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The Commoner.
AUGUST 28, 1903.
THE REPUBLICAN OOVERNOR OP WISCONSIN ASKS
AND ANSWERS THE QUESTION: "IS OUR GOVERNHENT
OP CITY, STATE, AND NATION THOROUGHLY REPRE
SENTATIVE OP THE WILL OP THE PEOPLE?" ....
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AN IMPENDING CRISIS
Governor La a olletto of Wisconsin delivered a
speech at Colfax, la., on August 6. The Wiscon
sin governor is a republican, but ho made bold
to warn his hearers against corporate greed which
ho declared is drawing tighter tho halter of com
mercial slavery about the neck of the people.
Governor La Follette disclaimed any intention
to excite the prejudice or invoke unfair judgment
yi tho part of Lis auditors, but he said that "a
deep conviction impels me to appeal to your pa
triotism, your love of liberty, of the country to
meet the impending crisis. We owe it to tho liv
ing as well as to the dead to make honest answer
to this question: 'Is our government of city, stato
and nation thoroughly representative of. the will
of the people?'"
Governor La Follette's address on this occa
sion should bo read by every American citizen.
Pointing to the fact that ono of the causes of tho
revolution proclaimed in the Declaration of Inde
pendence was the imposition of taxes without con
sent, Governor La Tolletto said:
"Today great Aggregations of corporato
wealth buy immunity from taxation in our leg
islatures, and throw the burden which they
should bear on to tho individual taxpayers of
every municipality and state. Betrayed 1 y his
representative, the individual taxpaye- is
overtaxed for the benefit cf the corporation.
"Taxation without representation is as
much a crime against just and equal govern
ment in 1903 as it was in 1776. Government by
corporations is as destructive of the liberties
of the people of this country as the exercise
of the same power by a foreign monarch. Tho
arbitrary i control of the price of coal and iron
and corn and wheat and beef whether by an
extortionate transportation rate or by a mon
ster combination, is a more absolute tyranny of
the American people than quartering the army
. of King George upon the American colonists
without their consent
"There can be no such thing as commer
cial slavery and individual freedom. Wo may"
have the privilege of tho ballot, w,e may havo
the semblance of democracy, but industrial
servitude means political servitude. Monop
oly in transportation of coal and iron and
tho food products, makes a pretense and a
mockery of political freedom."
Governor La Follette declared that the timo
is ripe for a new declaration of American indepen
dence. He said:
"Wo are building up colossal fortunes,
granting unlimited power to corporate organi
zation, and consolidating and massing tq-
gether business interests as never before in
the commercial history of the world but the'
people are losing control of their own gov
ernment. Its foundations are being sapped
" and its Integrity destroyed.
"What shall, it profit a man if ho gain
the whole world and lose his own soul? What
shall it profit a nation if it gain untold wealth
and its people lose their liberty?
"Tbe gravest danger menacing republi
can institutions today is tho overbalancing
control of city, stato and national legislatures
by tbe wealth and powr of publlc-servlco
corporations.
"I make this statement in no spirit of hos
tility to any interest, but deoply impressed
with its profound significance, its vital import
ance to republican institutions and its ulti
mate influence upon all citizens and all citi
zenship." The governor declared that tho danger Is not
a new one; that it is not limited to any state or
any section of our country, but ho said that tho
responsibility it brings cannot bo shirked or pushed
aside or postponed. Ho decKrod that the national
government and every stato government, partic
ularly that of every largo city, has this problem
to solve, not at some other timo, but now.
Referring to tho control exorcised by great
corporations oYor the public service, Governor La
Follette said:
"The danger point In our system Is tho
lawmaking power. It is just hero that all tho
ovil forces of monopoly are concentrated for
attack. Every executive wanting in honesty
and courage, every legislator who Ib weak or
corrupt, is sure to bo controlled by tho lobby
agents of tho great corporations. Occasionally
by straight, simple bribe, more often by in
sidious indirect means, they are ensnared and
captured by alluring dea7a and promises of
political preferement, or frightened and intim
idated by threats of ruin to private business
and to bring political annihilation. 1 is tho
close association of political and cprporato
power that defrauds tho public of its rights,
defeats legislation for the general good, and
passes laws to promoto private interests.
"It was in tho Now York legislative in
vestigation of tho Erie railway that Gould
testified as follows:
" 'I do not know how much I paid toward
helping friendly men. We had four states
to look after, and we had to suit our politics
to circumstances. In a democratic district I
was a democrat; in a republican district, I was
a republican; in a doubtful district, end at
all times, I have always been an Erie man.'
"More recently tho treasurer of the Now
York Central Railway company testiiied that
his company had paid out for legislation in
one year sixty thousand dollars, and in an
other two hundred and five thousand dol
lars. "Asked whether his company succeeded In
getting the legislation it wanted, he answered:
.. 'Yes, we succeeded in getting the legislation.' "
m
Tho governor quoted from the correspondence
passed between the late C. P. Huntington and-General
Colton In regard to tho payment of money for
the passage of legislative measures and for the
control of congressmen. Extracts from that cor
respondence havo already been presented to Tho
Commoner readers. Describing tho powor of rail
road corporations tho governor said:
"Their Influoncc hna boon moro powerful
than that of tho people; their wishes and their
whlsporcd directions havo been moro potent
than tho outspoken and oft repcatod demands
of their constituents, the recommendations of
tho commission or even those of tho president
of tho United States. No proof of thl3 declar
ation is required. Tho record Is tho proof."
Hero tho governor read a letter bearing upon
tho action of tho last congroso. This letter has al
ready been printed In Tho Commoner, but It can
not bo too often published. Tho letter was wrltton
by a United States sonator under date of Fcb
'ruary 9, 1903, and contained this paragraph:
"It is expecting too much from human
nature that senators, whoso ovcry association
is with tho great railroad corporations, and
whoso political lives largely depend upon
them, should, in good faith, approvo a meas
ure that would, to an extent, mako tho rail
roads a servant of tho people and to be sub
ject to tho decision of tho commission when a
question of rates Is raised. Tho senate com
mittee Is, by a decided majority, men who
bear those relations to tho railroads."
"How clearly," said Governor La Follotto,
"this discloses the naked truth. How startling!
How abhorrent! The United States senate with ita
honored name which glorify the pages o Ameri
can history, In close association with the great
railroads and corporations. Yet wo cannot reject
tho testimony offered. It must bo bravely met
How to make this august body servo tho people
instead of corporato power not a hundred yeara
from now but right soon, Is the part of the pro
blem I shall dlscuBs in speaking of the remedy
for tho evils considered. The railroad prefers to
deal with largo shippers and it squeezes out tho
small ones. It encourages centralization in busi
ness. It creates and encourages monopoly. Ev
ery great trust and combination in this country la
either the direct offspring or foster child of tho
railroad. Let mo invito your attention to some il
lustrious examples of tho methods employed by
the railroads to create a monopoly and control
legislation. Passing by the ono with which wo
arc familiar the Standard Oil monopoly, with Ita
history of unspeakable wrong, which has de
stroyed prosperous, Independent, thriving commun
ities and towns, happy homes and individual hopes
which has left all along its course desolation
and despair passing by this appalling record,
with its hollow pretense of cheapened product
enough in itself for an entire discourse, I present
to you, in a word, some of the methods of pro
cedure which the railway company pursues in tho
formation of trusts and combinations."
Republican Party on Trial.
When Caleb Powers sought contributions from
postmasters throughout the country ho declared
that the republican party in Kentucky was on
trial. The evidence recently produced at the trial
seems to bear out the assertion.
Youtsey produces an agreement signed by
Powers "waiving the truth or falsity" of an affi
davit made by Youtsey for tho assistance of Pow
ers after both were convicted. In the agreement
Powers promises not to mako tho affidavit public
and to return it within fifteen days. The affi
davit was given at the instance of a federal offi
cial, whose name Youtsey gives a federal official
who was a son of a republican judge and who
desired the affidavit to use with republican mem
bers of tho court of appeals to secure a new trial
for Powers. , ...
Youtsey's testimony is strengthened by this
paper and it will be difficult for any one, after
reading it, to deny that the killing of Goebel was
a political conspiracy formed among republican
officials and carried out with a shameles3ness that
would disgrace an absolute monarchy.
Will Durbin still refuse to give Taylor up?
His rigid enforcement of the law against those
who Interfere with thejrights of the black mam
is all right, but this will not atone for his re
fusal to deliver up a prominent republican who is
Indicted for tho assassination of a democratic gov
ernor. It raises a now race question if a man must
be black In .order to receive consideration from a
republican governor.
JJJ
Compliments from the Enemy.
The Commoner does not publish many com
plimentary notices, but the editor feols so grate
ful to tho Nashville American for its hostility that
he is constrained to reproduce its latest eulogy.
This is not referred to to show the sincerity of
the reorganizes' plea for harmony, but rather to
prove that The Commoner is earning the opposi
tion of papers which, like 'no Nashville Ameri
can, are owned by and published in the interests
or certain great corporations papers whose chief
purpose is not to print the news or to defend tho
principles of a party, but rather to lay in wait
for the unwary and play tho part of the "bunco
steerer." BecauEO The Commoner exposed the
American and challenged It to disclose the name3
and politics of Its owners ani editors, it says:
"It is too late for The Commoner to
frighten or cajole the Iowa democrats. They
have expressed their opinion of The Commoner
" and its owner's views in a way that leaves
no room for misunderstanding. As for the
American, it is disposed to deal leniently with
The Commoner and its ("'scrcdited anil dis
gruntled owner, who finds his Influence slip
ping away from him and only his vanity and
' his stubbornness remaining. The American
is one of his pet aversions, because It ha not
hesitated to give hlifl the boot when others
were afraid to speak. Now that even former
worshippers do not scruple to kick him down
stairs, the American Is disposed to deal with
him as it would with a political tramp who
has seen bettor days. The American takea
no notice of dead politicians or of barking
newspapers that cannot bite. The once 'peer
less leader' has degenerated into an Impotent
kicker and a cheap, common scold to whom
nobody who Is anybody pays any attention.
As for The Commoner, Hostetter's Almanac
has a larger circulation and more influence."
But Tho Commoner will continue to defend
tho principles of democracy from both the open,
and secret enemies of the party.
JJJ
If you see a quotation from Abraham Lincoln
In a daily newspaper, you are perfectly safe In
assuming that it is not a republican paper.
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