Show full text of john W davis speech accepting democratic leadership continued from page one indifferent to it an attorney general admitting bribe takers to the department part ment ot of justice making them his boon comPa companions iOns and utilizing the agencies of 0 the law tor for purposes of bf private and political vengence ven gance a chief of 0 the veterans bureau stealing and helping others to steal the millions in money and supplies provided for the relief of those defenders of the nation most entitled to the nations gratitude and care such crimes are too gross to be forgotten or forgiven has sharper edge I 1 do not believe that the millions of sincere and patriotic men and women who have composed the rank and file of the republican party are more ready to condone these and similar offenses or to pardon the offenders than those of other political faiths indeed their indignation has perhaps a sharper edge tor for it is coupled with the chagrin that must follow from the knowledge that under authority issued in their e namu corrupt men have crept to places laces of 0 power and then betrayed the e trust that placed them there there are circumstances however howe vei veil which spread responsibility tor for the effect of these things upon the pub lie confidence beyond the list of the criminals themselves there is first the tact fact that the revelation of 0 these crimes was not the result of any action taken by the executive no burning indignation there put in train the forces of investigation and of 0 punishment the came only as the result of the painstaking effort of faithful public servants iu in the legislative branch of the government who could not close their eyes even when others chose tu slumber again when discovery was threatened instead of aid and assistance si from the executive branch there were hurried efforts to suppress ten testimony to discourage witnesses to spy upon investigators and finally by trumped up indictment to frighten and deter them from the tha pursuit the spying ot of senators and congressmen the hasty interchange of telegrams in department code the refusal of those accused to come forward under oath to purge es all these things serve to blacken a page that was already dark enough reluctant probo probe help different perhaps in moral quail ity but hardly less painful to the country has been the attitude of some of those in high places whose effect of these exposures by crying out not against the guilty but against those who exposed them what shall we say when a statement comes from one who of all men should have been most deeply stirred that the wonder is not that so many have fallen but that so few have been shown untrue with what patience shall we greet the libelous suggestions that atter after all these are but incidents provoked by the demoralization attendant upon the great war Is memory then so short that we no longer recall the heroic days of 1917 and 1918 when america rose to heights of 0 moral grandeur unsurpassed when every meeting place was a temple and every house a shrine shall we torget forget that no taint or dishonesty or corruption has ever attached to any man who held public office during that great struggle or to any man who continued to hold office under the federal government until march 4 1921 shell shock was late indeed in arriving it if it is to be put forward now as the excuse tor for these gross misdeeds makes direct charge I 1 charge the republican party with this corruption in office I 1 charge it also with favoritism in legislation I 1 do more I 1 charge it with that grossest form of 0 favoritism which gives to him who bath and takes away from him who hath bath not to pervert high office to personal gain is an offense detested by all honest men but to use the power of legislation purposely to enrich one man or set of men at the expense of others is robbery on a large scale though done under forms of law in the passage of the ford ney mccumber tariff act imposing the highest rates and duties in the tariff history of the nation there was an unblushing return to the evil days of rewarding party support and political contributions with legislative isla tive favors in the language of one of the advocates of that measure it we take care of the producers the consumers can take care of themselves for every dollar that this statute has drawn into the treasury of the united states it has diverted five from the pocket of the consumer into the pockets of the favored few although the republican platform adopted at cleveland holds out to the taxpayer the elusive promise of relief to those who are dally paying their taxes through their living expenses as indeed they are it nowhere offers any promise of a reduction in tariff duties but lauds the existing bill as the summit of human wisdom sas honesty lacking Is there not something of humor is well as honesty lacking in those who in one and the same breath can promise a reduction of the cost of living and praise a statute which raises the price of the elemental necessaries of life who can demand as they should the payment of our foreign debts but refuse to accept from rom the iho debtor goods in which alone payment can he be made who clamor tor for an american merchant marine but deny it the cargoes necessary tor for its existence when a reduction in the burden of 0 income taxes could no longer be denied the country was presented with the mellon bill offered by the administration to the people as the last word on that when it met the test of impartial analysis here too there appeared the motive to favor the few feal possessors ot of swollen incomes beyond the many ot of moderate means under democratic initiative and democratic guidance a bill was passed in its stead so changing the weight and emphasis of the proposed reduction as to give the greater relief to those whose tax payments pressed upon their scale of 0 living although the executive approval this bill received was grudging and reluctant not even the submissive convention at cleveland dared to suggest that the mellon bill be revived and adopted as a substitute sti tute we assert in our platform that the republican publican He party believes that national prosperity must originate with the special interests and seep down through the channels ot of trade to the less favored industries to the wage earners and small salaried employees it has accordingly enthroned privilege and nurtured selfishness f fish ish ness I 1 repeat the words and I 1 register the emphatic dissent of the democratic party from that doctrine division dhillon and impotence I 1 charge the republican party with corruption in adminis administration tra tion with favoritism to privileged classes in legislation I 1 charge bharga it also with division in council and impotence in in action no political party has the right to hold the reins ot of govern ment unless it can exhibit the cardinal virtues of honesty sincerity and unity of 0 these the last is by no means the least important no matter how lofty the ideals or how pure the of 0 any party the country is not served unless it possesses both the will and the power to carry these ideals and purposes into effect when it becomes a leaderless and incoherent mob it must give way to some rival better fitted tor for the task ot of government need I 1 dwell on the picture that the last twelve months presents on one side the executive on the other the members ot of his party in both houses of 0 congress seeking different alms aims entertaining different views advocating different measures the executive proposes adherence to the existing world court the request tails falls on dull ears until finally the leader ot of ills party in the senate brings forward manifestly tor for obstructive purposes an entirely different scheme the executive demands the mellon bill and members ot of his party in both houses ot of congress regular and insurgent hasten to reject it the record cited ile he disapproves tho the adjusted compensation pensa tion act but congress re enacts it by the required two thirds nia majority congress p passes asses a measure granting to postal employees an increase in their meager salaries the president disapproves it he protests against the restriction of 0 japanese immigration congress adopts it whenever before did a party in control ot of the executive and ot of a majority in both houses of 0 congress pre sent so a spectacle of discord and division dy by what right can a political organization so led and sq disciplined appeal lor for a further lease of power four years ago the republican party in snarling criticism ot of the great leader then in office promised to end executive autocracy it has fallen into the pit that it dug tor for its efforts in that direction have succeeded beyond its wildest dreams an executive who can not or will not lead a congress that cannot and will not follow how can good government exist under such conditions nor Is it in domestic matters alone that the symptoms of 0 this creeping paralysis have appeared not only have the executive recommendations for or adherence to the world court sanctioned as they are by long american tradition imd example been flouted and ignored but no evidence is in sight that the republican party as now constituted can frame and carry to its conclusion and definite and consistent foreign policy gone by the boards four years ago we were promised a now new assa association ot of nations to be created in order to protect arid and preserve the peace of 0 the world no single proposal of this sort has yet appeared from any of those who so loudly promised it with the reconstruction of europe weighing heavily on the world with american economic life dwarfed and stunted by the interruption ot of world commerce with the agricultural regions of the tha west sinking into bankruptcy because of the loss of 0 their foreign markets we have stood by as powerless spectators offering ferins ot to the world nothing but private charity and individual advice it is well enough to praise in unmeasured terms the charity of the american people it is not an unworthy pride that makes us dwell upon the efforts individual americans have made toward tho the solution of great world problems dut but the question which pre presses ases itself upon the mind and con conscience science of the american people and all not be denied is what they as a nation speaking through their government have done or dared to do in this greatfield gre affield of action the washington conference alone aside and that of more than doubtful value what single contribution has the united states of america as an organized nation among nations made to world peace in the last tour four years unofficial observers individual americans have gone abroad but they went without the blessing of their government unofficial observers have appeared at international conferences where america it if pre present preterit serit at all should have been present as an equal emong equals when but yesterday three americans went to the conference on reparations whose fruitful outcome all the world desires washington was prompt to disclaim all responsibility lity for or their going though eager to take taho credit tor for whatever they might accomplish we achieved only what one of them has called a bootlegging participation three weeks ago in the city ot of london there came from the secretary ot of state irate himself an amazing confession of this impotence said ho be 1 I may give it as my conviction that had we attempted to make I 1 americas contribution to the recent plan of adjustment a governmental matter we should have been involved in a hopeless debate and there would have been no adequate action we should have been beset with demands objections instructions this Is not the way to make an american contribution to economic revival it if I 1 can read these words aright they can mean only this that by reason either of the inability of the executive to lead or the unwillingness of his party to follow the foreign affairs of the united states including the great and vital question of european settlement must he be left in private hands we must face the humiliating tact fact that we have a government that does not dare to speak its mind beyond the three mile limit the unpardonable sin A political party which at best is but human may make honest mistakes they can be forgiven it may pass unwise laws they can be repealed I 1 may through honest error set men to tasks beyond their power they can be displaced and others chosen in their stead the unpardonable sin however tor for it ft is a sin that strikes at the national life is conduct so corrupt so partial and so feeble that is hakes bakes the public confidence in government itself I 1 indict the republican party in its organized capacity tor for having shaken public confidence to its very foundations I 1 charge it with having exhibited deeper and more widespread corruption than any that this generation of americans has been called upon to witness I 1 charge it with complacency in the tact fact ot of that corruption and with in will toward the efforts of honest men to expose it I 1 charge it with gross favoritism to the privileged and with utter lislegard lis regard ot of the unprivileged I 1 charge it with indifference to world peace and with timidly in the conduct of our foreign affairs I 1 charge it with disorganization division and incoherence and on the record I 1 shall ask the voters throughout the length and breadth of this land to pass judgment of 0 condemnation as a warning to all men who may aspire to public office that dishonesty either in thought word or deed will not no e tolerated in america I 1 cannot doubt what verdict they will render democratic program Pros ram when they have made their answer they will turn to us as it is right they should arid and ask what we have to offer in exchange and what pledges we can give that our offer will be performed we are ready tor for that question we are prepared to offer a democratic program based on democratic principles and guaranteed by a record of democratic performance this program we have outlined in our platform these principles are those by which the democratic party has been guided throughout the years and which like the creed of the church should be repeated whenever democrats assemble a belief in equal rights to all men and special privilege to none in an even wider and more equitable distribution of the rewards of toil and industry in the suppression ot of private monopoly as a thing indefensible fen sible and intolerable in the largest liberty tor for every individual in local self government as against a centralized bureaucracy in public office as a public trust in a 1 government administered without fear abroad or favoritism at home and our pledge will be the long lone roll of legislation passed during our years ot of power and the conduct without scandal or corruption of a great arid and victorious war fought gunj un der the gallant and inspiring leaa leaah enship ot of woodrow wil wilson 3 on approves platform I 1 have expressed in iii general terms my ap approval of the proposals contained in our platform p I 1 you will |