riches of the mental re
sources of the composite whole. The
failure to achieve this result in Great
Britain and among our own people Is
chargeable to the delinquency of de-
mocracy.
Great, indeed, are the gains of the
human race due to democracy; but we
have failed in efficiency from a govern
mental point of view, as compared with
|autocratic power, and 1t remains for
the United States to demonstrate to
the world that with all the advantages
of a democratic republic preserved, we
can surpass, because of these very Id
%vantages. the best that autocrf y has
or can achieve.
Crises of Our National Life.
The first crisis in our national life
was precipitated by the Declaration of
independence, July 4, 1776.
The second crisis came in 1889 when
the thirteen states were called upon to
surrender certain of their rights and
powers to the national government for
the purpose of establishing "a more
perfect Union
The third crisis came in 1861 when
we engaged in a great civil war test
ing whether that nation or any nation
so conceived and so dedicated" should
endure.
The fourth crisis is now upon us and
the issue is whether we can create and
maintain a truly national soul and such
a degree of national economic eff
cheney as to demonstrate to the world
that a Democratic Republic is the best
means of achieving the true advance
ment of the human race.
Over against these high ends and ex-
allied purposes stand the paralyzing,
d~isintegrating, destroying forces of the
Democratic party, illustrated and eX-
emplitied by the course of Woodrow
Wilson during the three years he has
been in power; for he truly typifeS the
real significance of democratic rule.
First. In a peace at any price
course, seer in weakness, vacillation
and "watchful waiting" with the nat
ural, the necessary consequence-inva-
sion, robbery, murder and rapine upon
our own soil.
Second. In free trade and slave
wages, dragging American labor down
to the lowest level rather than COM
pelling the rest of the world to rise to
ours, a fact that was demonstrated
prior to the outbreak of the European
war.
Third. Instead of the principle of
the broadcast personal responsibility
and its natural Sequence-national eff
iciency-we have resorted to organ
lied political tyranny, illustrated by
the Federal Reserve Bank Act.
WOuIQ PRECLUDE inoiViQual EHOTt'
Fourth. Instead of freedom of effort
in building up an American Merchant
Marine on equal terms with other ma
tons, Woodrow Wilson would curse
this country with a government-owned
merchant marine, thereby %precludine
all individual effort.
Thus it may be clearly seen and
demonstrated by these facts, that the
tendency, that the course of the Dem
ocratic Party leads to weakness and
lnetficiency-the natural prelude to
tyranny. which must inevitably result.
ultimately, in revolution.
Never before were the principles OF
the Republican and Democratic par
ties more sharply defined than now
Never were the differences more fun
rlamental than now.