There is one thing we propose to stand out for and that we do not intend to be wheedled out of, in our next two political conventions and during our next President's next four years, and that is that our two great machines in this country, our industrial one and our political one, shall be taken out of the hands of men who are fooled about themselves and who will not listen to others.
We do not believe that there is anything essentially the matter with what is called our capitalistic system or our labor union system except men—the men who think they belong in the front ranks of capital and the front ranks of labor.
The scared men and the men who are fooled about themselves in politics and business and who are trying to fool the rest of us, who are trying to make a great, simple, clean-hearted, clear-eyed, generous country like ours look and act every few weeks or every few days as if all the people in it could really do to express themselves to one another and to the world, was with lockouts, strikes, political deadlocks, minority holdups and party threats—shall be turned out of office by the people and huddled away out of sight.
In our industrial and political expressing and acting machines on every hand we give notice we are going to pick men out, men who shall make our machines express us, our freedom, our justice, our steadiness of heart, and our belief in America, in ourselves, in one another, or our desire to listen to those who disagree with us, our human sporting instinct about our party and ourselves, and the victory of the people, the common sense and good will of common human nature in America and the world.
To the great capitalists who instead of being fellow laborers, are still mooning absent-mindedly about in the last century, still prinking themselves as the owners of their world, and still thinking of themselves as the captains or military leaders of industry—to the labor union Dukes and Dictators that capitalists like this have created to fight them—the hundred million people appointed to run this country, give notice.
I would like if I could to publish this book with blank pages for a few million signatures—and a place for the new President or proposed President to sign, too.
The Presidential candidate we want, would have it in him to put his name down with the rest—with something like this, perhaps—"I do not say I could sign every paragraph in this book, but the general idea and program of organizing and giving body to the will of the people as expressed in this book—the spirit and direction of it and in the main the technique for getting it, I sign for."
I believe that the American people when they know in reality, as they do know at heart, what I am believing in this book, would be inclined in looking up their candidate for President to pick out a President who would have written this book—the gist of it—if he had had time.
At all events here it is—this program or handbook of the beliefs for a people.