The Commoner.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
VOL. 12, NO. 32
Lincoln, Nebraska, August 16, 1912
Whole Number 604
GOV. WILSON'S SPEECH OF ACCEPTANCE
Governor Wilson's speech accepting the
democratic nomination is original in its method
of dealing with the issues of the campaign. In
stead of taking up the platform plank by plank,
he takes the central idea of the Denver platform
an idea repeated and emphasized in the Bal
timore platform and elaborates it, using the
various questions under consideration to illus
trate the application of the principle. Taking"
the doctrine that a government is an organiza
tion formed for the people themsolves and to
he perfected by them as an instrument for the
accomplishment of such co-operative work as
is necessary, he shows how all the evils com
plained of at the present time grow out of tho
appropriation by a few of tho instrumentalities
of government. His speech gives striking evi
dence of the force of cumulative testimony and
also illustrates the power of intelligent analysis.
In taking his position so strongly he pre-empts
the ground that Mr. Roosevelt's new party seeks
to occupy.
In the course of his argument he indorses tho
democratic demand for tho popular election of
senators, presidential primaries, and "Publicity,
as-to everything that concerns government, from
the sources of campaign funds to the intimate
debate of the highest affairs of the state." In
stead of using epithets and employing denuncia
tion against, those who have abused existing
systems he seeks reform along rational lines
and would cure those defects in -governmental,
forms which have been discovered by ex
perience. The. election of senators by the people will
bring that body within the reach of the voters
and convert it from a bulwark of predatory
wealth, in which seats have been secured by
corrupt means and by tho aid of favor seeking
corporations, into a popular body responsive
to the people's will. This reform has been de
scribed in a former democratic platform as "tho
gateway to other reforms" and it would be
difficult to overestimate the beneficial effects of
this constitutional change.
The presidential primaries which the Balti
more platform indorses, and which Governor
Wilson defends, will correct another long stand
ing and grievous abuse, namely, the selection of
presidential candidates in conventions where
trading and swapping can defeat the wishes of
the people. Ingratitude has been described as a
greater sin than revenge, because the former
is the repayment of good with ill while the lattor
is the repayment of ill' with ill. Wo must,
therefore, consider at all times the effect of the
obligations incurred when so great an honor as
the presidency is bestowed upon a public man,
however well meaning, by those who may be
CONTENTS
MR. BRYAN'S OPINION OP GOVERNOR
WILSON'S SPEECH OP ACCEPTANCE
A GOOD AMENDMENT
HAVING PUN WITH "MARSE HENRY"
WHY THE DEMOCRACY SHOULD WIN
GOVERNOR WILSON'S SPEECH OP
ACCEPTANCE IN PULL
LONG DOUBTING THOMASES
OLIVER VAN SYOC'S GOOD WORK
THE NATIONAL PROGRESSIVE PARTY
AT CHICAGO
MR. ROOSEVELT'S SPEECH
SO SUDDEN
HOME DEPARTMENT
NEWS OP THE WEEK
WASHINGTON NEWS
in control of tho convention. It is impossible for
a man so nominated and so obligated to give to
tho public the sort of service that tho public
has a right to demand. When tho presld&ntial
primary is adopted in all of tho states, as it Is
quite sure to be within tho next four years, tho
people will be in position to confer tho office of
chief executive upon tho man of their choice and
tho nominee, being obligated to tho people and
to tho people alone, will rise to tho require
ments of his high position.
Governor Wilson properly estimates tho valuo
of publicity a3 shown by his sweeping indorse
ment of the party's position on that subject.
The demand for publicity is now so universal
,that one finds it hard to understand how secrecy
could have been tolerated so long; how an in
telligent pcoplo could have been so slow to
recognize that eloctions and all official service
are public affairs.
These three reforms, tho popular election of
senators, tho presidential primaries, and pub
licity will, in themselves, revolutionize Ameri
can politics and put tho people In control of
tho federal go eminent.
Governor Wilson devotes considerable time to
the tariff question. After announcing that
"There should be an immediate revision" and
that "it should be downward, unhesitatingly
and steadily downward," ho proceeds to point
out tho lines along which reduction should pro
ceed. He says that It should begin with the
schedules which have been most obviously used
to kill competition and to raise prices in tho
United Sfcatesr'rtjrarily with regard to tho
prico3 pertaining elsewhere in the markets of
tho world, and that "before it is finished or In
termitted it should extend to every item in every
schedule- which affords any opportunity for
monopoly, for special advantage to limited
groups of beneficiaries or for subsidized control
of any kind in tho markets of the country
until special favor of every source shall have
been absolutely withdrawn and every part of
our laws of taxation shall have been trans
formed from a system of governmental patron
age into a system of just and reasonable charges
which shall fall where they will create the least
burden." When wo shall have done this, he
continues, we can fix questions of revenue and
business adjustment In a new spirit and with
clear minds.
This is a very strong statement of the demo
cratic position and will commend itself to those
who seek the overthrow of tho doctrine that
protection should bo given for protection's sake
and the establishment of the doctrine that tariff
laws should bo framed for tho purpose of rais
ing revenues and for that purpose only. Ho
recognizes, and in his speech declares, that
there has been no more demoralizing influence
in our politics than the idea that "the govern
ment is the grand dispenser of favors, tho
maker and unmaker of fortunes" and he tersely
presents the axiomatic truth that favors aro
never conceived in the general interest, but al
ways for the benefit of tho few.
While planting himself firmly upon the prin
ciple that tariff laws should be framed for tho
purpose of collecting revenue, be so framed as
to collect revenue with the least hardship and
bo carried no further than the necessity of the
government requires, he approves of the plat
form declaration that reductions should bo
made gradually rather than at one stroke.
Governor Wilson deals at some length with
the trust question also. He states tho conclu
sions which can now bo drawn from experi
ence and asserts an economic truth, namely,
that while up to a certain point, combinations
effect economics in administration and Increase
efficiency by simplifying and perfecting organi
zation, still that this is true only within limits.
It Is fortunate for tho discussion of the sub
ject that ho points out that combination and
concentration are not economically beneficial
when carried too far. The trust magnates as
sume that a billion dollar corporation can pro
duce more economically than a fifty million dol
lar corporation, moroly because a fifty million
dollar corporation may bo ablo to produce moro
economically than a fifty thousand dollar cor
poration. The socialist makes the samo mis
take. Doth overlook tho fact that there is a
leak at each step in tho descent of authority
from the official head of tho concern down to
the hand of the workman and that, In time, tho
total leakage overcomes whatever economic ad
vantage thero would otherwise bo in consoli
dation. He states the democratic position without
equivocation or evasion when ho declares that
ho can arrest and prevent monopoly, and that
competition can, in a largo measure, bo revived
by changing tho laws and forbidding the practices
that killed it. Tho real Isouo presented by tho
trust question. is whother wo shall attempt to
restore competition as an effective force or ac
cept the position advanced by socialists and trust
magnates, namely, that all competition Is hurt
ful and that monopoly must bo accepted as an
economic necessity. Ho takes tho democratic
position that monopolies arc tho result of un
wise laws rather than a natural development and
that tho cure Is to bo found In tho withdrawal
of tho support which legislation or lack of gov
ernmental administrative efficiency has con
ferred. In discussing the labor question Governor
Wilson has happily protested against tho dis
tinctions that have beon drawn between tho
laboring classes and classes described in other
ways, Ho insists that laws that safeguard tho
lives of laboring menJJiaUimprovo tho physical
and moral conditions under which they live and
make their hours rational and tolorahlo, to
gether with tho laws that give hem freedom to
act in their own interest and protect them whoro
they can not protect themselves that such laws
can not bo properly regarded as class legislation
or as anything but measures taken In tho in
terest of the whole people.
Without attempting to outline a plan for cur
rency reform ho declares that no mere banker's
plan will meet tho requirements, no matter how
honestly conceived; that it must bo a merchants'
and farmers' plan as well. This states in an
other form the doctrine of the Baltimore plat
form, namely, that banks exist not for the con
trol of commerce but for the accommodation of
tho public, and that legislation on this subject
should have for its object tho securing of theso
accommodations with protection to tho public
from the abuse of the power which wealth
brings to those who possess it.
Governor Wilson's treatment of tho Philip
pine question will be gratifying to those who
have in four campaigns indorsed the democratic
protest against Imperialism. He declares that
we are not tho owners of the Philippine islands;
that we are not even their partners, but that wo
hold them in trust for tho people who live in
them.
While the speech of acceptance is not long
it covers a very wide field. Tho democratic
candidate is in hearty sympathy with the con
servation of the nation's resources, with the de
velopment of water transportation, with tho
completion of the canal, with tho revival of
the merchant marine, and with tho extension
of postal facilities. Ho recognizes tho impor
tance of health as a national asset and of voca
tional training for the people. His work as an
educator naturally predisposes him to large
views on all subjects connected with the sepa
ration of the young for tho highest usefulness.
He is a champion of economy in government;
in a word, ho believes that tho government
should not only be conducted by the people but,
as would naturally follow, should be conducted
in the interest of all tho people. Without assum
ing to formulate a detailed plan for dealing with
every condition which may arise, ho lifts Into a
position of supreme importance the dominating
thought of tho Baltimore platform and appeals
to the country for its co-operation in making
popular government a reality throughout the
land.
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