^cr "oV" f. <*^ A* /, *-*0* 4 o \* VV •H ,* v V-CV r oV '* ^C <>' ••» \/ ^jfe \/ >--v\. ADDRESSES AT THE BANQUET TENDERED TO His Excellency CALVIN COOLIDGE GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS IN HONOR OF HIS NOMINATION FOR VICE-PRESIDENT AT HOTEL SOMERSET, BOSTON AUGUST 12, 1920 BY THE Republican Club of Massachusetts HIS EXCELLENCY CALVIN COOLIDGE Governor of **"» Pr.n 1 nin r |¥"' glf k of Massachusetts Copy_ INTRODUCTORY REMARKS BY HON. GEORGE H. ELLIS President of The Republican Club of Massachusetts On behalf of the Republican Club of Massachusetts, I welcome you here this evening. This banquet was planned to give expression to our sat- isfaction with the honor done Massa- chusetts in the nomination of Vice President and to pay our tribute to the nominee. I wish especially to welcome the wo- men to the first meeting of the Club which I think they have ever attended. I do this the more willingly, and the more warmly because for seven years in the Massachusetts Legislature I con- sistently, perhaps you would say per- sistently, opposed woman suffrage. It is now practically with us and I join hands heartilv with vou to make it a At the opening of the Massachusetts Legislature of 1914 the President of the Senate struck a note new to the pol- itics of this generation, but that note has since been so often struck that it has become familiar the country over. This Club was first to publicly pro- pose the man who struck that note for nomination for President, but this was not to be. We have with us this evening the man who nominated him for Vice-Pres- ident and I am going to ask him to tell us why Oregon stretched hands across the continent to join with us, and as by general acclamation with the whole country, in nominating Calvin Cool- idge. ADDRESS BY HON. WALLACE MCCAMANT Of Portland, Oregon Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Republican Club of Massachusetts: Since I reached your city yesterday morning the evidences of your good will have been overwhelming. It is pleasant to be a shining lighl for a few days. I am mindful thai I shine with a reflected Light. 1 am a planet, nut a fixed star, but I am a planet in a Solar system whose sun is a star of the first magnitude. I am greatly in your debt for the courteous invitation to meet with vou this evening, for the generous welcome you have given me and for your cor- dial hospitality. I wish I could make you know the pleasure I feci in being with you and in having a part in this auspicious occasion. I have come a long way to tell you of the honor in which your great Gov- ernor is held where rolls the Oregon. Our presentation of his name at the republican national convention was spontaneous. The subject had not been discussed bv the members of our dele- gation nor was it in our thoughts until the moment when we acted. It is nev- ertheless true that our action was rep- resentative of the overwhelming sent- iment of our people and that action has been enthusiastically approved in all parts of our commonwealth. Governor Coolidge has never set foot in Oregon. He is personally acquainted with only a handful of our people. No member of the Oregon delegation to the national convention had ever met him. What then is the secret of his great popularity in a state so remote from the region in which he has lived and wrought? The characteristics of every commun- ity are indelibly written upon it by its early settlers. A tide of later immigra- tion has submerged the founders of Boston, Philadelphia and New Orleans. The descendants of the Puritans are now a minority of the population of Boston; the Quakers who came with William Penn have long since ceased to be the dominant ethnic strain in the population of Philadelphia; the French and their descendants are largely out- numbered in New Orleans. Yet so long as these cities endure, they will bear the stamp of the Puritan, the Quaker and the Creole. The thought of the people of each city will continue to run along lines mapped out for them by generations which have passed away. This principle has a pertinent appli- cation to the people of Oregon. We are but one generation removed from the founders of our state. The spirit of our founders is powerful in Oregon. Their ideals are a well recognized force. Our state was peopled by men and women who trekked in ox-teams two thousand miles across the plains. They were not gold - seekers but home- builders. Their immigration is unique in human history. Other regions have been settled by the gradual extension of the farming territory. But when Oregon was settled there was no stop- ping place from the Missouri River to the Willamette Valley. No weakling ever made that journey. Nor did the hardships of the settlers cease when they reached their destination. The soil was fertile and the country was beautiful to the eye, but it was re- mote from the marts of industry. There were no comforts save such as the pio- neers themselves could create. The forests were inhabited by wild beasts and the savage Indian was an insistent problem. The men and women who came to Oregon before the days of rail- roads were and had to be forceful, cap- able, self-reliant and courageous. In such a population the manly virtues are highly esteemed. This was true in pio- neer times and it is still true. Our people are quick to sense and ready to admire a real man. When the wires flashed across the continent Governor Coolidge's ringing message at the time of the policemen's strike, his words struck a responsive chord in the breast of every typical Oregonian. The word passed from man to man that Massachusetts had a leader who was true to the best tra- ditions of the old historic common- wealth, one quick to see his duty and ready to hew to the line though the heavens should fall. We are quite familiar with the type of politician whose ear is to the ground. We have men among us who obey the behests of the labor unions, be they right or wrong. But we like to see in places of power leaders rather than fol- lowers, thinkers rather than imitators. Nowhere in the union was Governor Coolidge's manful course more emphat- ically approved than in the good state of Oregon. Moreover our people are thorough Americans. The frontier has been the melting pot in which throughout our history provincialism has been fused into nationalism. The first love of the frontiersman has always been for flag and country. The Oregon country became a part of the union not through the diplomatic activities of the State Department, but through the fortitude and determination of real Americans who took actual pos- session. Let there be light in the western wilds The spirit of progress said, And thousands followed the devious paths Where the sturdy woodsmen led. They crossed the mountains beetling crags And the deserts brown and bare And on the shores of that western main They planted the old flag there. As the blue of the sky and the blue of the wave Mingle and blend in the sea, It mingled its colors with those of the wave To herald the march of the free. And the echoing thud of the woodsman's axe And the roar of his trusty gun Told in a voice that woke up the woods that western land was won. The descendants and the successors of the men who won that great domain for our country are loyal to flag and to constitution. Nowhere is there more sterling devotion to the best ideals of American citizenship or more whole- hearted veneration for our heroic past than in the valleys of the Wallowa, the Umatilla, the Umpqua and the Willa- mette. It was not an accident that Oregon led the union in volunteer enlistments 5 at the outbreak of the world-war. That splendid spirit of consecration in which our young manhood sprang to the de- fence of imperilled civilization was but the fruition of the history and life of our peojole. Our war governor, the late James Withycombe, was the peer of aii}^ chief executive in the union in his whole- hearted loyalty to the good cause. Like other parts of the union we have our incendiary elements, but the over- whelming sentiment of the people of Oregon regards this government which has come down to' us from the fathers as beyond all price. Our people realize that Governor Coolidge is a champion of the Amer- icanism to which we are attached; that he is no respecter of persons ; that he believes in the equality of all men be- fore the law and in the duty of all men to obey the law; that he regards the right of private property as one of the bulwarks of civilization; that the bill of rights engrafted on our federal constitution is in his opinion the richest political heritage which any people lias ever enjoyed. They know that in the great testing time through which we have passed, his record was one of unhesitating loyalty to the cause of in- ternational righteousness. The reading of his Flag Day proclamation of 1.919 will make the heart beat faster in every American whose blood is red. Some of us who have read his magnificent speech delivered at Lynnfield, in September, 191^, are willing to endow him with all of the power which under the con- stitution can be given to any American. It has been but a short time since the men of Britain, Prance and Amer- ica stood shoulder to shoulder on a com- mon battle line. They were united by a common danger and they wrought valiantly together for the preservation of civilization. Governor Coolidge is one of those who believe in perpetuat- ing the comradeship growing out of the heroic times through which we have passed. His attitude is one of hearty good-will for those who shared with us the danger, the burden and the deliv- erance. There is a saving grace in a repub- lic in the ability of the people to recog- nize their natural leaders. Such men as Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Abra- ham Lincoln and William McKinley have had a multitude of followers who could give no reason for the faith that was in them. Yet they trusted and sup- ported these leaders and thus made pos- sible their rich public service. Even so have the people of Oregon sensed the worth of Governor Coolidge. But few of our people have read his speeches. Yet they know that he is sound, true, brave and trustworthy. In the middle of the last century when Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, John Greenleaf Whittier and Harriet Beecher Stowe attacked the in- stitution of human slavery, they voiced the conscience of Carver, Bradford and Winthrop. When the Oregon delegation at the republican national convention pro- posed the name of Calvin Coolidge, they spoke for a generation of clear thinking men and women who achieved great things for faith, for freedom and for civilization. They spoke particu- larly for a band of true-hearted Amer- icans who in May, 1843, at Champoeg, Oregon, established the first free gov- ernment on the Pacific. There is one more chapter to my story. In the state of Oregon there are many who yield fealty to the great party in whose name we are assembled tonight. They are the men and women of conscience and of character in our several communities. They know the story of republican achievement; slavery suppressed ; the union saved ; the homestead law and the mineral en- try law under which the unfilled prai- rie and the mountain waste have been converted into prosperous common- wealths ; the protective system which has made us industrially independent and which has bound together all parts of the republic by the strong ties of commercial intercourse; in the great world-war the most magnificent spec- tacle of self-effacing devotion to the cause and country ever exhibited by an opposition party in all the history of representative government. These men and women know that the republican party today is the cita- del of patriotism and the refuge of common sense. They are drawn to Governor Cool- idge because his devotion to the repub- lican party is a part of his religion, because he has been loyal and steadfast in his service of the party and because he is representative of its best thought and purpose. He was born and reared in the state which has been more staunch than any other in its support of republican candidates and republi- can principles, and he is leader of the party in this great commonwealth which has contributed so largely to its strength and its glory. Some of us are very weary with these self-serving politicians who have stolen the livery of the republican par- ty, but who have never accepted its creed; these men who vote the repub- lican ticket when they name the ticket, but not otherwise; these men who look only to their own emolument;, never to the success and welfare of the party. Leadership in the party belongs of right to those who are loyal through good report and ill. Honor is due only to the outward-looking, never to the self-centered. Our lot has fallen on times when nothing is taken for granted, when every dogma in politics, sociology, philosophy and religion is subject to at- tack ; when multitudes believe that whatever is, is wrong. Public opinion is more plastic and impressionable than at any other time since the fall of the Roman Empire. Yet the principles of the Declaration of Independence and of our federal constitution are true and sound today as they dis- cuss the issues of the national cam- paign. I fancy that I can notice a sigh of relief at this announcement. Let us turn from a discussion of facts and figures to the consideration of the men whom the part}- to which we be- long has called to embody and repre- sent before the American people and before the world, all that Republican- ism, and in fad Americanism lias meant and means today. Foreign critics have sometimes found a difficulty in understanding the posi- tion and the place of the Republican Parly in tin- life "I' the Nation; a diffi- culty which has not confronted them in studying the history .and development of tin ■ Democratic l'artv. It seems strange to many that the Republican Party should be described, as it often has been, — sometimes truthfully and sometimes otherwise, as the conserva- tive party. While it has been true to a striking degree that its conspicuous leaders have been trained from their boyhood in a school which does not generally tend to develop conservatism, as the term is generally used. The life of a rail-splitter, studying by the light of a flaming pine-knot, fighting every inch of his way even for the necessities of life, for himself and his dependants, would not seem natural- ly to create in any one's mind a tend- ency to be reactionary or to regard place, property, position or power as inviolate or sacred. The training of the towpath and all the self sacrifice and self denial in- volved in the drudgery of boyhood's days, is not likely, it would seem, to create an overwhelming regard for con- ditions which give the children of the wealthy and the well-to-do, advantages impossible for the poor to obtain. I might continue to cite illustration after illustration to the effect that the great leaders of the party that is some- times derisively called by its opponents "the party of property" have been men who in themselves have repre- sented something of the simplicity of the son of Nancy Hanks and who have almost invariably represented in them- selves, not the wealth of America's splendid material resources, but our country's infinitely greater possession, her wealth of splendid manhood. God grant that the time may never pome when the Republican Party shall lack what has been styled as "character plus." Character plus a strong belief in American institutions and in the faith of our fathers. We are particularly fortunate today in our standard bearers. Men whose lives, whose thoughts and whose minds are cast in a mould that has produced our greatest statesmen, — our most use- ful public servants. I read with much interest Senator Harding's recent statement — "You know I am no genius" — those words have something of Lincoln in them. How like "I do not claim to have con- trolled events." He is not a genius he says, but he has made his own way from the position of humblest employ- ment as a boy to be by the people's choice the ambassador of a sovereign state in the National Senate. He doesn't think ha is a genius, but he is the choice of a great, and I believe the dominant party in the country, to represent to all the world the best that there is in the greatest nation that the sun shines on and as we contemplate the work and the result of the work of some men in public station who in some lines are concededly geniuses, we are thankful that our candidate, in his own mind, at least, is not a genius. I take it that on account of the per- sonal element necessarily present in a gathering of this kind, I have been asked to appear as one who may know something of the earlier days and the formative period of the life of the man whom Massachusetts and indeed all of our people delight to honor. I have been interested and somewhat surprised at the work of some of his biographers. I wasn't in college with Calvin Cool- idge — he is too young for that — but I have been so closely associated with our common Alma Mater, that I know all about him and in common with 8 maii) r of the alumni of the little college nestling among the hills of Massachu- setts, rejoice in honoring him. I have seen recently the apparent effort made in certain quarters to represent him in his college days as something other than a normal American boy. Even the keen-eyed members of the faculty, who knew everything there was to know, didn't discern in this quiet, undemon- strative, good-mannered country boy, the future president of the United States. At least if they did, they didn't say so until last year. He wasn't the saint that some of his biographers represent. He wasn't the prodigy that others claim, and he wasn't the owl-like prig which some of his over zealous supporters would have the reading public believe. Slowly, steadily, quiet- ly, gradually, surely, like the great men who have gone before him, with the splendid equipment of inherited health and vigor and intellect and in- tegrity, he has risen because he has deserved to rise. There never was a more spontaneous and to a degree unexpected event in any great convention than was his nomination in Chicago. Although other plans appealed to so-called con- vention leaders, the people of the na- tion spoke through the lips of a thou- sand delegates and he was nominated because he was the honest choice. It is difficult now to measure the influence of comparatively recent evolu- tions or manifestations upon the charac- ter and disposition of the masses of our people. The Great World War has unbalanced every phase of life,— lias changed habits, — has shifted bound- aries and possessions, has altered al- legiance and has shaken beliefs. How- ever, one of the direct and obtrusive consequences of the World War has been the creation of a plethora of wealth, as that term is used in its colloquial significance. The facility with which the new wealth has been created and acquired, and the sudden- ness with which many have been over- whelmed by it, have begotten an ex- travagance and recklessness that has almost run riot. Sudden wealth in un- accustomed hands is not always a bless- ing to the possessor or to the world. In the minds of some it has almost seemed that the belief exists that money can buy anything. Social as- pirations may or may not have been satisfied through the newly acquired means, — that phase is not of vital im- portance any way. Human ambition or avarice are not usually thus satiated. "Power" has ever had an alluring at- traction to men, and with it there was the lurking danger of human weakness- in that the possession of power begets a desire for more. And the pow- er sometimes exercised in this country even in public or political matters, is not the power of knowledge, or experi- ence or ability, but the power of money. In the nomination of Calvin Cool- idge we see the triumph of the right kind of power, with its moral influence, its force of intelligence, its capacity of leadership over sinister aspirations for sordid ends. Those- of us who imbibed the spirit of the New England college rejoice that Calvin Coolidge has become a leader in this kind of struggle. In his mental and moral equipment, — in his character and habits. — in his career and achievements, and in his espousals, he exemplifies the fundamen- tals, ideals .and traditions of the New England in which he was horn, which he has served SO nobly, and which has so singularly honored him. ADDRESS BY MRS. ALEXANDRA CARLISLE PFEIFFER Of Lexington, Mass. There are a thousand reasons why women should belong to the grand old party but for my part I can think of only one tonight. The Republican party can boast of the most practical, whole- hearted, honest American patriot, Gov- ernor Calvin Coolidge. I, like millions of other women, am faced with new responsibilities, a new world, practical politics. What must be our attitude— that there may be only added strength and not conflicting con- fusion — that women may still be as feminine as our great grandmothers and yet give the benefit of the progression that the years have given them — that homes and children shall benefit and not suffer? We must bring a spirit of construc- tion, not of destruction, of co-operation, not opposition. A woman's primal instinct is matern- al and she must mother her country. Our country is one big family. It has been man-handled, fathered and bossed, until it needs the gentler but firm voice of all the mothers in the United States to stop the family quar- rel. Women have been politicians since the world began. It was a woman who made the first stars and stripes of America, and wo- men have served it faithfully and untir- ingly. They have given their sons to fight for it with a hallowed spirit of sacrifice. In choosing the head of their big household they will seek for the fearless but safe man who in peaceful days has "Modest stillness and civility," but in threatened trouble, be it in the family or with the neighbors, has a mailed fist and not a palsied arm to deal with the offender. They must realize as men must re- alize, that the government of this coun- try is a reflection of what we as in- dividuals put into it. We must cease putting in the minimum amount of in- terest and service and expecting the maximum amount of profit and comfort- able living. I believe it is in the homes that poli- tics are going to be decided in the fu- ture. Children will learn them at their mother's knee — the place where we first learn to love our country. What better place could we find to learn how to govern it ? At last the education of our future citizens is falling into the right hands, the mothers of America, and these future citizens will benefit by wo- men's advancement. On this basis, I have only the highest hopes from women entering into politics. The Republican Party need have no fears as long as it has the association of men like Governor Coolidge. He is known in every home throughout the country. He is normal in his progres- siveness. He is not a fanatic. He be- lieves in building solid foundations be- fore propping up the chimney to see if 10 the smoke will come through. He is the man we have been looking for. And one man in a thousand Solomon says, Will stick more close than a brother. So it is worth while seeking him all your days If you find him before the other. Nine hundred and ninety-nine depend On what the world sees in you But the thousandth man will stand your friend With the whole round world agin you. Tis not the promise of prayer or praise Will settle the finding for 'ee; Xine hundred and ninety-nine of them go By your looks, your acts, or your glory; But if you find him and he finds you The rest of the world don't matter, For the thousandth man will sink or swim With vmi in any water. You can use his purse with no more thought Than he uses yours for his spendings; You can laugh and meet in your daily walks With never a thought of your lendings. Nine hundred and ninety-nine of them call For silver and gold in their dealings But the thousandth man is worth them all Because you can show him your feelings; His right. — your right — his wrong, — your wrong In season and out of season. So stand up and back him with all your might With that for your only reason. Nine hundred and ninety-nine can't stand The mocking, the shame, the laughter, But the thousandth man will stand by your side Till the gallows fall— and after. Ladies and gentlemen, the Republi- can Party's thousandth man — Governor Calvin Coolidge. President Ellis : I presume you have all read, and re-read, and I hope you have read again tonight, that splendid prayer of Dr. Holland's printed on the last page of the menu — "God Give Us Men." I present to you now one answer to that prayer — Governor Coolidge. ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY CALVIN COOLIDGE Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Mr. President, Felloxc Members and Guests of the Republican Club of Massachusetts: So many reasons have just been brought to my attention why I should feel grateful that I can only mention a few of them. I am grateful to my friends of the Massachusetts Delegation at Chicago because at my request they refrained from presenting my name for nomina- tion to the office which came to me. I would not be understood by that as being any the less grateful to Judge McCamant. He \\a^ doing lb.- best be knew. Alter hearing his story of Mr. Webster 1 feel it was fortunate that 1 did not attend the convention and after becoming so deeply impressed with tlie ability and judicial temperament of the Judge I am coming more and more to doubt whether be made any mistake. But whatever may result from Ms ac- tion there F am deeply and sincerely grateful for bis presence here. lie speaks our language and be thinks our thoughts. In him Massachusetts and ( Oregon are one. My gratitude to Mrs. Pfeiffer is slightly tinged with envy. The reports from the Convention indicate to me that when the opportunity re -urn d »■> 11 second my nomination under Judge McCainant delegates sprang up all over the hall to make that efl'ort because Mrs. Pfeiffer had made seconding my nomination so popular. To this veteran of the work of gov- erning a State, Judge Whitman, I am also grateful, especially for his under- taking to continue my college educa- tion. This is a Republican Club. Being that, it puts above partisanship, patriot- ism, and above love of office, love of country. But it is composed of men who believe profoundly in Republican principles, and so believing have or- ganized this club that those principles might be the more worthily adminis- tered by worthy men. It stands not only for the best party, but for the best in that party, and the fixed de- termination to cause these to be,, and remain the best. It is not confined to the trade of electing candidates, but by holding up high ideals, by sound platforms and by wise nominations, it has chosen to administer over to the domain of the public welfare. To work with this club is a mark of high citi- zenship. To be honored by it is a dis- tinction not surpassed by any other private honors to be bestowed by my fellow citizens. You have a right, nay, you owe to yourselves the duty to glory in the names and achievements of your party. History is given to us for enlighten- ment and inspiration. There lie the landmarks which mark the direction of true progress. We must look to the past for guidance, but to ourselves for success. Those who will not look back- ward cannot move forward. To despise the past is to destroy the future. We make no apology for the affection in which we hold the great names of those who have established and supported the principles which our party main- tains from Washington to Roosevelt, whether they be statesman like Lincoln or soldier like Grant, or for the rever- ence with which we contemplate the ancient institutions of our country, the declaration of all her liberties, her con- stitution and her laws. They are not safe counsellors of the people, or worthy to be entrusted with great pow- er, who lack a due appreciation of the great men and great principles which have made this nation. It is not in a desire for constant change, but satis- faction in the contemplation of estab- lished truth, as well as unyielding effort for improvement, that character in men and parties is revealed. To destroy faith in what men have done is to destroy faith in men. The Re- publican Party believes in men because it has seen their good works, and in that faith, disregarding selfishness, relying on duty, it will continue. But you are more than a Republican Club, you are the Republican Club of Massachusetts. For Massachusetts is a word that modifies not by decreasing but by increasing. It is not an area. It is an idea. It is not sectional. It belongs to the nation. Its meaning has not lacked recognition and adoption throughout the earth. It is as universal in its application as truth. No one can think of Massachusetts politically, without quickly coming to fundamental principles and glorious history. The Great Admiral Columbus gave to civilization half a world of sea and land, but sea and land was all. He sought for the riches of the East. He found the riches of the West. He proved the earth a globe. He gave to 12 man more territory, more power, but no new idea, no new estate, no price- less heritage, no inalienable right. These achievements were reserved for the Pilgrims of the Mayflower. They came not for riches but for the aspirations of the soul. When they landed at Plymouth they brought in embryo, unconsciously, but none the less effectively, whole commonwealths, and whole nations, and the institutions which since have flourished and encom- passed the earth. In the Mayflower Compact, dated November 11, 1620, old style, a day rededicated to human rights by the great nations of the earth as Armistice Day in 1918, there was not only adopted a written Constitution, the first of modern times, but there was therein set out in practice the doctrine of equality and the consent of the governed, which later made the Dec- laration of Independence immortal, and the recognition by solemn coven- ant of the duty of obedience to law. When Massachusetts was founded it was as a miniature modern democratic state. The results which have flowed from that conception are known to all men. In power and in achievement no other conception of government com- pares with it. It stands alone. It lias no comparison. From the ends of the earth men have turned to that princi- ple, when they have sought relief, from tyranny and despot ism. in self government, and in tlie reign of liberty guaranteed by constitution and law. AH this was not achieved, perhaps not fully understood bv tin- men of this Commonwealth in 1920. It lias been the result of development wroughl by much sacrifice and the end is not yet. It means something to be a Massachusetts Republican Club. There is a background of traditions and principles which have changed the course of history and given a new and more glorious meaning to human exist- ence. There is enough and to spare in her beginnings to indicate this with- out need of amplifying it by reciting the course of her history. There are two great methods of test- ing all truth. One is to see if it squares with reason. Does it satisfy the conscience? The other is to prove it b} r trial. We look more particularly to the latter for political wisdom. To apply the test of reason it must be cer- tain that all facts are known. This is nearly impossible in political life. Here by necessity we do and must rely to a large extent on experience. But tested by both reason and experi- ence, as a principle and as a record the institutions laid down and devel- oped from the Massachusetts beginning have brought to mankind a higher state of civilization, a material and a spiritual welfare that can scarcely be accounted for save as the unfolding of a great destiny. Is it not well then to study these results, to ponder their meaning, to observe whither they point. to remember the certainty of achieve- ment which they promise, before they are discarded for experiments, which have nothing to commend them as in- struments of government and of civili- zation, save only the ruin they had wrought? What then arc some of the teachings that (low from this greatest of human achievements which we call America as we trace its advance from Plymouth Rock? Our hand is inhabited by Pilgrims and their sons. Some came here three hundred years agOj some came yester- 13 day. What lias been the first charac- teristic of their success? There is but one answer to this, the determination to live according to their times under liberty with constitutional guarantees, freedom, order and law. What then should be the course of the Pilgrims of today ? Let them abide by the law. Let them by means of cit- izenship, subscribe to that larger com- pact, the Constitution of the nation, that they may find under it protection, and render to it and the laws made in accordance with it, a strict obedience, that they may no longer be alien, but come to a realization that the law is their law speaking with their voice. But why support the Constitution? There is the same answer, reason and experience. Because it provides for an executive whose duty it is to enforce the laws. Because it establishes rep- resentative government, a form under which, so long as it is faithfully main- tained, liberty has never failed in all history. Because it provides for an indejjendent j udiciary, as impartial as can be administered by finio beings, where the rights of citizens are de- termined without favor, and without fear, solely on their merits. To the glory of the Republican Party it has defended representative government, because it loves freedom, and it has defended the integrity of the courts because it loves justice. I know of no time when it has been necessary to defend the office of the executive against usurpers. Certainly that service is not now required of our party. But it is desirable to restore our government to a more even balance. Representative government ceases to represent when its decisions reflect any opinion but its own, or result from any influence, high or low, under whatever guise or name, whether of property or men, save a desire to promote the pub- lic welfare, in accordance with a de- cision arrived at by considering all the evidence. It is not enough that we have Representatives and Senators in name, they must be so in fact, and known to be so of all men. There is need of a strong executive. I can see no danger that the people are ever likely to choose a weak one. But there is need of a correspondingly strong Congress. And the greatest need of all is that each should co-operate with the other, functioning according to the Constitution, by each performing the duties assigned by the law. That is constitutional government. For it a free people can accept no substitute. To its establishment and maintenance the Republican Party stands pledged. The first thought of the founders was to put their own house in order. They had cut loose from all that bound them to any other people. It is well to re- member that. We are Americans. Whatever we accomplish must be as Americans. The instrument of that ac- complishment must be America. It is the part then not only of wisdom, but the course of absolute necessity, that this nation build up in every way its internal strength. If that fails there is no hope, for there is no substitute. The first American enterprise for public betterment, on the civil side, was the schoolhouse. Education lies at the beginning of all hope of ad- vancement. We are too prone to take for granted that all our citizens, be- cause of the public school, are educat- ed. Such is far from the case. Mil- lions are not only uneducated but are illiterate. There is no vaster problem 14 of social improvement than the funda- mental question of education. We have our public schools and state uni- versities, committees, boards and com- missions but the needs of education not only have not been met, they have not yet been adequately stated. The requirements are simply stupendous. We have only made a beginning. There is a larger need for education than ever before and out of our abounding resources that need must be met. We need a broader education, not merely of the understanding, but of the sympathies and the sentiments. It is idle to give power with no disposi- tion for its correct use. When the problem of education is properly solved most social problems will vanish. Our party must continue dedicated to a full enlightenment of the people. We shall search the records in vain for much evidence of parties. But we of necessity live under a party form of government. It may not have been tin ideal of Washington and the Fa- thers who described parties as factions and warned against their excessive ac- tivities in public affairs. But there are no other methods by which puhlic affairs could now be ac- complished. But there is a broad distinction between party organ- ization and bigoted partisanship. One is an appeal to the people, the other is an appeal to a class generally described as professional politicians. The result obtained is the same, whether the motive he tin- maintenance of a political ring, or the satisfying of narrow personal animosities. This re- sult is the spirit of faction feared by Washington. Parties represent the people, not the individual. Their obli nation is to the people. Tile people expect their offices administered in a broad and tolerant spirit for their wel- fare, and they have a right to expect from office holders of different parties such co-operation as will make this pos- sible. The people send their office holders to conduct the public business, not to spend their time in personal hiekerings. Unless such conduct can be secured the fears of Washington of the destruction of our institutions, through failure from factional bitter- ness to function, will be realized. I want to see the Republican Party re- main, so officered and so conducted, that it will be free from every such im- putation. I shall continue to believe this condition exists, until our oppon- ents are able to answer our arguments rather than assail our motives. A gigantic task lies before us. I have confidence that it will be per- formed because I have seen the lead- ers of our party disregard personal preferences, for the public good, by making mutual concessions to honest opinions, patriotically held, to secure agreement to a sound platform and the choice of a wise leader. Agreement among ourselves is a prerequisite to agreement with others, where such agreement may he necessary lor the nation's welfare. No one was denied a seat in the Republican Convention because he had voted on questions, according to his conscience, under his oath of office. There the leading forces were able to reach an agreement. When we com pare this result, with tin action of the directing power of the Democratic Convention toward Senator Heed, we gel the most indisputable evidence as to who has been willing to compose differences and who has not. No one 15 has yet accused the United States Sen- ate of ejecting Senator Reed from the San Francisco convention. I believe in Warren G. Harding. He is too much engaged in doing good to his fellow countrymen to find time to abuse any of them, too intent on solv- ing his country's problems to pay any attention to the abuse of others. Public information is bound to increase for him public approval. Honoring and respecting his fellow countrymen he is bound to grow in their honor and re- spect. A sound man tried in the fire of public service, unwarped, and un- afraid. What the nation needs in an executive, it can rely on him to provide. Our country must reconstruct itself. The prodigal wastefulness, in private life and public administration, must either cease or there will be danger of a severe economic reaction. We must have less of government interference in business and more reliance of the people on themselves. Our great war debts must be met, but by a system of taxation that rests evenly on the broad shoulders of the great public. Inequal- ities of taxation, laid to make the pub- lic think some one else was paying the bill, have not been a success, for the public still pays, but in a way that increases discontent and the cost of living. Let us be honest with the pub- lic. All a might}^ undertaking but not impossible for a great people under wise leadership. The times are troubled. People are in a ferment. Unrest prevails at home. Discord is too prevalent abroad. No man and no party ought to be rash enough to promise the performance of plans for long in advance. It is a time when all must feel their way from day to day. But this is no excuse for failure to do our best. In fact it is the uncertainty, whether men will continue to do their best, that raises doubts as to the future, in the public estimation. There will be doubt, there will be hesitation, there may be local disorders, but the heart of America is sound. Her people as a whole under- stand and believe in her institutions, because they are their own, with a faith and a loyalty never surpassed by the people of any other country. They would not need to be urged to defend their birthright, they are looking for the chance. There is one other lesson that has come down to us, the most important of all. While there ought to be no limit to the duty of obedience to law, there is a very distinct limit as to what can be accomplished by law, and the agency of the government. The finer things of life are given voluntarily by the individual or they are not given at all. The law can impress the body but the mind is beyond control. Dis- cipline, faithfulness, courage, charity, industry, character and the moral power of the nation, are not created by government. These virtues the peo- ple must provide for themselves. Neith- er public ownership, nor any other socialistic device, can be a substitute for them. The glory of the Republican Party has been the wisdom with which it has recognized alike, the powers and the limitations, which reside in gov- ernment action. In the possession of that wisdom it still continues. You know the source of these virtues and you know their power. On them depends the decision in all elections, wherever elections result in decisions and not in accidents. The decision in this election will turn, not on an at- 16 titude toward world politics, but on the attitude toward the home. The wives and mothers of the land, directly or indirectly, are going to exert a mighty influence on the result of this campaign. They wait to learn to what policies and what men they can most confidently entrust the welfare and the protection of the home. They believe in patriotism and common sense. They are American through and through, but there is a sympathy there as broad as humanity, which nourishes the mission- ary spirit. Ultimately they will make their choice, and they will make it ac- cording to the Republican standard, not in response to the inquiry "Will it pay?" but in response to that other in- quiry . which searches the soul of the universe. "Is it right?" 17 GOD GIVE US MEN! {by Dr. J. G. Holland) God give us men ! A time like this demands Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands ; Men whom the lust of office does not kill; Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; Men who possess opinions and a will; Men who have honor, men who will not lie; Men who can stand before a demagogue And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking; Tall men ; sun-crowned, who live above the fog, In public duty and in private thinking. For, while the rabble with their thumb-worn creeds, Their large professions and their little deeds, Mingle in selfish strife, Lo ! Freedom weeps, Wrong rules the Land! And justiee sleeps. 18 516 >K "**.^ ^ r - s * * 6 I.. °* W * av vv. . .* hfr.\ J* y -. ^o« ^o^ ' ,^ >♦ r oK ...» .0' V . » • * ^ * v >:*