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PAGE FOURTEEN
UNITED FOR THE COMMON GOOD.
By Howell Brooke,
What are to be the principal Issues
between the two great political parties
in 1908? Is it to be a fight between
reform and Bossism, or between the
Democratic party and the Republican
now than HRDLw —het-FelegisßTAlO
party? Party differences are less now
than they have been at any time since
the administration of Monroe. All
parties are fighting for reform. Even
the Republican party has come to real
ize that the country needs reform, and
are helping to bring about the most
needed reforms as speedily as they
can consistently do so. The people
demand these reforms, and the Re
publicans dare not deny them their
demand. The country is ripe for re
formation. The people have endured
the domination of trusts and cor
porations until their endurance has
been exhausted, and now they demand
their rights as citizens of a free coun
try. They have less confidence in
the party and are planning to bring
improvement without the aid of the
party. Although the influence of the
party is still great, it has changed its
nature, yielding to the universal cur
rent which makes for equality. The
people are ready to abandon their
party and unite in the cause of right.
And if they advance toward one be
lief in the next two years as fast
as they have for the past two there
will be very little party spirit and
practically all will be united in the
interest of just and free government.
The recent exposures of graft, that
lie chiefly in the railroad corporations,
have caused an awmkening among the
people, and they are preparing to oust
them, if such a thing be possible; and
with the common people united, it
will be possible for them to not only
check the onslaught of these monsters,
but to regulate their gains to a rea
sonable degree. And if so desired they
can be owned by the people; for this
should be a government of equal and
free rights to all men. And with
the people united it can be what its
founders intended it to be.
Was it the will of the senate to
pass the railroad rate bill? It was
introduced by men who represent the
people, and was picked almost feather
less by those who represent the rail
roads, and then it never w r ould have
passed if it had not been so strongly
favored by the people. It gave only
a small proportion of what is needed.
President Roosevelt receives all the
honor for passing this measure, to
which he is only partially entitled. It
would have been impossible for this
bill to have passed without the aid
of the Democratic senators; there
fore, they deserve some of the praise
which is given to President Roose
velt.
It is now evident that the thoughts
of the American people will central
ize, and probably in the presidential
election of 1908, on the subject as to
whether this is to be a government
by and for the people, or as it is
today, a government by and for the
capitalists; ruled by mammon rather
than by man. It seems that the sharp
issue is going to be betwen govern
ment control and ownership of rail
roads. This question is one of pure
democracy and should be instilled in
the public mind so deeply that it will
remain permanent until the needed
change is brought about. That is
only a part of the issue; the true is
sue is the use of wealth—whether cap
italists shall continue oppressing the
people, or will they be required to
refrain? Railroads are the most vis
ible examples, at present, of the
wrongs which have resulted from
granted privileges. The mind of the
public is more wrought up over the
domination of railroads in public
affairs than over any other enter-
WATSOTFS WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
prise, for they affect more directly the
interests of the common people. They
control the finances of the country,
and have come to be the cause of
more political corruption than all other
sources combined. By its friendship
and hospitality it has drawn thousands
of the noted men of the United States
under its thumb. All the railroads
have to do is to speak the word to
their agents, who have the power and
the means to thwart the will of the
people, when they want a law passed
giving them more privileges. What
is it that railroads and other great
industries cannot do when they unite
their forces to control legislation?
They have united many politicians,
lawyers, and other iniiuential men
so well that they have been the indi
rect managers of government affairs
for many years. Now it is time for
the people to unite, and fight this
combination of wealth so courageously
that it will be required to withdraw
in silence, giving us absolute freed
om in making and enforcing our own
laws.
Take the two great issues before the
public today—the controlling and own
ing of public utilities. These principles
are of paramount importance to the
people. If they can be controlled and
compelled to give reasonable rates and
good service, then it would not be
necessary to own them; but otherwise
government ownership will be necessa
ry. If this government is unable to
control them or any other enterprise
that exists within its bounds, then
free government has proven a failure.
We need more than anything else hon
est men who are independent of party
allegiance to make our laws. There
are in both parties men who enjoy
special privileges and class distinc
tion, and those who have no regard
for the common good. Corrupt and
incompetent men will not and cannot
administer justice. We need men who
will give us an honest and efficient
administration.
Railroads only do what other organ
izations of wealth do, and they are
going to continue their course until
they are regulated or controlled by
law; and the common people should
be thankful to both for the courage
they have shown in their utterance in
the face of so much opposition. Mr,
Roosevelt does not believe in gov
ernment ownership of railroads, but
thinks that the government should ex
ercise a supervisory and regulatory
right over them, one preventing injus
tice to the railroads and the other
preventing their doing injustice to the
people. He thinks the people do not
desire government ownership, and that
it would entail serious difficulties. Mr.
Bryan favors public ownership and
believes that it is the ultimate solution
of the railroad question, but adds that
he does not know whether the people
are ready to consider this question.
Mr. Bryan has been advocating a pro
tection for the people against cor
porate greed for many years. He
has through undaunted earnestness
and appeals for good government cre
ated within the hearts of the people
an unfaltering confidence. It is evi
dent that he is not seeking the favors
of the great capitalists or of their
statesmen and newspapers, but that
he is earnestly advocating the prin
ciples of true democracy.
The advancing toward Jeffersonian
Democracy and the ever-gaining favor
of railroad ownership should cheer not
only those who believe in the princi
ples of the Populist party, but every
one who loves good government and
believes in special privileges to none.
The Populists should rejoice for their
principles will yet be victorious. The
Democrats stole the Populists’ plat
form, and now that the Republicans
are taking those planks from the Dem-
ocratic platform, and enacting them
into laws, it is in fact a Populist victo
ry.
The domination of collected
wealth is what the people should strive
to control. And when it no longer
sways the power of statesmen, this
republic will blossom forth and be
the most democratic government in
the world. It is an old maxim that
monarchies live by honoi* and repub
lics by virtue. The more democratic
a republic becomes, the more the
masses grow conscious of their pow
er, the more they need to live, and
the more essential are their respon
sibilities and sound judgment.
It seems probable that there will be
a split in the Republican party, and
if such should happen, then there
would be a glorious opportunity for
Democracy to march into power. Dem
ocrats, Populists, Socialists and many
Republicans want reform, and with
all the reform forces united the en
emies of good government will be de
feated. Signs are that the common
people will again come to the rescue
and stand by the men who are for an
administration of public affairs on the
principles laid down by our fathers.
Let the reform leaders arouse the peo
ple as did Peter the Hermit, and in
the cause of pure government let
them be united for the common good.
United we win. Divided we fall.
EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW.
By Blaine Fred Sturgis.
Reviewing the marvelous develop
ment of our country during the last
two generations, the material advance
ment in all arts and sciences of life,
we ask what has been the cause of
this unexpected growth, this unparal
leled prosperity. It has not been alone
our favored climate and fertile soil,
not alone our natural resources, not
alone the energy and industry of our
people; but the magnetic force and
marvelous pow'ers of free institutions,
whose chief glory is that every man
is equal before the law, whose price
less benefaction is that ev}ry man
has equal opportunity.
Yet notwithstanding these wonderful
strides of prosperity, a universal spirit
of unrest and discontent pervades the
atmosphere. There are those who be
lieve, and rightly perhaps, that the
present trend of society is to override
the individual and subvert the funda
mental liberty and equality; that there
is one law for the rich and another
for the poor. This is the error which
poisoned the body politic of the com
monwealth of history. Who does not
see this spirit of unrest that is filling
the land and threatening the founda
tions of society, who does not feel that
vast changes are impending and that
indifference and corruption are breed
ing a disrespect for our laws, and who
does not realize that these changes
must be guided by the hands of jus
tice or the ends of government will
fail?
The American people are facing the
hardest question the modern world
has had to answer. The disposition to
disregard and subvert the principles of
liberty and equality, for which this
race has striven through centu
ries, has developed a problem the so
lution of which will put to the most
decisive test the solvency of the the
ories of popular government. Let us
inquire how the rights of the individu
al are being threatened and imperil
ed, and how the authentic and justifi
able ends of government are becoming
but a means for the advancement of
the few at the cost of the many.
The crying evil of our times and the
menacing peril of our free institutions
is the powerful influence of ill-gotten
fortunes. Probably in no period of our
history has the influence of wealth
been more keenly felt than at the
present time. It has become a pow
erful factor in shaping our govern
ment and controlling its operations.
Its mighty forces are dominating the
policies of the states. It has been so
used to secure exceptional privileges
and to trample upon the rights of the
public, it has so tainted the instru
mentalities of government, that it has
strained the patient forbearance of
the people and invited a spirit of retal
iation that cannot fail to be disas
trous. The arrogance and abuse of
its power is the deadly cancer that
is eating into the very heart of our
body politic, and pealing the death
knell of equality. In this mad race
for the accumulation of wealth
it is not to be wondered that the
private citizen is disturbed, for he nev
er knows what cherished right may be
endangered by existing monopolies, or
by schemers in search of valuable
franchises.
We have but to take a second look in
order to see what was hopeful and
glorious in our condition, is now op
posed and confronted by avarice and
greed. The legislatures have so long
habitually and constantly betrayed the
trust reposed in them, that it seems
as if they had forgotten their purpose
and nature. Instead of protecting and
promoting the civil happiness of man,
they have been favoring corporate
and individual wealth. They have giv
en away valuable franchises to pri
vate corporations for little or no com
pensation; they have excepted them
from taxation and thrown the burden
of support upon the wage-earner; they
have permitted trade consolidations to
control prices and defeat honest com
petition; and by a failure to exercise
stringent visitorial powers they have
enabled corporate enterprises to “wa
ter” their stock and perpetrate glaring
frauds upon the public. Such a sale
of legislation for private advantage,
thereby enriching some and impover
ishing others, is a shameful violation
of the plain principles of justice.
Undoubtedly in the development of
civilization and in the advancement of
prosperity certain rights of the individ
ual must yield to the demands of the
general good, but it cannot be just
that the fundamental rights shall be
sacrificed for the few or the many.
If free institutions are to live, class
legislation must be repressed. The
state exists for the general welfare of
all its citizens. It knows or ought to
know no classes. Its laws should be
so framed and so administered that
each citizen shall enjoy an equality of
its blessings, and sustain an equality
of its burdens.
Not only legislation but the admin
istration of the law has been for sale.
Not criminals alone, but men of wealth
and standing have been buying men to
neglect the discharge of their duty.
By the steady prostitution of our judi
cial institutions, we have made it al
most impossible to convict or punish
crimnals who have money or influen
tial friends. In a recent railroad ac
cident twenty-two precious lives were
lost through the criminal negligence of
the officials. The coroner summoned
these men to appear before his court,
but his order was defied. Instead of
resenting the contempt as was his du
ty, he was persuaded to overlook the
offense and present the charges to the
grand jury. Such a base and defiant
disregard for the sanctity of the oath
in positions of public service, is clear
ly opposed to democratic Ideals, and
is striking at the very vitals of free
institutions. The plea of the powerful
is potent, but the prayer of the poor is
too often unheard.
When the ends of government are
abandoned, and the natural rights of
man are perverted by the acquired
rights of the few, and when the in
strumentalities of government become