Nothing could be more hateful to true and genuine democracy than such offenses against our free institutions. In several of the states the honest sentiment of the party has asserted it self, in the support of every plan proposed for the rectification of this terrible wrong. To fail in such support would be to violate that principle in the creed of true democracy which commands "a jealous care of the right of election by the people," for certainly no one can claim that suffrages purchased or cast under the stress of threat or intimidation represent the right of election by the people.
Since a free and unpolluted ballot must be conceded as absolutely essential to the maintenance of our free institutions, I may perhaps be permitted to express the hope that the state of Pennsylvania will not long remain behind her sister states in adopting an effective plan to protect her people's suffrage. In any event the democracy of the state can find no justification in party principle, nor in party traditions, nor in a just apprehension of democratic duty, for a failure earnestly to support and advocate ballot reform.
I have thus far attempted to state some of the principles of true democracy, and their application to present conditions. Their enduring character and their constant influence upon those who profess our faith have also been suggested. If I were now asked why they have so endured and why they have been invincible, I should reply in the words of the sentiment to which I respond: "They are enduring because they are right, and invincible because they are just."
I believe that among our people the ideas which endure, and which inspire warm attachment and devotion, are those having some elements which appeal to the moral sense. When men are satisfied that a principle is morally right, they become its adherents for all time. There is sometimes a discouraging distance between what our fellow countrymen believe and what they do, in such a case; but their action in accordance with their belief may always be confidently expected in good time. A government for the people and by the people is everlastingly right. As surely as this is true so surely is it true that party principles which advocate the absolute equality of American manhood, and an equal participation by all the people in the management of their government, and in the benefit and protection which it affords, are also right. Here is common ground where the best educated thought and reason may meet the most impulsive and instinctive Americanism. It is right that every man should enjoy the result of his labor to the fullest extent consistent with his membership in a civilized community. It is right that our government should be but the instrument of the people's will, and that its cost should be limited within the lines of strict economy. It is right that the influence of the government should be known in every humble home as the guardian of frugal comfort and content, and a defense against unjust exactions, and the unearned tribute persistently coveted by the selfish and designing. It is right that efficiency and honesty in public service should not be sacrificed to partisan greed; and it is right that the suffrage of our people should be pure and free.
The belief in these propositions, as moral truths, is nearly universal among our country men. We are mistaken if we suppose the time is distant when the clouds of selfishness and perversion will be dispelled and their conscientious belief will become the chief motive force in the political action of the people.
I understand all these truths to be included in the principles of true democracy. If we have not all times trusted as implicitly as we ought to the love our people have for the right, in political action, or if we have not always relied sufficiently upon the sturdy advocacy of the best things which belong to our party faith, these have been temporary aberrations which have furnished their inevitable warning.
We are permitted to contemplate tonight the latest demonstration of the people's appreciation of the right, and of the acceptance they accord to democratic doctrine when honesty presented. In the campaign which has just closed with such glorious results, while party managers were anticipating the issue in the light of the continued illusion of the people, the people themselves and for themselves were considering the question of right and justice. They have spoken, and the democracy of the land rejoice.
In the signs of the times and in the result of their late state campaign, the democracy of Pennsylvania must find hope and inspiration. Nowhere has the sensitiveness of the people, on questions involving right and wrong, been better illustrated than here. At the head of your state government there will soon stand a disciple of true democracy, elected by voters who would have the right and not the wrong when their consciences were touched. Though there have existed here conditions and influences not altogether favorable to an unselfish apprehension of the moral attributes of political doctrine, I believe that if these features of the principles of true democracy are persistently advocated, the time will speedily come when, as in a day, the patriotic hearts of the people of your great commonwealth will be stirred to the support of our cause.
It remains to say that, in the midst of our rejoicing and in the time of party hope and expectation, we should remember that the way of right and justice should be followed as a matter of duty and regardless of immediate success. Above all things let us not for a moment forget that grave responsibilities await the party which the people trust; and let us look for guidance to the principles of true democracy, which "are enduring because they are right, and invincible because they are just."
