The Greeneville daily sun. (Greeneville, Tenn.) 1918-1920, 1918-07-27
His Stand On
The Big Matters
Ably Presented in a Forceful
Speech in Which He Clearly
Outlines His Policies on the
More Essential Matters.
Points Out Defects in Taxation
L.aws-Asks Protection for
Labor, and Urges the Enact
ment of a Just Workman's
Compensation Law.

for the Democratic nomination tor
Governor, before the Democracy Of
Rutherford and adjoining counties, al
Musfreesboro Saturday, July s, Judge
Roberts said;
Fellow Citizens:
Before undertaking to discharge
the mission that has brought me once
again into this hospitable city and
into the presence of so many friends
of other times, hope | may be per-
mitted to express to you, citizens OF
Rutherford and adjoining counties,
my pleasure at being here, as well
as my thanks for the generous cour-
tesy extended to me by all classes of
your people since my arrival today.
You have indeed enabled me to add
to some very delightful memories of
former visits here the pleasant rec
objection of this cordial and friendly
greeting.
| hasten, however, to add that
do not attribute this large and rep
resentative gathering to any deserts
of my own, but rather / am happy to
believe to the pride and eager inter
est of each of you, not only in the
ideals and past achievements of the
historic political party whose stand
ard bearer it is my ambition to be,
but especially in its policies and pur-
poses in this the greatest crisis that
has confronted the friends of human
liberty since the days Of the Magma
Charta and King john. can mag
inc no atmosphere richer in mem
cries calculated to arouse the emo
tons or stir the enthusiasm of lib
erty loving people, than this in which
/ find myself today. This is indeed
a fitting place for new conservation
TO rthe trying ordeals that surely
await us. Wherever we turn we come
upon the scenes of heroic deeds Of
those who dared all and gave all in
the cause of freedom. Out of the
vanished years come again the misty
figures of those gray-clad soldiers
this historic battlefield about us is
once more peopled with them. We
hear in fancy the roar Of the cannon
and behold again those scenes of
valor and courage which are now the
common heritage Of the American
people. 1t is my privilege to remen-
Der that on this very spot among
those heroes of long ago, was my own
father in the uniform of Confed-
crate private soldier, and that he, too,
participated in that momentous drama
unforgotten and unforgettable. But
splendid as these memories are, it is
with the present and the immediate
future, both of our state and our ma
ton, that my brief message to you
today has to deal.
Decision Rightly Made.
Since that awful May day in 1915
when more than one hundred Ameri-
can citizens, men, women and chill
dren, disappeared with the Lusitania
in the waters of the Atlantic, it was
apparent to attentive observers that
the American people would ultimate
ly be compelled to accept the chal-
lenge that autocracy had flung down
to free people everywhere. Our de-
cision was rightly made; there was
no alternative. None of us who have
attempted to visualize the safety of
America and American institutions
with democratic England and demo-
cratic France leveIed in the dust, and
the violator of unhappy Belgium
standing forth as the imperial Rome
of modern times, would have it other
wise. No time will ever come, how
ever distant, when men will cease to
look back upon April 6, 1917, as an
other turning point in the current of
human affairs. Nor will they ever
forget the lofty words of duty and
sacrifice pronounced by the first Am
erican of our time and the foremost
citizen of the world, to the national
congress on that momentous day.
saFhe challenge is to all mankind.
We will not choose the path of sub
mission and suffer the most sacred
rights of the nation and its people to
be ignored or violated. $50 We are
now about to accept gauge of battle
with this natural foe to liberty, and
shall, if necessary, spend the whole
force of the nation to check and null
lily its pretenses and its power. y '
America is glad to fight for the ulti-
mate peace of the world and for the
liberation of its people. God
helping her, she can do no other"
We are proving day by day and hour
by hour in the mighty preparations
for war now under way in every city
and hamlet throughout the confines
of the Republic that Woodrow Wilson
then voiced the will of the people,
and that we are indeed willing to die
in defense of the noblest institutions
with which Providence has ever blest
any race of men.
Revised Fiscal System.
| know the difficulty of attempting
TO withdraw the attention of our peo-
pie from the mighty events now trans
.piring in France and in Italy to the
prosaic, not to say uninteresting, dis
cussion of matters of finance and pol
lev with which the next state admin
istration must deal. But the internal
affairs of our state have now reached
the point where it is essential, if we
are to preserve the good name and
credit that Tennessee has always en-
loved in the sisterhood Of states, that
we turn our attention to the import
ant duty of revising our entire fiscal
system. in order that occurrences of
the annual deficit in the treasury of
the state for the past few years be
speedily and permanently prevented.
/ realize that such a discussion is
necessarily undressing, and most
Of it tedious, but it is nevertheless