The Commoner.
'AUGUST 18, 191J
9
THE NATIONAL PROGRESSIVE
PARTY AT CHICAGO
(Continued from Pago 7.)
tually incompatible promisee which
there is not the slightest intention
of redeeming, and which, if re
deemed, would result in sheer ruin.
Far-seeing patriots should turn
scornfully from men who seek power
on a platform which with exquisite
nicety combines silly inability to
understand the national needs and
dishonest insincerity in promising
conflicting and impossible remedies.
"It seems to me, therefore, that
the time is ripe, and overripe, for
a genuine progressive movement, nation-wide
and justice-loving, sprung
from and responsible to the people
themselves, and sundered by a, great
gulf from both of the old party
organizations, while representing all
that is best in the hopes, beliefs and
aspirations of the plain people who
make up the immense majority of
the rank and file of both the old
parties.
"The first essential in the pro
gressive program is the right of the
people to rule. But a few months
ago our opponents were assuring us
with insincere clamor that it was ab
surd for us to ialk about desiring
that the people should rule, because
as a matter of fact, the people
actually do rule. Since that time the
actions of the Chicago convention,
and to an only less degree of the
Baltimore convention, have shown in
striking fashion how little the people
do rule under o(ur present conditions.
"We shpuld, ' provide by national
law for presideptial primaries. We
should provide , 'for the election of
United States ' senators by popular
vote. Wo should provide for a short
'fi'aliipt; nothing'-makes it harder for
the people to control their public
"servants than itf forCo them to vote
for so many officials' that- thoy can
not really keep track of any ono of
HOW MANY OP US
Fail to Select Food Nnturo Demands
to Ward Off Ailments?
A Kentucky lady, speaking about,
food, irays: "I was accustomed to
eating all kinds of ordinary food(
until, for some reason, indigestion
and nervous prostration set in. :
"After I had4 run down seriously
imy attention was called to the neces
sity of some change in my diet, and
rI discontinued my ordinary break
last and began using Grape-Nuts with
ka good quantity of. rich cream.
"In a few days my condition
'changed in a remarkable way, and
VI began to have a strength that I
had never been possessed of before, a
vigor of body and a poise of mind
that amazed me. It was entirely new
In my experience.
"My former attacks of indigestion
had been accompanied byj heat
flasheB, and many times my condition
was distressing with blind spells of
dizziness, rush of blood to tho head
and neuralgic pains in the chest. '
"Since using Grape-Nuts alone for
breakfast I have been free from
these troubles, except at times when
I have indulged in rich, greasy foods
In quantity, then I would be warned
by a pain under tho left shoulder
blade, and unless I heeded the warn
ing the old trouble would come back,
but when I finally got to know where
these troubles originated I returned
to my Grape-Nuts and cream and the
pain and disturbance left very
quickly.
"I am now in prime health as a re
mit of my use of Grape-Nuts."
Name given by Postum Co., Battle
Creek Mich.
"There's a reason," and it is ex
plained in the little book, "The Road
to Wellville," in pkgs.
Ever read the above letter? A new
tone appears from time to time. They
are genuine, true, and fall of human
interest.
them, so that each becomos indis
tinguishable in tho crowd around
around him. Thoro must bo strin
gent and efficient corrupt practices
acts, applying to tho primaries as
well as tho elections; and there
should be publicity of campaign con
tributions during the campaign.
"We should provide throughout
this union for giving the people in
every state tho real right to rulo
themselves, and really and not nomi
nally to control their public sorvants
and their agencies for doing tho pub
lic business; an incident of this be
ing giving tho people tho right them
selves to do this public business if
they find it impossible to get what
they desire through tho oxisting
agencies. I do not attempt to dog
matize as to the machinery by which
this end should be achieved. In each
community it must bo shaped so as
to correspond not merely with tho
needs but with the customs and ways
of thought of that community, and
no community has a right to dictate
to any other in this matter. But
wherever representative- govern
ment has in actual fact become non
representativo there tho people
should secure to themselves tho
initiative, tho referendum, and tho
recall, doing it in such fashion as
to make it evident that they do not
intend to use these instrumentali
ties wantonly or frequently, but to
hold them ready for use in order to
correct the misdeeds or failuro of
the public servants when it has be
come evident that these misdeeds
and failures can not be corrected in
ordinary and normal fashion. The
administrative officer should be given
full power, for otherwise he can
not do well tho people's work; and
the people should be given full power
over him.
"I do not mean that wo shall aban
don representative government; on
the contrary, I mean that we shall
devise methods by which our govern
ment shall become really representa
tive. To use such measures as the
initiative, referendum and recall in
discriminately and promiscuously on
all kinds of occasions would un
doubtedly cause disaster; but events
have shown that at present our in
stitutions aro not representative at
any rate in many states, and some
times in the nation and that wo can
not wisely afford to let this condition
of things reiriain longer uncorrected.
We have permitted tho growing up
of a breed of politicians who some
times for improper political pur
poses, sometimes as a means of
serving tho great special interests of
privilege which stand behind them,
twist so-called representative institu
tions into a means of thwarting in
stead of expressing tho deliberate
and well-thought-out judgment of
tho people as a whole. This can not
be permitted. We chooso our rep
resentatives for two purposes. In
the first place, we choose them with
the desire that, as experts, they shall
study certain matters with which we
the people as a whole can not be in
timately acquainted, and that as re
gards these matters they shall for
mulate a policy for our betterment.
"Even as regards such a policy,
and the actions taken thereunder,
we ourselves should have the right
ultimately to vote our disapproval of
it, if wo feel such disapproval. But,
in the next place, our representa
tives aro chosen to carry out cer
tain policies as to which we have
definitely made up our minds, and
here we expect them to represent
us by doing what we have decided
ought to be done. All I desire to
do by securing more direct control
of the governmental agents and
agencies of the people is to give the
people the chance to make their rep
resentatives really represent them
whenever the government becomes
misrepresentative instead of repre
sentative. "I have not come to this way of
thinking from closet study, or ns a
mero mattor of theory: I have been
forced to it by a long oxporlenco with
tho actual conditions of our political
life. A few years ago, for Instance,
thoro was very little domand in this
country for presidential primaries.
There would havo boon no demand
now if the politicians had really en
deavored to carry out tho will of the
people as regards nominations for
president. But, largely under tho In
fluence of special privllego In tho
business world, there have arisen
castes of politicians who not only do
not represent tho people, but who
mako their bread and butter by
thwarting tho wishes of tho people.
This is true of tho bosses of both
political parties in my own state of
Now York, and It Is just ns true of
the bosses of ono or tho other politi
cal party in a great many states of
tho union. The power of the people
must bo made supremo within tho
several party organizations.
In tho contest which culminated
six weeks ago in this city I speedily
found that my chance was at a mini
mum in any state where I could not
got an expression of tho people them
selves in tho primaries. I found that
if I could appeal to the rank and file
of tho republican voters, I could
generally win, whereas, if I had to
appeal to tho political caste which
includes tho most noisy defenders
of tho old system I generally lost.
Moreover, I found, as a matter of
fact, not as a mattor of theory, that
these politicians habitually and un
hesitatingly resort to every species
of mean swindling and cheating In
order to carry their point. It Is be
cause of the general rocognitlo.i of
this fact that the words politics and
politicians have grown to have a
sinister meaning throughout this
country.
"The bosses and their agents in
the national republican convention
at Chicago treated political theft as
a legitimate political weapon. It is
instructive to compare tho votes of
states where there wore open pri
maries and the votes of states whore
thoro were not. In Illinois, Pennsyl
vania, and Ohio, wo had direct pri
maries, and the Taft machine was
beaten two to one. Between and
bordering on these states were Michi
gan, Indiana, and Kentucky. In
these states we could not get direct
primaries, and tho politicians elected
two delegates to our one. In the
first three states tho contests were
absolutely open, absolutely honest.
Tho rank and file expressed their
wishes, and there was no taint of
fraud about what they did. In the
other three states the contest was
marked by every Bpecles of fraud
and violence on tho part of ur op
ponents, and half the Taft delegates
in tho Chicago convention from these
states had tainted titles.
"The entire Wall street press at
this moment is vigorously engaged In
denouncing tho direct primary sys
tem and upholding the old conven
tion system, or, as they call it, the
"old representative system." They
aro so doing because thoy know that
the bosses and the powers of special
privilege havo tenfold tho chance
under the convention system that
they havo when the rank and file of
tho people can express themselves
at tho primaries.
"Tho nomination of Mr. Taft at
Chicago was a fraud upon the rank
and file of the republican party: it
was obtained only by defrauding the
rank and file of the party of thoir
right to express their choice; and
such fraudulent action does not bind
a single honest member of the party.
Well, what the national committee
and the fraudulent majority of the
national convention did at Chicago
In misrepresenting tho people has
been done again and again in con
gress, perhaps especially in the
senate and in the state legislatures.
Again and again laws demanded by
the peoplo havo been rofuscd to tho
people hocauao tho representatives of
tho pooplo misrepresented them. Now
my proposal Is merely that wo shall
glvo to tho pooplo tho powor, to bo
used not wantonly but only In ex
ceptional cases, themselves to sco to
It that the governmental action taken
In thoir nnmo Is really tho action
that thoy desire.
"The American people, and not tho
courts, aro to determine thoir own
fundamental policies. The pcoplo
should havo powor to deal with tho
effect of tho acts of all their gov
ernmental agencies. This must bo
extended to Include tho effects of
judicial acts as well as tho acts ot
tho executivo and legislative repre
sentatives of the pcoplo. Whore tho
Judge merely docs justice as botween
man and man, not dealing with con
stitutional questions, then the In
terest of tho public Is only to seo
that ho Is a wise and upright judge.
Mcann should be devised for making
It easier than at present to get rid
of an incompetent judge; means
should bo devised by the bar and tho
bench acting In conjunction with tho
various legislative bodies to mako
justico far moro expeditious and
moro certain than at present. Tho
stlck-In-tho-bark legalism, tho legal
Ism that subordinates equity to tech
nicalities, should ho recognized as a
potent enemy of Justice. But this
is not the matter of most concern
at the moment. Our prime concern
is that in dealing with the funda
mental law of tho land, in assuming
finally to interpret it, and thereforo
finally to mako it, tho acts of tho
courts should ho subject to and not
abovo tho final control of tho people
as a wholo. I deny that tho Ameri
can people havo surrendered to any
set of men, no matter what their po
sition or their character, the final
right to determine thoso fundamen- '
tal questions, upon which free self
government ultimately depends. Tho
peoplo themselves must bo tho ulti
mate makers of thoir own constltu-f
tlon, and whoro their agents differ'
in thoir interpretations of tho con
stitution, tho pooplo themselves
should bo given tho chance, after
full and deliberate judgment,
authoritatively to settle what Inter
pretation It is that their represen
tatives shall thereafter adopt as
binding.
"Whenever in our constitutional
system of government there exists
general prohibitions that, an inter
preted by the courts, nullify, or" may
bo used to nullify, specific laws
passed, and admittedly passed, In
tho interest of social Justico, wo aro
for such immediate law, or amend
ment to the constitution, if that bo
necessary, as will thereafter permit
a reference to tho people of the pub
lic effect of such decision, under
forms securing full deliberation, to
tho end that the specific act of the
legislative branch of the government
thus judicially nullified, and such
amendments thereof as come within
its scope and purpose, may constitu
tionally be excepted by vote of tho
peoplo from the general prohibitions,
tho same as if that particular act had
been expressly expected when the
prohibition was adopted. This will
necessitate tho establishment of ma
chinery for making much easier of
amendment both the national and the
several state constitutions, especially
with tho view of prompt action on
certain Judicial decisions action as
specific and limited as that taken by
the passage of the eleventh amend
ment to the national constitution.
Wo are not in this decrying the
courts. That was reserved for the
Chicago convention In its plank re
specting impeachment. Impeach
ment implies the proof of dishones
ty. We do not question the general
honesty of the courts. But in applying
to present-day social conditions tho
general prohibitions that were In
tended originally as safeguards- to
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