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

the foreign affairs of the United
 States, including the great and
 vital question of European settle
 ment, nut be left in private hands.
 We must face the humiliating fact
 that we have 8 government that
 does not dare to speak its mind be-
 yOnd the three-mile limit
 A political, party, which is at best but human, i, may make honest mis- takes; they can be forgiven. It may pass unwise laws; they can be repealed. It may, through honest error, set men to tasks beyond their power they can be displaced and others chosen in their stead. The unpardonable sin, how ever, for it is sin that strikes at the national life, is conduct so corrupt, so partial and so feeble that it shakes the public. confidence in government itself. s%A
 I indict the republican party in its organized capacity for having shaken public confidence to it's very founda- tiOns. charge it with having exhibit ed deeper and more widespread cor ruption than any that this generation of Americans has been called upon to witness. charge it with complacency in the face of that corruption and with i'll will toward the efforts of honest men to expose it. l charge it with gross favoritism to the privileged and with utter disregard of the un- privileged. I charge it with indiffer- ence to world peace and with timidity in the conduct of our foreign affairs. l charge it with Reorganization, divi- sion and ineoherence, and on the record shall ask the voters throughout the length and breadth of this land to pass Judgment of condemnation, as a warn ing to all men who may aspire to pub lice office, that dishonesty either in thought, word or deed, will not be tolerated in America. I cannot doubt what verdict they will render.
 When they have made their answer they will turn to us, as it is right they should, and ask what we have to. offer in exchange and what pledges wu sr givey that our offer will be ueI Q. .pe,;,. Wes are Feas.g for the question. We are prepared to offer a deniocrati,. pro- grahl based Dn democratic prineiI,les and guaranteed by a record of deno- cratic performance. This program we have outlined in our platform these ale those by which the dem ocratic party has been guided through out the years-and which like the creed of the church should be repeated when ever democrats assemble-a belief in equal rights to all men and. sDeciaI to none; in nm ever wider and more equitable distribution of the rewards of t0I and industry: in fine. suppression of private mononoIv as n thing indefensible and intolerable: in the largest liberty for every individ- uaI In local self-goYernment as against centralized bureaucracy; in public otflce as public trust in a govern ment administered without fear abroad or tavoritlsm ft home. And our pledge will be the, long roll of beneficeIlt leg- Islatlon passed during our years of power, and the conduct without scan- dal or corruption of q great and vic. torlous war fought under the gallant and inspiring leadership of Woodrow Wilson.
 l have expressed, in general terms. my approval Of the proposals contained Tn our platform. You will not expect me at this moment. to discuss them in detail or to soUtline the methods by which they are to be carried into effect There will be time enough for that. Far more important than the language of such documents is the spirit that breathes through them and gives them life. The country has the right to know whether under the guidance of the democratic party it will follow course of wise and continued progress. or be given over to the delusive pan aceas of the dreamy radical or the snug cOmplacency> of the conservative who things that all goes well if only it goes well with him.
 The words progressive" and "re- actionary" have been much used in American politics. There has been lit tie effort to- define their meaning. They are becoming mere tags which fasten on themselves or their without indulging in any mental process that remotely resembles thought. But, like shipping tags, the thing which really counts is the destina- tiOn written on them-prOgress to what; reaction from what--that is the real question. Motion may be either backward oP forward; it may even be going around in circles.
 From hfy point of view he only
 deserves to be called Q progressive
 who cannot sec a wrong persist
 without an effort to redress it,
 or a right denied without an effort
 to protect it; who feels a deep con
 cern for the economic welfare of
 the United States, but realizes that
 the making of, better men and bet.
 ter women iS a matter greater
 ..R
 mental policy first of all in it's
 bearing upon human rights rather
 than upon material things; who 70 believes profoundly in human
 equality and detests privilege in
 whatever form or in whatever dis
 guise, and who finds the true test
 of success in the welfare of the
 many and not the Rr0sperity and
 comfort of the few. The civic unit
 of America Is not the dollar but
 the individual man. All that goes
 to make better happier and freer
 men and women is progress; all
 else is reaction. PrOgressiVes of
 this sort, though they may not care
 to use the name, nevertheless in
 their hearts are democrats.
 We shall strive. therefore, for the things that look to these great ends !; for the education of our youth, not only in knowledge gathered from past ages but iii the wholesome virtue of self help; for the protection of women and children from human greed and un- equal laws; for the prevention of child labor and for the suppression of the illicit traffic in sOul-destroying drugs. We shall conserve all the natural re- sources the country and prevent the