Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-09-02

1
PRESIDENT WILSON'S SPEECH
The text Of the Presidents address fol
lows:
Senator James, Gentlemen Of the Notifcd
ton Committee, Fetlotc Cttisens.
cannot accept the leadership and respon
sibillty which tho National Democratic Con
vention has again. in such generous fashion
asked me to accept without first expressing
my profound gratitude to the party for the
trust II reposes In me after four years OF
hiery trial In the midst OF affairs Of unprece
difficulty. and the keen sense OF added
| responsibility with which this honor iils q
had almost snid burdens) me as I think OF
| the great issues OF national life and policy
involved In the present and immediate fu-
| ture conduct OF our Government. ! shall
| seek, as / have always sought TO Justify
| the extraordinary confidence thus reposed
In me by striving 10 purge my heart and
| purpose OF every personal and of every
| misleading party motive and devoting every
| energy have to the service of the nation
| as whole, praying that 1 may continue to
| have the counsel and support of all forward
looking men at every turn of the difficult
business
For I do not doubt that the people of
the United States will wish the Demo-
cratic party to continue In control of the
Government They are not in the habit
of rejecting those who have actually served
them for those who are making doubtful
and conjectural 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 services
Boosting is always an empty business.
which pleases nobody but the boaster and
l have no disposition to boast of what the
Democratic party has accomplished. II has
merely done its duty. II has merely full
filled its explicit promises. But there can |
be no violation of good taste In calling |
attention to the manner in which those |
promises have been carried out or in ad- |
Nerttng to the interesting fact that many |
of the things accomplished were what the |
opposition party had again and again prom
ised to do but had left undone Indeed,
that Is manifestly part of the business OF
tnis year OF reckoning and assessment
Thero Is no means of Judging the future
except by assessing the past. Constructive
action must be weighed against destructive
comment and reaction. The Democrats
either have or have not Understood the
varied interests of the country. The test
Is contained In the record.
RECORD THE REAL TEST
What is that record? What were the
Democrats called into power to do7 What
.nlngs had long waited to be done, and
now did the Democrats do them? It is n
'ecord OF extraordinary length and va
'iety, rich in elements of many kinds. but
consistent in principle throughout and sus-
'eptible Of brief recital
The Republican party was put out of
'ower because OF failure, practical failure |
ma moral failure; because It had served
pecial interests and not the country at
arge: because, under the leadership OF Its |
referred and established guides, Of those
sno SUN make its choices 1t had lost
ouch with the thoughts and the needs of I
ne nation and was living in a past age I
nd under fixed ilusion-the illusion of ,
reatness. :
II had framed tariff laws based upon =
rear OF Foreign trade, fundamental 4
oupt as 10 American skill enterprise and | I
apacity. and very tender regard for the a
rontable privileges OF those who had | Z
aimed control of domestic markets and I
omestic credits: f: and yet had enacted anti d
ust laws which hampered the very things n
icy meant to foster, which were stiff and
elastic' and in part uninteligible It had Il
ermitted the country throughout the long | nj
srlod or its control to stagger from one I,
nahclal crisis to another under the opera IN
on OF a national banking law OF its own h
aiming which made stringency and manic :,
ftaln ana the control of the larger busi- | a,
,ss operations of the country by the | -
mixers OF few reserve centers Inevitable n,
Id made as II II meant to reform the law a.
II mad faint-heartedy failed in the at -
mpt because It could not bring itself to W
the one thing necessary to make the | "
form genuine and 'effectual-namely. u
eak up the control OF small groups of %
mixers. 81
1t had been obllvious, or Indifferent, to ''
e fact that the farmers, upon whom the
untry depends for its food and in the
81 analysis for its prosperity. were with. III
u standing in the matter OF commercial is
edit without the protection of standards Isl
thelr market transactions, and without re
stematic knowledge of the markets them
Ives that the laborers of the country. the tn
eat army of men who man the industries w
was processing to father and promote IN
rried their labor as a mere commodity nc
market, were subject to restraint by co
vel and drastic process in the courts Is
re without assurance of compensation for VI
iustrial accidents, without Federal assis IN
ace in accommodating labor disputes. and co co
thout national aid or advice in finding IN
; places and the industries in which their 10
'or was most needed pr
me country had no national system OF o'
I'd construction and development. Little
elligent attention was paid to the army WI
not enough TO the navy. The other no
'ubllcs or America distrusted US because ih'
~ round that we thought first of the Ss
'nts or American investors and only as an pii
efthought or impartial justice and helpful us
It's policy was provincial in all -.
ngs its purposes were out Of harmonv TN
n the temper and purpose of the peonIe sta so
the timely development of the nations ~ ~
erests. ha
DEMOCRATIC RESULTS. ar,
10 things stood when the Democratic WI
~ came into power. How do thew res
nd now? Alike In the domestic field Del
In the wide field of commerce OF the ma
I'D. American business and life and in ueI
Try have been set free to move as they ,ei ,
er moved before KIN
he tarin has been revised, not on the ~ ~,
leiple of repellIng foreign trade. but an rn
m the principle of encouraging H. unon
lething like footing OF equality Win e.
own In respect Of the te-ms Of eomps- ths
Pm, and a tariff board has been created -
'se function IL will be 10 keen IN. "a. 80
-tions OF American with foreign biIsI- no,
; and industry under constant observa- ,,is
!, for the guidance alike of our bushes. tbs
and of our Congress. American ensr- Tea
are now directed toward the markets tha
he world. ar,
ne laws against trusts have been elarI roo
by definition, with a view 10 making no
lain that they were not directed against par
business. but only against unfair bust sho
! ana the pretense Of Competition whsra teri
. was none; and a trade eomnissIon in /
been created with powers Of K,Iidancs Z
accommodation which have relieved tha
ness men of unfounded fears ana ssr new
a upon the road OF hopeful and coma doe
enterprise. bre
y the Federal reserve act the s1pnI,, not
urreney at the disposal Of active bust dict