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The Commoner.
ORGANIZATION
ICH 24; 1905
OR K O-P
BEGINS
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The "democrats of Kansas, on February 22,
it . it i . ....
aarganizeu wnat is to do Known as rne Jtvansas
tmocratic Club." A constitution and laws were
opted as follows:
The name of this organization shall be tho
ansas Democratic Club, and its object' is to
omote the principles of the democratic party
d to give a banquet in the city of Topeka on
e 22d day of February in each year or on the
llowing day when that day falls on Sunday.
The officers shall consislof a president, eight
ice presidents, a secretary, a treasurer and an
ixecutive committee' of seven. The secretary,
easurer and executive committee shall be resi-
ents of the city of Topeka.
A vice president shall be elected from each
ngresslonal district.
Following are the officers for the first year:
W. P. Dillard President.
W. W. Hooper Vice President First Congres
ional District.
Thomas W. Morgan Vice President Second
, Congressional District.
J. R. Charlton, Caney, Kan. Vice President
Third Congressional District.
"W. H. Carpenter-1-Vice President Fourth Con
cessional District.
Thomas L. Bond Vice President Fifth Con
gressional District.
unanes' m. aawyer vice fresment ttixtn
Congressional District.
Riley Lake Vice President Seventh Congres
sional District.
F. P. Hettinger Vice President Eighth Con
cessional District.
f -H.. iVi. XlcUVtJy OCWBLillJf,
A. '. norner Treasurer.
George P. Ashton, A. L. Green, W. H. Kemper,
J. Black, L. M. Penwell, R. W. Blair, W. T.
aylor Executive Committee.
The president, and in his absence the vice
resident from the district in which Topeka is
located, shall preside at the banquets.
Each Vc0 president shall suggest to the presl-
ont1, aiilfnKioTnin 1n fain rUHt.rlp.f. to nfirvfi nn nnpnlr-
s.rei n-nA r.Vo1l rtlort "Ti'iti 4oV fno oonroforv iirHli'fViA
CIS UUU OUfXZX cwowr tuiumu K"u oywv-iui; uxbu but
tjnames of democrats in each county In his district
tn TPhnTri invirnrinrm mn.v hn Hfinr.
ju The executive committee shall elect one of
L
their members chairman and shall meet at his
call. Tho committee shall select a place to hold
tho banquets, make all arrangements therefor, ap
point necessary committees and have charge of
all the affairs of tho organization except as other
wise provided herein. '
One speaker of renown shall be selected from
abroad and tho others from tho different parts
of the state.
1 No resident of the state shall bo twice se
lected as a speaker.
The president shall select the speakers and
shall furnish the secretary with their names at
least thirty days before the banquet.
At least thirty days before tho banquet tho
secretary shall send invitations to at least ten
resident democrats in each county of tho state,
and persons desiring tickets shall notify the sec
retary and remit the price fixed, at least seven
days before the banquet. The treasurer shall have
custody of all the funds and -shall pay all bills on
the order of the secretary, approved by tho chair
man of the executive committee.
The secretary shall provide a book in, which
each person attending the banquet shall register
and they shall then have a vote for officers, ex
cept members of the executive committee, for
the following year.
The election of officers shall bo held on. the
day of the banquet at such place and in such
manner as shall be determined by the executive
committee.
The executive committee shall on tho day
of the banquet elect a new committee, to serve for
the following year.
No officer except tho secretary and the mem
bers of the executive committee shall be 'eligible
for re-election for the following year.
Any of thd foregoing provisions may be
changed by a majority vote at any annual meet
ing of the club.
In Maine
.
The democratic club of Auburn, Me., adopted
the following resolutions: .
P c , "We,, the Auburn Dempcratlc club, do -.hereby
'.affirm' our belief in the following creed: ..',',
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that
all men are created with equal and inalienable
rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,
and that all men may be secured in these rights,
wo declare ourselves opposed to anything that
tends toward clas3 legislation, imperialism, special
privilege, prlyato monopoly, protoctlvo tariffs, gov
ernment partnership with national banks and
railroad corporations, and a largo standing army
and navy in tlmo of peaco.
"We declaro for municipal ownorship of mu
nicipal franchises, for government ownorship and
control of all natural monopolies, for local option
in taxation, for local option in tho prohibition of
the liquor traffic, for tho Initlatlvo and referendum,
and for the election of United States senators,
postmasters, Unitod States judges and tho presi
dent by direct voLo of the people.
"W. K. DRAKE, Secretary."
In Kentucky
The people of Crittenden, Ky., mot recently In
a town meeting and adopted resolutions as fol
lows :
"At a called meeting of tho citizens of tho
town of Crittenden and vicinity, there being qulto
a number In attendance, tho following officers woro
duly elected: Chairman, G. F. Byland; secretary,
O. Vallandlgham. Tho following resolutions wero
unanimously adopted:
"Whereas, It is the sense of this meeting that
the written exposure of tho Iniquities of tho 'sys
tem of tho Standard Oil company, contributed to
tho public press of this nation by Mr. Thomas W.
Lawson of Boston, Is a public service of unpar
alelled value to our people. Theroforo, bo It
"Resolved, That we tender our grateful thanks
to Mr. Lawson for his timely and matchlesa serv
ice to the people of these United States.
"Resolved, That wo heroby urge all good
citizens, everywhere, to follow our example to bo
up and doing to tho end that oppression may bo
annihilated, and that truth, equity and justice
may prevail in our great republic. And ho it
further
"Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions
be forwarded to Mr. Lawson ; and other copies
furnished the press, hoping In this way to show
Mr. Lawson that our, sentiments are in accord, with
his; arid that our sympathies are with him in
this great fight against the so-called 'system.'
"Done at Crittenden, Ky., February 28, 1905.
"GEO. T. BYLAND, Chairman.
"O. VALLANDIGHAM, Secretary."
,i-lA'MW '
P
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J U-SB-T L IK E-TH-E LITTLEFIELD BILL
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A Mcmtj.mery, Ala., reader "writes: "Do you
consider ie(yEsch-Townsend bill, as a 'record
maker' for those who voted for the measure? If
the vote in the lower house was sincere, then we
may reasonably expect Mr. Depew to support it
in the seriate. I would be glad if you-would ex
pose some'Mof the inconsistency of the vote, in the
lower house'
While1 the Es'ch-Townsend bill was not ex
actly what the friends of reform preferred, it was
a move in' 't right direction and so far as indi
vidual members were concerned, it was a "record
maker." Biit the failure of the republican senate
LU JJUOO LUG un-uo u.1. - ii,wu wM1-- --
the republican party. It has been claimed by
many Washington correspondents and by many
men in public life that had there been any prob
ability that ,the senate would pass the Esch-Town-cend
bill, many of .the., republican members of the
lower house, whose votes were recordedjn favor
of that measure, would have found some excuse
for defeating it.
President Roosevelt may recommend meas
ures designed for the public Interests and one
branch of cbrigress may adopt those recommenda
tions. But the people, being interested in results,
will judge the party by tho legislation actually ac
complished and the reforms actually established.
The failure f6f the senate to give the people relief
from railroad Imposition places the 'responsibility
upon the republican party and thai! party will not
be relieved of accountability before the people on
the plea that some of the reforms desired by the
people wetfe recommended by the president and
concurred1 inTJy- one branch of' the congress.
This is not the first time the republican party
has sought to make a record through tho action
of one branch of congress under the pretense of
responding to public sentiment. At the beginning
of the Fifty-seventh congress, which met in De
cember, 1903, it was said that the administration
had determined upon an anti-trust campaign and
thatvMr. Littlefield of Maine had been selected to
lead the fight against monopoly. Mr. Littlefield
seems to have been in earnest for he prepared a
bill which Attorney General Knox and other re
publican leaders concluded was "entirely too dras
tic." The bill was amended and among1 the amend
ments was the provision that it should affect only
corporations hereafter organized, leaving the exist
ing trusts to continue their depredations. The
Littlefield bill passed the house by unanimous vote
February 6. The democrats were not nermitted
to amend the measure. They voted for it, not
becauseit exactly suited them, but because It was
a step in the right direction.
When the bill went to the senate, it was re
ferred to a committee which held, it until the
democratic members of the committee, together
with a minority of tho republican members, re
ported the bill over a protest of the majority of
the republican members of the committee. By
the same vote the committee added an amend
ment making the bill to apply to existing corpo
rations as well as to future ones.
But when Senator Blackburn, acting under
instructions from the democratic caucus, moved
to take the bill up for consideration in the senate,
only two republicans voted with the democrats
to consider the measure.
In a dispatch to the Chicago Record-Herald,
under date of Washington, February 11, William
E. Curtis said that Mr. Littlefield was surprised
' to learn that he could not expect any encourage
ment from Mr. Roosevelt in the effort to push thev
Littlefield anti-trust bill through the seriate.
The Littlefield measure failed of passage in
the senate, just as the Esch-Townsend bill failed.
, In the latter case history repeated itself.
It remains to bo seen, however, whether Mr.
Roosevelt in the presence of the strong public
sentiment favorable to reforms oh the railroad
question, will relax his efforts in that direction
now that republican senators have shown a de
termination to refuse relief to tho people on that
line.
In an address delivered before the graduating
'class of the Albany Law School, June 1, David J.
Brewer, associate justice of the United States
supreme court, "said: "Senators and representa
tives have owed their places to corporate influ
ence and that influence has been erterted under
an expectation, if not an understanding, that as
lawmakers the corporate interests shall be sub
served." It is not likely that senators who owe their
official places to corporations will do anything to
protect tho people from corporation imposition.
But It Is the duty of men who profess to serve
tho people and who publicly champion measures
designed for the people's relief to exert every,
possible effort for the accomplishment of practical
results.
The defeat of tho Littlefield anti-trust measure
was readily forgotten, but public attention is now
so thoroughly aroused that it will be much more
difficult to persuade the people to close their eyes
to the failure of the republican party to do some
thing not by the recommendations of the presi
dent or the .action of a single house but by legis
lation that will, he effective and that will require
justice to the .people at the hands of influential
' Jmen who have not only defied law with impunity,
but have actually obtained control of the law
making power. ,
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