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voto on and when disobedience Is useless the
representative is more sure to obey.
And If the people have the referendum,
which is a process by which thoyslt In judg
ment on what their representatives do, then the
representatives know that the people can veto
their acts, and that if they do pass laws that the
people do not want the people will veto them.
The beauty of this system is that it gives you
power, and yet you do not always have to use
the power; the possession of it is in itsolf a
great protection.
And why shouldn't the people have what
they want; why shouldn't the people have the
veto power? Does not your governor veto the
actgwof your legislature? And if one man can
veto an act of the legislature, why shouldn't
the people, who elect the governor and the legis
lature, have the right of veto., if they do not
want a particular law?
I read the other day in the New York
Tribune an editorial on the Oklahoma constitu
tion, and the great objection to it, according to
thateditor, was that it was written by cornfield
lawyers now got that right I was about to
say cornfed lawyers the other day, but that is
not it r mean cornfield lawyers that's what
it said. Now I read that Oklahoma constitution,
and I say to you that it is the best constitution
in the United States today. I was interested
to find how carefully those cornfield lawyers had
puttied up the holes that the trust-fed lawyers
had been making in -other constitutions. It was
really interesting to see how carefully these
cornfield lawyers, looking at' the question from
the standpoint of the common people, had cor
rected the things that had been found weak in
the constitutions of other states, and the best
thing in that constitution is the provision for the
initiative and referendum. I
Now no matter what mistakes you make
in your constitution, if you give the people power
to correct the mistakes they will correct them.
No matter how bad your laws may be, if the
people have the power to make them good they
will make them good, and the most important
provision that you can, have in a constitution
is a provision that places in the hands of the
people power to correct the constitution and
make it keep pace with progress and intelligence,
and the initiative and referendum are the best
things that we have found so far to bring the
government near to. the people and make it their
government.
But you say the people make mistakes. Of
course they make mistakes. But I think the
people have the right to make their own mis
takes. Others have made mistakes for them,
and the people have been denied the privilege of
correcting those mistakes. You can not expect
t6 have a government that is free from mis
takes, because we are governed by human be
ings and they are not perfect. But there is this
difference between mistakes that are made by
the majority and mistakes that are made by the
minority.
The majority never makes a mistake inten
tionally, for it never pays the majority to make
a mistake. Whenever the majority finds out
that it has made a mistake It corrects it, but
if you have the minority ruling it is sometimes
so profitable for the minority to make mistakes
that they never want to correct them, and nearly
every revolution in society has been an effort
of the people to correct the mistakes of the
minority. When you give the people the power
to correct mistake's, you will find abuses cor
rected very quickly.
Now" I do not want to appeal to the radical,
but to theconservatlve, for if the conservative
people of this country took an intelligent view
of their own affairs it would not be necessary
to make any other argument in favor of these
reforms. If these conservative people were fore
sighted and took an enlarged view of their own
interests,. they would see the necessity of reform
in our methods of government. Take the stream
as an illustration; if the' current is not obstruct
ed there is no danger in? it; you can stand arid
listen to the singing of the waters. But If you
attempt to put a dam across the stream the wa
ter rises and presses against the dam; if you
raise the dam higher the -water rises higher
yet, and after awhije there will be a force in that
pent-up water that no dam made by human
hands can long stay; and then the people 'who
live in the valley below are in danger.
And so, my friends, if you let the people
have their way there is no danger in any coun
try, but If you dare to obstruct the will of the
-people there is always pressure behind the dam,
and the more you raise tlie dam the greater is
the' pressure; if there is any danger -now it is
because, predatory wealth has obstructed the will
of the people for years."
The more freely you allow the people to
rule, tho more quickly will every abuse be rem
edied. If you scratch your finger and blood
poisoning seU In your doctor tolls you to cut
tho finger off and thus sayo tho hand; if you
wait ho tells you to cut off tho hand and savo
tho arm, and if you still wait ho tolls you to cut
off your arm in order that you may savo your
body. And so it is in the body politic; if yort
will give tho people a government that they
can control, if you lot tho people have their way
they will reform -every abuse as soon as they
find it out, But if you daro obstruct the will
of the people you simply invite more radical
reform.
Ten years ago, when I was a candidate, I
never mentioned government ownership of rail
roads, and six years ago I was so conservative
that I never mentioned, either In writing or in
speech, the possibility of government ownership
of railroads, and yet so rapidly has public senti
ment grown and so arrogantly have tho great
railroad corporations obstructed tho will of tho
people that a republican president has, In two
messages threatened government ownership if
the railroads did not get out of politics and al
low the people to attend to their own business,
'Is not that evidence of the truth of what
I have said, that if you refuse mild remedies you
must bo prepared sooner or later to meet harsher
remedies?
Now I believe in the initiative and refer
endum, and I have believed In them for years;
and I have believed in tnem because I believe
that they make it possible for tho people to
correct abuses whenever they want to correct
them. This is the only way to save society from
great convulsions for great remedies must bo
applied to great evils; I know of nothing that
is milder as a reform than tho Initiative and
referendum, and I want to encourage you in
fighting for it, be you republicans or democrats.
If you are republicans do not object to It
because you are told that the democrats advo
cated It first. Of course, we will boast a little.
You can not expect that we will not be human,
and it is human to rejoice; but I will give you
an answer to make to us: If we rejoice too
much, If we accuse you of borrowing our ideas,
don't cast it aside on that account; just toll
us that we got it from the populists, and then
we can't say much more about it. And the
populists borrowed it from somebody.
But there is no patent on Ideas; ideas be
long' to the world, and an Idea 'once sent forth
can never be withdrawn, for man has no owner
ship of Ideas. And let us not refuse to accept
a good idea because we did not originate it. Wo
did not originate the telegraph system. For
years man saw the lightning, but he saw in It
nothing but a menace, but after a while some
one conceived the idea a great American of
bringing it down and making It of service to
man, and it has been imprisoned in wires, and
those wires now gird.le the globe. We use this
idea, and we do not feel badly because we did
not originate it. So It is with all the great
Ideas that have been used in this great world.
If we advance the idea first, let it be said of us
that we adopted it as soon as wo did see it; let
it be said of us that we did not delay after we
had a chance to adopt it.
The ideal and the idea belong to the world.
You may see a man living in a house so fine that
you. may never hope to have one like it it may
be entirely out of your reach; you may find one
so well educated that you can never hope to be
his equal in that respect; but, my friends, there
is no onewho has an Ideal so high that you
can not hope to claim that ideal and make it
as much yours as his.
And so with an idea. No man has any spe
cial ownership In an idea more than in an ideal,
and there ought to be no feeling on the sub
ject, -because it belongs not to one party, but
to the whole country. And if anything more
need to be said to encourage you let me say
that behind every truth there is an irresistible
force. You find that the grain when it is put
into the ground will send forth first the blade,
then the stalk and Mien the full Tiead; and when
we find that is true the world around we con
clude that back of that grain there is a power
irresistibly and constantly at work and, my
friends, the force that Is back of truth intel
lectual, moral and political Is just as irresist
ible and as constantly at work as. the force that
is behind the grain.
Go into any part of the world today and
ypu will find that everywhere our theory of gov
ernment has been planted, and you will find that
everywhere it is growing. In Persia they have
adopted the first constitution they ever had
within the last two years. In Austria they are
enlarging the basis of representations and they
are doing the same thing in Sweden at this same
, time. In England the great controversy is be-
tweon the Houflo of Lords and tho Houso of
Commons, and tho Houuo of Commons say that
that hereditary body shall not dofcat tho will of
4-V WM.nka.t.M.
U1U jjuupiu. I
China has sent onvoys throughout tho world
to gather information for tho forming of a con-'
stitution. Every whoro this leaven is at work;
everywhere you will find two great partlos, one
struggling to bring tho govornmont nearor to the
people, tho other obstructing the way. Every
where in tho world tho people's party Is grow
ing, and everywhere tho party of tho aristocracy
is dying. And it is as true In this country as In
every other country. If I did not have faith In
tho final triumph of right I could .not fight for
anything, but bolloving, as I do, that ovory
righteous principle will at laBt provail, I can
fight for it whether it triumphs in iny day or
not. I am glad if I can help tho least littlo bit
lo hasten this victory even if it does not como
until after I am dead.
And now I want to say just one thing In
conclusion. I havo boon interested In politics
for a good many years; I havo boon making
political speeches for twenty-seven years; I havo
boon acquainted with national politics for seven
teen years, and I have never seen so much to
encourage a man who believes In a government
of tho people, for tho people and by the peoplo,
. as I havo seen within tho last few years. Until
recently I saw great campaign funds collected
from corporations that contributed tho money
in order to purchase immunity or legislation, and
the public conscioncd seemed dead.
It Is more than ten years ago that Mr.
Havemeyer, tho president of tho sugar trust,
testified to campaign contributions before a com
mittee of the United States Senate.
- You remember that Mr. Havemeyer said,
when they asked him if ho or the sugar trust
had contributed to the campaign funds, yes; and
they asked, "To which party?" and ho said,
"That -depends on circumstances." Ho was
asked, "To whidi party did you contribute In
New York?" and. he replied, "The democratic
party." "To which party did you contribute
in Massachusetts?" ho was asked, and he replied
"''The republican party." . "To which party in
Now Jersey," ho was askpd, and ho said, "Well,
Now Jersey. is a doubtful state; 1 will havo to
look at the books."
Now that was tho testimony of the head of
the sugar trust, testimony givon before a senate
committee, and yet I will venture tho asser
tion that not one person in a hundred in tho
state of New Jersey ever read It, or, If ho read
it, that it did not make an impression on his
mind so that ho would remember it. And so
for years we saw elections bought and sold; for
years wo saw these great corporations control
ling executives and legislatures for their own
benefit and use that's what wo saw and it
seemed as if tho people" were indifferent.
But within tho last three years what a
change has taken place! Investigation has
shown how tho great insurance companies con
tributed, to campaign funds, money belonging
to their policyholders, and we havo been allow
ing men for years to make an Improper use of
funds in their hands, and at last the president
of the United States has recommended the pas
sage of a law that will prevent such contfibu
tldns. I thank the president for what he has
done in this respect. But I do not think he goes
far enough. I am glad to have him go as far as
ho will, and then, standing on the vantage
ground that he gives us, we will fight for bet
ter things until we drive tho corporations out
of politics.
It is a good thing for corporations to bo
prevented from contributing campaign funds.
No one can defend corporation contributions to
campaigns. Ihe money belongs to the stock
holders, not to the officers, and the officers havo
no right, moral or legal, to contrluute political
views. But that is not enough. Wo must go
farther than that. If wo stop there we will find
these officers will get around it by using tho
money and covering it up so as not to violate tho
letter of the law. I believe the time has como
when men who contribute any considerable sum
should give their names and lot the public know
where the money comes from to carry on cam
paigns, for we have certain Individuals with
such large interests that even if they contribute
out of their own pockets they could finance a
campaign committee and give ten times as much
as all the rest ht the peoplo. If they succeed in
electing those they want, they can get ten times
as much out of the pedple's pockets as they
contribute.
So I say that it is necessary that we shall
have the names of contributors of campaign
funds. Nor is that enough. Wemust nave pub
lication, publication before the election so that
the. peoplo may know what is going on. And,
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