AUGUST 2, 1912
3
The Commoner.
Judge's Wescott's Great Speech
Following is tho speech of Hon. John W.
Wescott of Camden, N. J., nominating Wood
row Wilson, of Now Jersey, for the presidency
of the United States at the democratic conven
tion at Baltimore, Juno 27, 1912:
New Jersey, onco hound, but, by tho moral
energy and intellectual greatness of a single
soul, now free, comes to this historic conven
tion, in the glory of her emancipation, to partici
pate in your deliberations, aid in formulating
your judgments and assist in executing your de
crees. The New Jersey delegation is in no sense
empowered to exercise tho attributes of pro
prietorship. On the wreck and ruin of a bi
partisan machine a master hand has erected an
ideal commonwealth in less than two years.
(Applause.) New Jersey is free. Therefore,
the New Jersey delegation is commissioned to
represent the great cause of democracy and to
offer, as its militant and triumphant leader, a
scholar, not a charlatan; a statesman, not a
doctrinaire; a profound lawyer, not a splitter of
legal hairs; a political economist, not an egotis
tical theorist; a practical politician, who con
structs, modifies, restrains without disturbance
or destruction; a resistless debater and consum
mate master of statement, not a mere phrase
maker; a humanitarian, not a defamer of char
acters and lives; a man whoso mind is at onco
cosmopolitan and composite of all America; a
gentleman of unpretentious habits, with the fear
of God in his heart and the love of mankind ex
hibited in every act of his life (applause) ;
above all a public servant who has been tried
to the uttermost and never found wanting
peerless, matchless, unconquerable in the per
formance of his duty, the ultimate democrat,
the genius of liberty and the very incarnation of
progress. (Applause.)
New Jersey has reasons for her course. Let
us not be deceived in the, essentials of tho
premises upon which this convention will build,
if it builds successfully. Campaigns of villift
cation, corruption and false pretense have lost
their usefulness. The evolution of national
energy is toward .a more intelligent morality in
politics and in all other relations. (Applause.)
The line of cleavage is between those who treat
politics as a game and those who regard it as tho
serious business of government. The realign
ment of political parties will be on this principle.
The situation admits of no dispute and no com
promise. Tho temper and purpose of the
American people will tolerate no other view.
The indifference of the American public to its
politics has disappeared. Any platform, and any
candidate on that platform, not fully responsive
to this vast social, political and economical be
hest will go down to ignominious defeat at
the polls. (Applause.) Platforms are too often
mere historic rubbish heaps of broken promises.
Candidates are too often the unfortunate
creatures of arrangements and calculations.
Exigencies, conditions, national needs and
necessities make better platforms and produce
greater leaders than does the exercise of pro
prietorship. (Applause.) Hence it is that a dis
regard of tho premises will bring our dreams
crashing in ruins next Novomber.
Again the eternal conflict between equal
opportunity and special privilege is upon us.
Our fathers wrote the issue of that struggle
in our constitutions. They declared all men to
be free and equal. In a single century that
principle developed tho North American conti
nent, leavened tho world with Its beneficence,
inspired all nations with hope and made the
United States the asylum of all mankind. (Ap
plause.) Yet America, at this very hour, pre
sents the most stupendous contradiction in his
tory a people politcally free, while econo
mically bound by the most gigantic monopolies
.of all time and burdened with a system of taxa
tion which exploits millions to enrich a few.
We have preserved the forms of freedom, but are
fast losing its substance. The evils of this con
dition are felt in a thousand ways throughout
the land. Therefore it is that America Is awake.
Therefore it Is that a mistake in our premises
will be fatal. Therefore it is that the situation,
the national exigency, the crisis, call for the
right man. Therefore it is that a silent and
resistless revolution demands our patriotic and
.best judgment. Individuals are as nothing and
personal ambitions are worse than nothing. Im
personality should be the majesty of this con
vention. If the chosen candidate fails In any
sense or in any degree fully and completely to
meet tho call of the nation, ho is doomed to de
feat. (Applause.)
. Men aro known by what thoy say and do.
Men aro known by thoso who hato them and
those who oppose them. (Applause.) Many
years ago tho distinguished executivo of New
Jersey said, "No man is great who thinks him
self so, and no man is good who does not str-ivo
to secure tho happiness and comfort of others."
(Applause.) This Is tho secret of his life. This
is, in the last analysis, tho explanation of his
power. Later, in his raemorablo effort to retain
high scholarship and simplo democracy in
Princeton university, ho declared, "Tho great
voice of America does not come from seats of
learning. It comes in a murmur from the hills,
and woods, and tho farms and factories and tho
mills, rolling on and gaining volume until it
comes to us from the homes of common men.
Do these murmurs echo In tho corridors of our
universities? I have not heard them." A clarion
call to the spirit that now moves America. Still
later ho shouted, "I will not cry poaco so long
as social injustice and political wrong exist in
the stato of New Jersey." (Applause.) Iloro
is tho very soul of tho silent revolution now
solidifying sentiment and purpose in our com
mon country.
Tho deeds of this moral and intellectual giant
are known to all men. Thoy accord, not with
tho shams and pretenses of diseased and dis
organized politics, but mako national harmony
with tho millions of patriots dotermlncd to cor
roct the wrongs of plutocracy and reestablish
tho maxims of American liberty in all thoir
pregnant beauty and practical effectiveness.
(Applause.) Now Jersey loves her governor,
not for the enemies ho has made, but for what
he is. All evil is his enemy. Ho is the enemy
of all evil. The influences opposing him havo
demonstrated his availability and fitness on tho
one hand, and exposed the unavailability and
unfitness of certain others on tho other hand.
The Influence that has opposed him blights and
blasts any cause and any person it espouses.
That influence has appealed to tho sordid, tho
low and tho criminal. That influenco fattens
and gorges itself on ignorance and avarice. Any
man who accepts the aid of that Influence would
bo moro fortunate had a mill stono been tied
about his neck and ho. had been cast into tho
depths of the sea. (Applause.) New Jersey
believes that tho opposition to her governor,
such as it has been and such as it is, necessi
tates and secures his triumph.
Similar necessities, causes and motives impel
all men similarly tho world over. Tho same
necessities, causes and motives which draw, as
by omnipotence, all New Jersey about this great
and good man, are identically the same necessi
ties, causes and motives that are In resistless
motion in every state in the union. (Applause.)
Its solidarity can not be disintegrated. False
argument falls broken against it. A revolution
of intelligent and patriotic millions is tho ex
pression of these same necessities, causes and
motives. Therefore, New Jersey argues that her
splendid governor la the only candidate who can
not only mako democratic success a certainty,
but secure tho electoral vote of almost every
state in tho union. (Applause.) New Jersey
herself will indorse his nomination by a ma
jority of one hundred thousand of her liberated
citizens. What Now Jersey will do, every de
batable state in the union will do. (Applause.)
We are building, not for a day, or even a genera
tion, but for all time. Let not the belief that
any candidate may succeed rob us of sound
judgment. What would It profit tho democratic
party to win now, only to bo cast out four years
hence? The democratic party is commissioned
to carry on a great constructive program, hav
ing for Its end a complete restoration of tho
doctrine of equal rights and equal opportunity
without Injury or wrong to anyone. Providence
has given us, in the exalted character of Nov
Jersey's executivo, the mental and moral equip
ment to accomplish this reincarnation of de
mocracy. New Jersey believes that there is an omni
science in national Instinct That instinct
centers in her governor. He is that instinct.
(Applause.) How can his power in every state
be explained? He has been in politcal life less
.than two years. He has had no organization
of the usual sort; only a practical ideal, the re
establishment of equal opportunity. (Applause.)
The logic of events points to him. The Imperial
voice of patriotism calls to him. Not his deeds
alone, not his deathless words alone, not his
simple personality alone, not hin Incomparable
powers alone, not his davotion to truth and
principle alone, but all combined, compel na
tional faith and confidence in him. (Applause)
Every crisis ovolves its master. Time and cir
cumstance havo evolved tho Immortal governor
of Now Jersey. Tho north, tho south, tho oast
and tho west unite In him. Deop calls to deep.
Height calls to height.
"From peak to peak, tho rattling crags among.
Leaps tho live thundor. Not from ono lone
cloud,
But every mountain now hath found a tonguo,
And Jura answers through her misty shrouds
Back to the joyous Alps, who call to hor aloud."
The lightning flash of his genius has cleared
tho atmospjiorc. Wo now know whoro wo aro.
The thundor of his sincerity is shaking tho very
foundations of wrong and corruption. (Ap
plauso.) This convention stands between ninety mil
lions of people and a thousand monopolies. It
stands between ninety millions of people who
need a frco and fair opportunity and a thousand
trusts that havo special privileges. Tho great
issuo is to restoro to tho poople equal oppor
tunity, and, at tho samo timo, to compel mo
nopolies and trusts to proceed upon tho same
principle. This Issue can not bo solved by a
platform. Thousands of platforms will not solve
it. Tho man on tho platform alone can solvo
it. If ho has tho - moral forco and personal
courago and mental ability, he will solvo it be
cause ninoty millions of confiding mon, women
and children stand behind him. (Applause.)
Such is the meaning of tho appearance of the
govornor of New Jersey at this time In tho his
tory of tho nation. (Applause.) From tho roar
and struggle and strife preceding this conven
tion and now involving it, there arises in
majesty ono character, unsullied and unsoiled.
Ho has made but ono compact. That compact
was with his conscience. Ho has made but one
agreement. That agreement was with his coun
try and Ills God. (Applause.) He is under but
ono obligation. That obligation is to tho eternal
principle of truth and right. It requires no
sophistry to explain either his position or his
character. Ho stands in tho quenchless light
of truth, a bravo, fearless and patriotic soul.
(Applause.)
If providence could spare us a Washington to
lay deop in the granite of human neod the foun
dations of tho United States; If providence could
spare us a' Jefferson to give form and vitality to
tho most splendid democracy the sun ever shone
upon; if providence could spare us a Lincoln to
unite these states in impregnable unity and
brothorhood, New Jersey appeals to tho patriot
ism and good sense of this convention to give
to tho country tho services of the distinguished
govornor of New Jersey, that the doors of oppor
tunity may again be opened wide to every man,
woman and child under tho stars and stripes, so
that, to uso his own matchless phrase, "their
energies may bo released, intelligently, that
peace, justice and prosperity may reign."
New Jersey appreciates her deliverance. Now
Jersey appreciates the great constructive re
sults of her governor's efforts during tho past
two years, but New Jersey appreciates moro than
that tho honor which she now has, through hor
freely chosen representatives sitting before me,
of placing before this convention, as a candi
date for the presidency of tho United States, the
seer and philosopher of Princeton, tho "Prince
ton schoolmaster," Woodrow Wilson. (Applause.)
IMPORTANT
Tho Davenport (Iowa) Democrat says that
tho length of the presidential term is of very
less Importance than tho identity of the maa
who serves It. But tho man who appreciates
tho importance of limiting the presidential term
in, order that the occupant of tho office may be
free to discharge his duty to the public with
out tho embarrassments growing out of undue
ambition, is likely to bo a pretty good sort of a
man. In any event, it is just as well to take
no chances with tho good, the bad, or the in
different, by laying down a rule that will save
men from the follies of jelflsh ambitions.
APPRECIATED IN TEXAS
R. N. Wilson, Texas: Accepting your clubbing
offer for The Commoner, I made up a club of
five in a few minutes this morning. If you
will send me two more blanks for sets of five, I
can fill them promptly.
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