Denver labor bulletin., 1918-04-27
WAR PROGRAM MUST BE
SHOT THRU WITH UTTER
DISINTERESTEDNESS.
Letter of the President Sent to
Democrats of New Jersey Has
the Ring of Lincoln's Gettys-
burg Address, With Wis
ion of the Future.
BY LAURENCE TODD
Especial Representative The Denver Labor
Bulletin.)

WASHINGTON, April 2o.-With
each passing day, the leadership by
President Wilson of the democratic
cause in this final struggle between
freedom and terrorism in the world
becomes more clear. He has not been
able 20 do everything that he wished
10 do-either in speeding the arrival
of our men and munitions in France
or in harmonizing conflicting views
among sections Of the people in the
allied nations. But he has done more
than any other man, and far more
than most statesmen-political or in
dustrial or military-believed could be
accomplished. And he is gaining pow
er and moral authority as his plans
are justified by events.
Few Of the newspapers and mhga-
zines have paid attention to the letter
he sent recently to a gathering of
democrats in Newark, n. J. This is
the latest expression of his view of
the duty of American citizens, dealing
with political issues, in this year Of
terrible war.
Birth Of New Day.
IL speaks, in n way, as Lincoln
spoke at Gettysburg. Here are some
OF its sentences:
Every sign of these terrible days
Of war and revolutionary change.
when economic and social forces are
being released upon the world whose
effect no political seer dare venture
to conjecture, bids us search our
hearts thru and thru and make them
ready for the birth of new day-a
day, we hope and believe, of greater
opportunity and greater prosperity
for the average mass of struggling
men and women, and of greater safety
10 nhtIiran
THE old party slogans have lost
their Significance and will mean moth
ing TO the voter Of the future, for the
war Is Certain to change the mind of
Europe as well as the mind of Amer
lea. Men everywhere are searching
democratic principles to their hearts
in order to determine their soundness,
their sincerity, their adaptability to
the real needs of their life. and every
man with any vision must see that
the real test of justice and right ac-
ton is presently to come as it never
came before.
Return With New Vision
"The men in the trenches, who have
been FREED FROM THE ECONOM-
&c SERFDOM TO WHICH SOME
TONED will. it is likely, return to
their homes with new view and
new impatience of all mere political
phrases, and will demand real think
ing and sincere action.
"The DAYS OF POLITICAL AND
+ ECON o NJ l C RECONSTRUCTION
which are AHEAD OF US no man
can now definitely assess, but we know
this, that every program must be shot
thru and thru with utter disinterest-
edness; that no party must try to
ls..t Il A
MUST TRY TO SERVE HUMAN
ITY, and that the task is n very prac-
tical one, meaning that every pro-
gram, every measure in every pro-
gram, must be tested by this question,
and this question only: is 1T JUST;
is 1T FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE
AVERAGE MAN, without influence
or privilege: DOES 1T EMBODY IN
REAL FACT THE HIGHEST CON
CEPTION OF SOCIAL JUSTICE
AND OF RIGHT DEALING without
respect of person or class or particu-
lar interest?
"This is high test. 1t can be met
only by those who have genuine SYM
pathy with the mass Of men and real
insight into their needs and opportu-
mites, and n purpose which is purged
alike of selfish and Of partisan inten-
ton"
Devotion TO the People.
Nonpartisanship, and an unselfish
devotion to the good of the mass of
men and women and children, are the
foundations upon which the President
asks the American nation to build a
new house for itself in the new world,
in "the days of political and economic
reconstruction that are ahead of u.s."
And this new house must be built on
a plan which will 'embody in real
fact the highest conception Of social
Justice"
President Wilson says that this
great new plan for our institutions
must be carried out, because the men
who are going to the trenches in