པྤསལཱ … E 767 A 17 w Woodrow A 402567 GENERAL LIBRARY TRUE7 1915 AMERICANISM 59.P.E.U Copyright, 1911, Prince, Seattle HON. WOODROW WILSON Democratic Governor of New Jersey AN EDITORIAL OTALDA DIVISION FROM THE PHILADELPHIA NORTH AMERICAN JULY 6, 1911 E 767 A17 TRUE AMERICANISM We wish that every right-minded American citizen could find time to read the series of pub- lic utterances made by Governor Woodrow Wil- son during the few months that have passed since he won his single-handed victory for popu- lar government in regenerated New Jersey's memorable session of the State Legislature. Entirely apart from politics, present and fu- ture, we count it no exaggeration to declare our opinion that no other American has approached more nearly to Jefferson and Lincoln in won- derful facility and felicity of stating the prob- lems and their solutions which touch real Ameri- canism from every angle. The people will hear much privilege-inspired censure of Woodrow Wilson as a demagogue, an ambitious self-seeker and all the like worn-out methods of attack, unvaried from the days of the Gracchi to those of Roosevelt and La Fol- lette, whenever a formidable advocate of popular rights and exponent of popular aspirations has risen. In advance of such certain misrepresentations we have taken the liberty of depicting Woodrow Wilson the man and his ideals and purpose in his own words. We have endeavored to do this by grouping scattered extracts from fifteen of his public addresses, as follows: "We, the people, have not free access enough to our own agents or direct enough control over them. There are barriers to break down and processes to simplify, which we liberals believe we know how to get at. We mean, by one change or another, to make our government genuinely popular and representative again.” "" 'We are cutting away anomalies, not institu- tions. We are clearing away the jungle and let- ting in the pure light and air, not destroying the wholesome forest or creating waste places where there was productive growth." "Such tasks are typically American. It has always been our privilege and our happy capacity 3 onejo e H to show how they can be done-without revolu- tion, without strife or hatred or injustice, with- out the necessity of drawing, in De Tocqueville's memorable phrase, 'a single tear or a single drop of blood from mankind.' >") The main object of what we are attempting, both in state and nation, is to establish a close connection, a very sensitive connection, between the people and their governments, both in the states and in the nation, in order that we may restore in such wise as will satisfy us again the liberty and the opportunity in whose interests our governments were conceived.” But some men put a false interpretation upon this. There is a certain unreasonable fear in the air, as if the process we have been going through were, in some degree, vindictive; as if there had been bitter feeling in it and the intention to dis- credit those who opposed it." The crash of political organizations has been only the crash of those that did not compre- hend, but resisted when there was no right rea- son for resisting, and forgot that their very rea- son for being was that they might serve opinion and the movements of the people's will. If any systems of political practice have collapsed, only those have collapsed which were unsuitable to the objects which they professed to serve." "We are no longer in the temper of attack. We are ready for remedy and adjustment, and begin to see where to begin and in what direc- tion to move. A promise of statesmanship fol- lows a threat of revolution. There can be no mistaking this. Programs are taking the place of philippics; and programs can be soberly examined and assessed, as unqualified criticism and denunciations cannot be." "We look beneath the label to the man and his thought. Whichever party proves most fit to conceive and put through a wise progressive program will become the liberal party of the nation. Tories will be welcome to resort to the other and enjoy the privilege of minority." "" What is necessary in order to rectify the whole mass of business of this kind (the trusts) is that those who control it should entirely change their point of view. They are trustees, not masters, of private property, not only be- cause their power is derived from a multitude of men, but also because in its investments it affects a multitude of men. It determines the development or decay of communities. It is the means of lifting or depressing the life of the whole country. They must regard themselves as representatives of a public power. There can be no reasonable jealousy of public regu- i ༣༣༤་ lation in such matters, because the opportunities of all men are affected." (6 "It should be recognized as a fundamental principle of our law dealing with corporations that, though we call them artificial persons, the only persons we are really going to deal with in imposing the penalties of the law upon them are the persons who constitute their directors and officers." "We ought by this time to have seen the futility-I might even say the silliness-of trying to punish illegal action by penalizing corpora- tions as such. Fines punish the stockholder; for- feiture of charter and of the franchise which they are exercising paralyzes industry and con- fuses business." "Men do not cease to be individuals by becom- ing the officers of corporations. The responsi- bility for violating the law, or for neglecting public interests, ought to fall upon them as in- dividuals." "Let us clearly recognize and everywhere pro- claim that successful business and just politics. are not antagonistic. The business of society is co-operation, not warfare and antagonism. If everybody will come with clean hands and a pure purpose into the common game of life, there need be no clash or hurtful rivalry. It is only when a part tries to control and domi- nate the whole that society must rise in its might and restore the proper balance." Money is at the bottom of all misrepresenta- tions. Not money put into hands-not bribes. That's old-fashioned and crude. But it is accom- plished by warning men that if they do not do as they are told they can't get money for their business. If they do not do as they are told, they can't get accommodations at the bank. The man who does not do as he is told is not invited to places; he becomes not only a political but a social outcast." 66 What is called radicalism in our day is de- rived from the Latin word which means a root. It means simply going to the root of things. It means not being contented with merely trimming the branches off the tree, but going to the root of it, renewing and enriching the soil and making good those things from which the whole tree is drawn." " "The radical in our time takes leave to open In his eyes wide and see things as they are. order to be rational, you must see all of the facts, and a reasonable radical is the only kind worth talking to. To be an unreasonable radical is just as bad as to be an unreasonable reactionary. The whole thing is a process of insight." ! .. 'It must not be a process of revenge, of class hatred, or waiting to get back at other men for this or that. You don't cure one wrong by another wrong." When we ventured to compare Governor Wilson's public utterances with those of two of America's greatest sons, we had in mind not only the forceful clarity of the English that he uses, the utter lack of ambiguity or equivocation, the far-sighted, tolerant treatment of all op- ponents and the earnest patriotism so evident in speech utterly devoid of oratorical trickery. We noted also the frequent, instructive lapsing from dignified discussion into homely metaphor and telling epigram. As a final sidelight upon the character and courage and purposes of the man who within a year has moved from scholastic seclusion into the position of one of the foremost public men of the time, we think the fact that the following verses by Edward Rowland Sill is the favorite poem of Governor Wilson, is significant to all who are watching his career: OPPORTUNITY. This I beheld or dreamed it in a dream; There spread a cloud of dust along the plain, And underneath the cloud, or in it raged A furious battle, and men yelled, and swords Shocked upon swords and shields. A prince's banner Wavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by foes. A craven hung along the battle's edge And thought, "Had I a sword of keener steel- That blue blade that the king's son bears-but this Blunt thing!" he snapped and flung it from his hand, And lowering crept away and left the field. Then came the king's son-wounded, sore bestead And weaponless-and saw the broken sword, Hilt buried in the dry and trodden sand, And ran and snatched it, and with battle shout Lifted afresh, he hewed the enemy down, And saved a great cause that heroic day. -Philadelphia North American. 10 TRADES *** COUNCIL, 2 Gaylord Bros. Makers Syracuse, N, Y. PAT. JAN. 21, 1908 JAN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 2.1992 DATE DUE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 3 9015 02240 3854 ܐ ܐ..