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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