These things I urge upon you, not in haste or merely as a means of
meeting a present emergency, but as permanent and necessary additions to
the law of the land, suggested, indeed, by circumstances we had hoped
never to see, but imperative as well as just, if such emergencies are to
be prevented in the future. I feel that no extended argument is needed
to commend them to your favorable consideration. They demonstrate
themselves. The time and the occasion only give emphasis to their
importance. We need them now and we shall continue to need them.
SPEECH OF ACCEPTANCE
[On being offered the nomination for President by the Democratic Party.
Delivered at Shadow Lawn, Sea Girt, N.J., Saturday, September 2, 1916.]
SENATOR JAMES, GENTLEMEN OF THE NOTIFICATION COMMITTEE, FELLOW-CITIZENS:
I cannot accept the leadership and responsibility which the National
Democratic Convention has again, in such generous fashion, asked me to
accept without first expressing my profound gratitude to the party for
the trust it reposes in me after four years of fiery trial in the midst
of affairs of unprecedented difficulty, and the keen sense of added
responsibility with which this honor fills (I had almost said burdens)
me as I think of the great issues of national life and policy involved
in the present and immediate future conduct of our Government.
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