The Elbert County tribune., 1916-09-08
Receives Senator James and
Committee at Shadow Lawn.
ACCEPTS WITH GRATITUDE
President Sets Forth Failures Of Re-
Pubiiesns and Achievements OF
pemocrats-Defends His For
eipn and Mexican Policies.

Lawn, lHe summer NnIte House, the
formal notification of his denomination
by the Democratic party from the notl-
hcation committee headed by Senator
Ollie James.
In response Mr. Wilson spoke In
part as follows:
Senator James, Gentlemen OF the
Notification Committee, Fellow Citi-
zens: ! cannot accept the leadership
and responsibility which the National
Democratic convention has again, in
Euch generous fashion, asked me to
accept without first expressing my
profound gratitude to the party Tor
the trust IL reposes in me after four
years of fiery trial in the midst of af-
fairs of unprecedented difficulty, and
the keen sense OF added responsibility
with which this honor fills Il had al
most said burdens) me as / think of
the great issues OF national life and
policy involved In the present and i'm
mediate future conduct of our govern
ment / shall seek, as l have always
sought, to justify the extraordinary
confidence thus reposed in me by strlv-
ing to purge my heart and purpose of
every personal and of every mislead-
ing party motive and devoting every
energy / have to the service of the ma
ton as a whole, praying that 1 may
continue to have the counsel and sup
port of all forward-looklng men at ev-
cry turn of the difficult business.
For | do not doubt that the people
of the United States Will wish the
fip rtv m in,
troll of the government They are not
in the habit of rejecting those who
have actually served them for those
who are making doubtful and conjec-
tural promises of service. Least OF
all are they likely to substitute those
who promised to render them partlcu-
lar services and proved false to that
promise for those who have actually
rendered those very services.
Republican Failures" Cited.
The Republican party was put out
of power because of failure, practical
failure and moral failure; because 1t
had served special interests and not
the country at large; because, under
the leadership of its preferred and es-
tablished guides, of those who still
make its choices, It had lost touch
with the thoughts and the needs of the
nation and was living in past age
and under a fixed Illusion, the Illusion
Of greatness. 1t had framed tariff
laws based upon a fear of foreign
trade, fundamental doubt as to
American skill, enterprise, and capa-
city, and very tender regard for the
profitable privileges of those who had
gained control of domestic markets
and domestic credits; and yet had en-
acted antitrust laws which hampered
the very things they meant to foster.
which were stiff and inelastic, and in
part unintelligible. 1t had permitted
the country throughout the long period
of its control to stagger from one
financial crisis to another under the
operation of national banking law
of Its own framing which made strin-
gency and panic certain and the con-
troll Of the larger business operations
OF the country by the bankers of a
few reserve centers inevitable; had
made as If 1t meant to reform the law
but had faint-heartedly failed In the
attempt. because 1t could not bring IT.
self to do the one thing necessary to
make the reform genuine and effec-
tual, namely, break up the control of
small groups of bankers. 1t had been
obliyious, or Indifferent, to the fact
that the farmers, upon whom the coun-
try depends for its food and in the
last analysis for its prosperity, were
without standing in the matter of
commercial credit, without the protec-
tion of standards in their market
transactions, and without systematic
knowledge of the markets themselves
that the iaborers of the country, the
great army of men who man the in
dustries 1t was processing to father
and promote, carried their labor as n
mere commodity to market, were sub
tect to restraint by novel and drastic
process in the courts, were without as
surance of compensation for Industrial
accidents, without federal assistance
in accommodating labor disputes, and
without national aid or advice In find
ing the places and the industries in
which their labor was most needed.
The country had no national system
OF road construction and development
Little intelligent attention was paid
to the army. and not enough to the
navy. The other republics of America
distrusted US. because they found that
we thought first of the profits of
American investors and only as an af-
terthought of impartial justice and
helpful friendship. Its policy was pro-
vincial in all things its purposes were
out Of harmony with the temper and
purpose Of the people and the timely
development of the nations interests.
So things stood when. the Democrat
ie party came into power. bow do
they stand now? Alike in the domes-