Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1928-08-23
wing is the full text of Gov

for the presidency as delivered at
Albany, yesterday afternoon at $50
o'clock:
Upon the steps of this capitol
where 25 years ago l first came into
the service Of the state, l receive my
party's simmons to lead it in the ma
tion. Within this building, learned
the principles, the purposes aad the
functions of government and to
know that the greatest privilege that
can come to any man is to give him
self to q nation which has reared
hirn and raised him from obscurity
to be contender for the highest Of
flee in the gift of it's people.
Here l confirmed my faith in the
principles of the Democratic party so
eloquently defined by Woodrow Will
son: First the people as the source
and their interests and desires as
the text of laws and institutions.
Second, individual liberty as the OBJ
jective of all law" With a gratitude
too strong for words and with hum
hle reliance upon the aid of Divine
Providence, l accept your summons
to the wider field of action.
Government tshould be construct
i've, not destructive; progressive, not
reactionary. 1 am entirely unwilling
to accept the old order of things as
the best unless and until l become
convinced that it cannot be made
better.
Theory of Progressive Government
1t is our new world theory that
government exists for the people as
against the old world conception that
the people exist for the government.
A sharp line separates those who be-
lieve that an elect class should be the
special object of the governments S
cfoncern and those who believe that
the government is the agent and ser
want of the people who create it.
Dominant in the Republican party to-
day is the element which proclaims
and executes the political theories
against which the party liberals like
Roosevelt and La Toilette and their
party insurgents have rebelled. This
reactionary element seeks to vindi-
cate the theory of benevolent oligar-
>chy. 1t assumes that material
prosperity, the very existence or
which is challenged, is an excuse for
political inequality. 1t makes -"e
concern of the government, not peo-
pie, but material things.
Reaction VS.. Progressiveism
l have fought this spirit in my
own state. l have had to fight it
and to beat it, in order to place upon
the statute books every one OF the
progressive, humane laws for whose
enactment assumed responsibility
in my legislative and executive ca
reer. shall know how to fight it in
the nation.
1t is a fallacy that there is incon
sistency between progressive meas
ures protecting the rights OF the peo-
pie, including the poor and the weak,
and a just regard for the rights OF
legitimate business, great or small.
Therefore, while l emphasize my be-
lief that legitimate business pro-
notes the national welfare, let me
warn the forces of corruption and
favoritism, that Democratic victory
means that they will be relegated to
the rear and the front seats will be
occupied by the friends OF equal op
portunity.
Taking the Issue To the People
Likewise government policy should
spring from the deliberate action OF
an informed electorate. Of all men,
| have reason to believe that the
people can and do grasp the prob
lens of the government. Against the
opposition of the self-seeker ana
the partisan, again and again, have
seen legislation won by the pressure
of popular demand, exerted after the
people had had an honest, frank ana
complete explanation Of the issues.
Great questions of finance, the IS
suance of millions of dollars OF bonds
for public projects, the complete re-
construction of the machinery OF the
state government, the institution Oh
an executive budget, these are but a
few of the complicated questions
which have taken to the electorate.
Every citizen has thus learned the
nature of the business in hand and
appreciated that the states business
is his business.
Reviving National Ideals
That direct contact with the peo-
ple | promise to continue in this
campaign and, if l am elected, In the
conduct of the nations affairs. l
shall thereby strive to make the ma
tion's policy the, true reflection OF
the nations ideals. Because | pc
lieve in the idealism of the party OF
jefferson, Cleveland and Wilson, my
administration will be rooted in hber-
ty under the law; liberty that mans
freedom to the individual to follow
his own will so long as he does not
harm his neighbor; the same high
moral purpose in our conduct as a
! nation that actuates the conduct OF