The Wilmington morning star., 1940-01-09
TEXT " PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT7S
ADDRESS Al JACKSON DAY DINNER

DA'
tendency is on the increase. I am
too modest, Of course, to refer to
the most recent example-the cleo
ton of the party regulars who want
to win must hold their allies and
supporters among those independent
voters.
There are, Of course, some citi-
zens-l hope a decreasing number
With whom 1 find it difficult to talk
nationally on this subject of strict
party voting. I have in mind, for
example, some of my close friends
in the south, who are under the i'm.
preston that they would be ostrac.
lied in society and in business if
1t were to appear publicly that they
had ever voted for a republican.
also have in mind some very close
friends in northern villages who tell
me, quite frankly, that though they
would give anything to be able te
vote o me, a democrat, it would
hurt their influence and their social
position in their own home town.
l have in mind the predicament
OF n of the best editors Of TODAY
who sometime ago said to me, very
frankly:
Il am really in complete SYM
pathy with your program Lut
cannot say SO publicly because,
MI. President, the readers and
advertisers Of my paper are
ninety per cent republicans and
l simply cannot afford to change
Its unalterable policy of tradi.
tional opposition to anything and
everything that comes from
democratic sources. Of course
you understand"
Millions Of unnecessary words and
explanations and solemn comments
are uttered and written, year after
year, about the great men of Amer
lean h1story-with ample quotations
to prove what Jefferson or Hamil.
ton, Jackson or Clay, Lincoln OF
Douglas, Cleveland or Blaine, Theo
dore Roosevelt or Bryan would have
said or would have done about some
specific modern problems of govern
ment if they were alive today. The
purpose Of all these comments is
either to induce the party leaders OIL
today blindly to follow the words Of
leaders Of yesterday; or to justify
public acts or policies Of today b,
the utterances of the past, otter
tortured out Of context. The devi,
can quote past statesmen as well as
scripture, to prove his purpose.
But most people, who are not or
the actual firing line of the moment
nave come to attach major import
ance only to the motives behind the
leaders of the past. To them it mat
tiers, on the whole, very little what
party label American statesmen bore
or what mistakes they made ir
smaller things, so long as they die
the big job that their times demand
ed be done.
Alexander Hamilton Is a hero tt
me in spite of his position that the
nation would be safer if our leaders
were chosen exclusively from per
sons of higher education and of sub
stantial property ownership; he *
a hero because he did the job which
then had to be done-to bring
stability out of a chaos Of currency
and banking difficulties.
Thomas Jefferson is a hero to me
despite the fact that the theories Of
the French revolutionists at times
over-excited his practical judgment
He is a hero because, in his many
sided genius, he too did the big jot
which then had to be done - te
establish the new republic as a rea,
democracy based on universal suf
frage and the ~inalienable rights Of
man, instead of a restricted suffrage
in the hands of a small oligarchy
Jefferson realized that if the people
were free to get and discuss all the
facts, their composite judgment
would be better than the judgment
Of a self-perpetuating few. That is
why I think of Jefferson as belong.
ing to the rank and file Of both
major political parties today.
I do not know which party Lin.
coin would belong to if he were alive
in 1940-and I am not even con.
cerned to speculate on it; a new
party had to be created before he
could be elected president. I am
more interested in the fact that he
did the big job which then had to
be done-to preserve the union and
make possible, at a later time, a
united country. His sympathies and
his motives of championship of hui
mainly itself have made him for all
centuries to come the legitimate
property of all parties - of every
man, woman and child in every part
of our land.
I feel very much the same way
about Jackson - not Jackson the
democrat but Jackson the American,
who did the big job of his day to
save the economic democracy Of the
union for it's westward expansion