The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-12

| veterans of, our wars, especially to those who were stricken and wounded
 in the country's service and whose con fidence has been so cruelty and cor
 ruptly abused, we shall give, in honor and in honesty, the grateful care they have so justly earned.
 Concerning our sentiments toward laf Dor there is room for neither doubt nor cavil in the light of our past history. The Tight of labor to an adequate wage earned under healthful conditions, the right to organize in order to obtain it and the right to bargain for it collec- lively, through agents and representa- tives of it's own choosing, have been es- tablished after many years of weary struggle. These rights are conceded now by all fairminded men. They must not be impaired either by injunction or by any other device. The democratic party, however, goes a step beyond this. | Its attitude has been well described
 as one inspired neither by difference on the one hand nor by patronage on the other, but by a sincere desire to make labor part of the grand council to labor part of the grand council of the nation, to concede it's patriotism and to recognize that its knowledge of it's own needs gives it right to voice in all 1 matters of government that directly or
 peculiarly affect its own rights. This. attitude has not chenged; 1t will not
 change. Democracy in government and
 democracy in industry alike demand the l free recognition of the rigbt or all tncse who work, in whatever rank or place. to share in all decisions that affect their welfare.
 Is In Own Right.
 To the farmers of the United States. also we promise not patronage but such I laws and such administration of he laws as will enable them to prosper in \ their own right. They are not mendi- cants and. fortunately for all of us, are willing to take the risks that attend
 their all important calling. They are entitled in return to a government gen. timely interested in their problems and keenly desirous to serve them to the limit of its power. They feel today, more severely perhaps than any others, the depressing effect of discriminatory taxation. Buying in a protected mar ket and selling in market open to the world, they have been forced to con- tribute to the profits of those in other industries with no cornpensating benefit to themselves.
 Recent experience has proved, if proof were needed, that an effort to help the farmer by tariff on his prod ucts, is the baldest political false pre- ftense. He knows as well as any eco aomist can tell him that the price he gets for his surplus crop depends upon conditions at the place of sale; and he realizes that his permanent prosperity depends not upon the decrease through crop shortages of the quantity he has to sell, but upon the restoration and ex- pansion of the markets to which his goods must go. When he faces as many do today, impending bankruptcy and ruin, it is small comfort to be told by those who are so solicitous to protect other industry from all possible compe- tition that the farmers salvation lies wholly with himself. 1
 The "courage0us and intelligent de- flation of credits" which the republican party promised in its platform four years ago, would have come with better grace and have proven more acceptable in it's results if there had been at the anne time any effort to narrow instead l oe widen the gulf between the prices which the farmer receives and those which he is compelled to pay, and to assist him in finding a market for the things he has to sell. We propose to see to it that the dis criminations which the tariff makes against him shall be removed that his government by doing it's share toward a European settlement shall help to re- vive and enlarge his foreign markets that instead of lip service to the prin- ciple of cooperative marketing the forces of the government shall be put actively at work to lend assistance to these endeavOrs; that the farmer shall be supplied not only with information on problems of production but with in- formation such as the the dealer now receives concerning the probable use and demand for his product, so that he may be enabled to think as intelligently as the dealer in terms of consumption and demand; and that in times when general and widespread distress has overtaken him, every power which the government enjoys upde-2 the Constitu- tiop shall be exerted in his aid.
 He is entitled, too, to demand an ade- Quate service of transportation at req sonable rates. In spite of the failures and shortcomings of existing laws, this is an ideal which cannot believe to be beyond the reach of attainment. If the seasonal production of the farm CTS crops is the pulsation of the na- ti0n's heart, the railroads of the cOun- try are the veins and arteries through which it's lifeblod flows. Neither can hope to function without the others aid; and it is quite as important to the railroads that he farmer should prosper as it is to the farmer that the railroads should be adequately paid for the service that they render. Promises Tax Relief.
 Believing that no people are truly free who are unjustly taxed, we promise to the people of America not only re- vision and reform but further rednc- tion in the taxes that weigh them down and sap the vigor of their productive energy. The exorbitant rates and dis crimnatory provisions of the present tariff law must be wiped out, and in their place must be written, with fari- ness to all and favors to none, statute
 designed primarily to raise revenue for the support of the government and framed on a truly competitive basis. We have no hostile design toward any legitimate industry; we purpose no action that would tear down or de- stroy. But we are resolved that the laying and collecting of taxes shall re- main a public and not private busi- ness and that monopoly shall find no section of the law behind which to hide itself. The rates of the income
 tax should he further lowered. Un- necessary taxation is unjust taxation
 no matter on whom the burden falls.
 I am ready to agree that there is no
 right in government to tax any man