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raro to p'rotect ub from tho outsldo world, but they
uso thorn to enslave people who have as much
right to bo free as wo have. (Applause)
I don't believe when In tho quiet of a room In
Washington, somowhord In tho capitol, or In a
hotel, a numbor of men who control tho destinies
'of this country by representing not the republi
can masses, but tho republican machinery when
thoy concoct bills to subsidize great ship lines now
owned by wealthy people who are enjoying other
great privileges, I don't bollovo when they pro
pose thus to take your money to subsidize ship
Hues,' that they lntond to secure to ' us rights.
Such laws are inte'ndod to rob us of rights,
I do not believe that state legislatures, when
thoy make tax laws under which farmers and
homo owners and mechanics and men owning
small shops pay live times as heavy taxes as are
paid by tho groat steam railroad corporations of
tho state I cannot beliovo that that is in tho
Interest of securing rights. In the stato of Ohio
wo havo a groat railroad interest which is in
partnership with certain leaders In the republi
can party, certain men who use tho republican
party and its machinery to protect tho railroads
from paying their fair share of taxes. My friends,
tho greatest privilege that tho steam railroads,
and tho street railroads, and other monopoly In
terests in tho stato of Ohio the greatest privilege
they own, is tho privilege of making other peoplo
who live iri Ohio pay their taxes.
Similar evils are perpetrated by our city leg
islative bodies. You will find that tho time of all
thes'o bodies Is taken up largely in serving tho
Interests of privileged people. They are espe
cially guarded and protected,' and not always I
am sorry to say by republican legislative bodies.
Somo of our so-callod democratic bodies have been
guilty.
Don't imagine that I accuse republicans alone.
I am not hero to plead In the interest of corrupt
domocrats and against corrupt republicans. In
Ohio wo condemn them both alike. We havo a
plan there of fighting dishonest democrats harder
oven than wo fight republicans. Not long ago, a
yoar ago last March, a certain bill came before tho
Ohio legislature. Tho democratic party in con
vention assembled had declared against the re
newal of street railway franchises without first
submitting tho ordinance to a vote of Iho people.
The matter camo beforo tho --publican legislature
in tho form of a bill to grant the streets of Cin
cinnati by a forty-four-year street car franchise to
Senator Forakor and his friends. That bill was
pushed through as a party measure, thougn there
wore nine republican members of that legislature
who bolted. The party whip was held over them,
but they had tho honesty and courage to vote
against thoir party on this monopoly proposition.
We honored those nine republicans by mention
ing them In our meetings and telling our people
they could trust men of that kind no matter what
party thoy belonged to. Ori tho other hand, there
were eight so-called democrats who voted with
Senator Foraker and. his party machine for tho
enactment of that grant of forty-four years They
did this though their own party had declared
against it. We domocrats wont out on the stump
against those recreant democrats; and t am glad
to be able to say, both as a warning to other re
creant democrats, and as a word of cheer, that
thoy have all been buried in their political graves
never to rise again. (Applause.) There Is more
glory to us in the defeat of one traitor in our
own midst than there is in the defeat of anv num-.
ber of. republicans. We are not responsible for
the fidelity of republicans; we are responsible for
the fidelity of democrats. Qc motto is: "Clear
our own skirts.' Ohio people know now that
s when wo make a declaration in our party plat
form, we intend to live up to it. By following
this policy we may lose an election now and
t again; but when we win an election the peoplo
will havo a guarantee that wo will practice what
we preach. And that, my friends, is everything.
(Applause.)
I believe the great problem in this country
you may not be quite so much interested ih it
you who are farmers may not yet think that it
interests you but the great problem in this coun
try is how to govern cities. When you have equal
rights in cities you will soon havo equal Tights
everywhere. Cities are growing larger. They
are constantly including a greater proportion of
our population. And in these growing cities wo
find that wo aro today breeding tho Huns and
Vandals who rary destroy our civilization. How
to conquer tho Huns and Vandals, that is tho
great problem.
But this problem is not to be solved by re
striction. It Is not to bq solved by mere laws to
prevent men who livo In nitfon fmm ,irti J..t..i
things. You can by restrictive! statute so hamper
The Commoner.
a city as to destroy its liberties; but you cannot
by restrictive statutes make it pure and clean.1
Tho only way to solve tho municipal problem,'
which is tho great problem of modern civiliza
tion, is to give to cities full liberty to govern
themselves, liberty to make their own local jrules
and regulations. Give them a system of home rule
that will allow them to do wrong, and then by
thoir blunders they may learn how to do right.
(Applause.)
The principles of tho Declaration of Indepen
dence, local self-government and equal rights for
all with special privileges for none, apply to city
government. For the true unit of all government
in modern times is tho municipality. In my own
city of Cleveland we aro trying to apply those
principles of tho Declaration of Independence.
Supported by a majority of tho people, we aro
striving to secure for all tho people of our mu
nicipality equal rights. This is the kind of prac
tical work which needs most to be done at the
present time. If our municipalities our villages,
towns and cities are governed in accordance with
the principles of tho Declaration of Independence,
all our governments will be beneficially affected,
oven up to the highest. The whole problem of
democratic government in general is to be solved
through local self-government.
This fact is coming into recognition. The
true unit of government is the municipality, Let
there be no special privileges there, and there
will soon be no special privileges at all. This
was tho feeling which led me into Cleveland poli
tics something more than two years ago. It has
been an uphill fight from the beginning. It is an
uphill fight still. It will be an uphill fight in the
future. Whoever supposes that the plutocrats will '
yield without a fight, and a succession of fights,
is mistaken. But we have made gains in Cleve
land. The enemy has been beaten at some points
and is on the defensive at all points.
The mission of the democratic party is to
solve the municipal problem. This is because.
the party of Lincoln has degenerated. It no longer
serves the masses. It is guided and controlled by
leaders who are under the influence of classes'
that own all the great privileges and monopolies
of the country. It has come to be like a magnet to
those classes. They are attracted to it, not be
cause they believe in republican doctrine, for they
don't; but because they believe that the republi
can leaders can be trusted to protect their mo
nopoly interests. Now, the democratic mission is
to arouse the ;ilain people of tho land of all
parties against this combination of republican -leadership
and monopoly greed.
Let the democratic party be true and fair
with tho present questions that interest the com
mon peoplo, and, step by step and point by point
raise new questions in tho interest of all the
people let it rise to the occasion, and though its
speakers may not be able to make their speeches '
from the end of rorgeous palace cars, though they
may have to depend upon the shade of trees and
the shelter of tents, they will win. Convince the
plain people that their destiny can be trusted in
the hands of the democratic party, and I think we
shall be able sometime to celebrate Independence
Day, not by pointing-out the mistakes of the op
posing party, but by showing that this is in fact
a government Instituted among men for the pur
pose of securing to each equal rights. You can
not bring on that time by mere declarations. You
cannot do it by constitutions. You have got to
do it by fostering the love of liberty in the
liearts of all the people. After you have done
that,-liberty is secure. (Applause.)
In Cleveland wo have tried to bring on the
day of equal rights and no privileges by securing
control of our public service accommodations and
by equalizing taxation. Our water service was
already within tno city's management, but it was
pestered with the spoils system. We have suc
cessfully established the merit system there, and
business principles now govern tho Cleveland wa
ter supply. The street car service cannot yet be
treated like the water service, but we are far on
the way toward 3-cent faros, which will give the
people their car rides cheaper and let water out
of corporation s'ock. We should havo had a 3
cent fare system in operation before now if re
publican leaders had not obstructed this good
, work even to the extent of demoralizing thr- mu
nicipal system of tho whole state of Ohio. By that
revolutionary means, also, they prevented our at
tempts to adjust taxation on a fair basis. At
present tho monopolists pay taxes on low valua
tions as low as 10 per cent of trup value while
unprivileged people like mechanics, merchants and
farmers, pay on GO per cent of true value, or more
But tho obstructions thrown in the way have
not defeated us. The people were behind us if
j f ,. .
..VOLUME 3, NUMBER 26,
tho republican leaders were not An
going on in our work of gotting a mm,E?,e arJ
ing system along with our -water b?R lighu
lishing a 3-cent fare street car svsten, 0r es,tab"
establishing equality of taxation. ' and
The monopolists havo resisted Uq n
by means of republican legislatures, wo havP ifS
to carry our local fight into the atatn n f ? haa
We have learned that cities cannofbe goveX
by the principles of the Declaration of ?
dence so long as beneficiaries of local 8npPM
privileges can frustrate local movement tff? ?
legislatures and political bossed wTt
secure the right of ideal self-government
I have no unkind feelings toward republicans.
I could not have. Without the votes of 2
cans in .Cleveland and in Ohio we could win Jo
elections. They say that in Cleveland some re
publicans have Lot the, bad habit of voting our
way.- It is not because we call them hard name"
I have every feeling qf affection for men of all
parties who love liberty and fair play. But I say
this to you, that tho republican managers todw
have allied themselves with privileged monopolies
in return for campaign funds. From the partv
of Lincoln down to the party of Mark Hanna has
been an awful descent JApplause.)
I have no 111 will -for Senator Hanna. Person
ally he is a nice man. In business he lives up to
his agreements. But his public record must bo
condemned. In our campaign last fall Senator
Hanna put it ,out as his key-note that republicans
should "stand pat." Kow, think of that! Think
of that as the political key-note for an intelligent
community; "Stand pat!" Do. you know what
that means? Why, to "stand pat" is the highest
and biggest play of the professional gambler in
our great American game of draw poker. Ho
holds five cards. They may make the best or
they, may make the poorest hand in the deck.
Holding them up close to him ho says: "I stand
pat," which means he doesn't need any better
cards, or wants you to think he doesn't Let tho
other players guess what he has. It is a gamo
of bluff. That was Senator Hanna's game in Ohio
politics. That was his key-note in a great cam
paign where men and women were interested in
vital questions "stand pat!" Think of the fall
from the days of Abraham Lincoln, When he
played the game of life they call politics, he did
not "stand pat." He didn't hold five cards and
bluff you to guess. He played hh hand open on
the table before him where everybody could see
it Lincoln, probably, never knew .what a pat
hand was. Oh, my republican friends of Nebras
ka, isn't it a fall from the republicanism of Lin
coln to the republicanism of Hanna? Think of
Abraham Lincoln, humanity-loving Lincoln, with,
his open hands, rnd then of Mark Hanna with his
"pat hands;" (Laughter and applause.)
One word in closing. This is my first visit
to your beautiful country. This is the first
time I have stopped in your state, though I have
passed through it before. I hope t will not be
my last visit And I hope above all that our
friend, Mr. Bryan, who has traveled and spoken
so much all over the United States, will long be
spared to continue his good work. I hope that
the people of this country will contlnuo to love
and honor him as I love and honor him and you
hero this afternoon. My friends, I thank you for
your attention. Good-bye.
JJJ
An Open Letter,
Postmaster Cenei;al Payne, Washington, D.
C Dear Sir: I enclose a circular sent out by a
St Louis company which is conducting a guess
ing contest based upon the number of admittances
to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. You will
see that the sum of $75,000 is offered in prizes,
tho estimates being sold for 25 cents each, or five
for a dollar. The company is soliciting the aid
of newspapers throughout the country to adver
tise the contest. It is apparent from the adver
tisement that this is even more demoralizing than
the ordinary lottery, because the low price of tho
ticket and tho large capital prizes promised are
more alluring to those who are susceptible to the
temptations offered by a lottery, It is also less
fair than tho ordinary- lottery, because the con
testant has no way of knowing how many com
petitors ho has. In the public lottery the prizes
usually bear a fixed and teown proportion to the
amount received for tickets, but in this case the
company may take in ten or a hundred times the
amount paid out in prizes. The concluding para
graph of the advertisement discloses the gam
bling character of the institution. It reads as
follows:
"A good investment Better than stocks and
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