15
AUGUST 30, 1912
The Commoner.
any fair-minded man Bay that if it
redounds to the interests of the
people of this country that a hun
dred men should control its business
to the good of everyone, that thero is
anything fallacious in the theory
that government instead of transfer
ring business to a favored few for
the benefit of all should Itself dis
charge that business for the benefit
of all? I have never been able to
convince myself that either system
would not cast a pall over human
action and dull the motives which
have heretofore moved' mankind to
the very loftiest endeavor and pro
duced what I conceive, to be the most
perfect system of government ever
devised by the brain of man since
that far-off theocracy of the Jew
went, down beneath his demand for
the pomp and splendor of earthly
power. Arid yet, I do not hesitate
to, say that if it be impossible to de
store this republic to its ancient
ideals, which I do not believe, and I
must make the ultimate choice be
tween the paternalism of the few
and the socialism of the many, count
me and my house with the throbbing
heart of humanity.
REPUBLICAN DISCONTENT
ability in getting on in tho world
just so he realizes that in getting on
ho owes it to himself, to his family
and to the republic to see to it that
he gets on honestly and that he does
not prevent any other man from ob
taining the reward of his honesty and
enterprise. These old-fashioned
democrats believe in making money,
but they believe that every dollar
made should bo so clean that an in
fant may cut its tooth upon it. They
hold that It is no part of govern
ment to boost one man and to boot
another, and that any system of gov
ernment which enables one man to
take advantage of another is not a
system under which a democratic
condition of life can thrive. They
hold that from age to age, social and
economic conditions change, but that
the great principle of the equality
of all men before the law can never
change while time shall last, and
that the honest interpretation of
this groat principle in statutory en
actment, judicial construction and
executive conduct, will take from the
life of a people the mighty avarice of
the few, bind up the broken hearts
of the many and loose the bonds of
all who are in slavery to wrong, in
justice and ignorance.
"The discontent in republican ranks
is democratic discontent. How much
of it has reached tho point where
wearied with the bad workings of a
good system, it is willing to topple
that system over and try something
new, I can not- prophesy. But I am
quite sure that whatever badges men
may wear in America this year, what
ever ballots they may cast and what
ever battle-cries they may utter,
thero are but three grades of citi
zens. .The first grade is made up of
the favored few, their hangers-on
and their beneficiaries, who think the
eagle is upon the dollar, not as an
emblem of liberty, but as an emblem
o power a"nd who look upon govern-:
ment as an annex to their business
affairs; these are they who in the
past years of republican misrule have
turned tho temple of constitutional
freedom into a money-changers mart
and have made of the co-ordinate
branches of government obeisant
lackeys of the jingling guinea.
"The second grade consists of those
whose outlook upon life has been
enlarged by the civilization under
which we live, who have been taught
by the school and the college, by the
press and the magazine, who appre
ciate and enjoy the good things of
life, whose horizon has been en
larged and whose capacity for joy
and sorrow , has been Increased.
Year after year they have seen the
boundless .resources of the richest
country the sun ever shone upon,
pass into the control of the favored
few. They have observed that the
laws have been enacted, construed
and enforced so that struggle as they
will, and act as they may, they see
before them naught but long years
of servitude and certain poverty at
the end. Conditions have become
unbearable to them. They hesitate
to hope for reform so often has it
been promised to them and so often
has it been denied. They have
reached the point where, in the
struggle for that which they believe
to be right, they are willing to de
stroy the ideals of the republic. How
many there are of these, I do not
know, but I do know that special
privilege in the republic is breeding
them day by day like rabbits in a
warren.
OLD-FASHIONED DEMOCRATS
"The third grade of citizens it
pleases me to call old-fashioned con
stitutional democrats. These are
they who believe that the equality
of mankind does not consist in an
equality of brain and brawn but in
an equality whereby every man, na
tive arid foreign-born, has an in
alienable right to exercise all of his
INDIVIDUALISM STILL ALIVE
"The individualism of Thomas
Jefferson is not dead. It has not
molded back to dust in the grave at
Monticello. It walks the earth this
day, knocking at the door of rich and
poor, of wise and ignorant, alike,
calling upon all men to make of this
age the millinnium of statecraft
wherein no one shall claim to be
the master and all shall be glad to
be the servants of the republic.
"It can not be that it is tho
system of government which is
wrong. It is the unjust use of the
system. From Jefferson to Lincoln,
tho republic grew in might, in
majesty, in pomp" and splendor, arid
the humblest of its citizens could
obtain justice, not as a beggar
crawling in the sun, but as a man.
It has not been the use, but the mis
use of the powers of government
which has produced this discontent
in the minds of men.
"The historic democratic party
moves forward now as always, true
to the principles of the Declaration
of Independence, loyal to the consti
tution and confident that if men will
be imbued with the spirit of these
two documents and willguide their
public and private life by the con
cepts of righteousness therein con
tained, peace and plenty will bless
their homes and come as a bension
to every weary, down-trodden and
oppressed soul.
"The contending forces In Ameri
ca are as they are In nature. There
is a centripetal force which is ever
drawing the earth toward the sun.
There is a centrifugal force which is
ever drawing it away. These two
contending forces acting each upon
the other have kept this old world of
ours safely In its orbit, and spring
time and harvest have not failed.
Should either force become superior,
desolation and destruction only could
result. The centripetal force would
draw the earth into the sun and
make it but fuel for the warmth of
other plants. The centrifugal force
would send it whirling out of its
orbit to the northern pole of stellar
spaces. There are times in July when
we long for the north pole and there
are times in January when we pray
to be nearer the sun. But our sober
second thought convinces us that the
middle course is the safe course for
the world.
POSITION OF DEMOCRATIC
PARTY
"The contending forces of political
life are commonly denominated re
actionary and revolutionary. They
are the paternalistic forces of the re
publican party which would draw
our government out of its orbit and
consume it in the fiery heat of the
lust and greed of the favored fow,
and tho socialistic forces which
would draw it away from its constitu
tional conception of threo co-ordinate
branches and from its guaranty
to assort his natural and acquired
talents in an honest endeavor to suc
ceed. The historic democratic party,
of which I am an humble member.
stands between these contending '
forces and believes that somo har-
vests for humanity may ho garnered
by proceeding In the old orbit of
which tho fathers founded, by meet
ing in tho old way each generation
of men as they Bhall rise, by never
forgetting that this government was
founded, not for business nor suc
cess, but to guarantee in lawful ways
tho opportunity of every man for
liberty and for tho pursuit of happi
ness. Old principles applied in new
ways will convince these two ex
tremes of thought that our historic
party can make exist what now is
but a name democracy under a rep
resentative form of government.
"If I doubted that tho return of
tho historie democratic party to
power would fall to right tho wrongs
of industrial life, to wipe out the in
justices of legislation and to preserve
tho opportunity of every man for
happiness, then my voice, now weak,
would bo silent. If I did not believe
that in b far as human agency can,
this party of ours will promoto the
brotherhood of mankind, I would
hero and now repudiate it. But be
lieving as I do that the republic had
its origin in an inspiration which did
not come from the mere brain of a
mere man but sprang from the heart
of humanity, believing that this age
more than any which has preceded
it calls for conscience and brother
hood in governmental affairs; hoping
that every sacrifice of mind and
body and personal good which has
been made, Is a guaranty of the per
petuity of this, the latest and great
est experiment upon the part of a
democracy to work out its ideals in
government; and trusting that the
God of Washington, the founder, and
of Lincoln, the preserver, will still be
the God of the republic, and will not
permit his chosen people to forever
wander in the wilderness of legisla
tive sin. I accept upon its platform,
the nomination of the democratic
party for vice president of the United
States. And may my right hand for
get her cunning and my tongue
cleave to tho roof of my mouth if In
all my gottlngs I fall to got the great
est gift wisdom and understanding
to know tho heart-break and the
need of our common humanity."
DEMOCRATIC HUB-HEADQUARTERS
Democratic sub-hcadquartern have
been opened at Chicago. An Aft
Associated Press dispatch from Sea
girt says: Division of tho national
democratic campaign committee in
geographical activity was announced
by Governor Wilson. Ono half of
tho committee will be located In New
York city and the other half In Chi
cago, where officers of the committee
intended to establish tho western
headquarters of the democratic cam
paign. Tho governor announced that
Senator Goro of Oklahoma, chairman
of the commltteo on organization;
Representative Burleson of Texas,
chairman of tho speakers' bureau;
Sonator Reed of Missouri, Judge W.
B. King of Oregon and Charles B.
Crane, the vice chairman of tho fi
nance cominittoo, would co-operato
at Chicago with Joseph K. Davies,
secretary of tho national commltteo.
At tho Now York headquarters, be
sides National Chairman McCoomhs
and Vice Chairman McAdoo, will
be stationed Rolla Wells, tho na
tional treasurer; Henry Morgonthau,
chairman of tho finance committee;
Josephus Daniols, chairman of tho
publicity committee; Willard Sauls-
berry, chairman, of the special bu
reau; Representative A. Mitchell
Palmer of Pennsylvania, Representa
tive McGHHcuddy of Maine and Sena
tor O'Gorman of New York.
GEORGIA' NOMINATIONS
John M. Slatton has been nomi
nated by tho democrats to be gover
nor of Georgia. United States Sena
tor Bacon was renominated. Con
gressman Barker was defeated for
renominatlon by J. W. Wise. Judge
Charles Crisp was nominated for
congress In the third district.
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"The Life and Times of Richard Parks Bland" is a study of the
last quarter of the Nineteenth Century, as it explains the first
ten years of tho Twentieth Century.
If you wish to understand tho United States this year, read
this book. It was written from the papers of Richard Parks
Bland, with Personal Reminiscences by Mrs. Bland and with an
Introduction by William Jennings Bryan. Tho Editor, William
Vincent ByaTS, included in it as an appendix, the great speeches
in which Mr. Bland outlined the course of events. The 400 page
of the work show that as the champion of American Democracy,
Mr. Bland's knowledge is now more essential, than that of any
one else for understanding.
WHAT IT IS MOST ESSENTIAL TO KNOW ABOUT THE PRESENT
The work is sold exclusively for the benefit of Mr. Bland's widow,
Mrs. Virginia E. Bland, of Lebanon, Missouri.
PRICE IN CLOTH, (bo KA
ILLUSTRATED, $ Z 0 U
Address MRS. R.. BLAND, Lelwuioa, MJeeoRrl
re
