a rnrtvf
14
The Commoner.
VOLUME 10, NUMBER 38
.UmMtr.
thinking; so many peoplo let other
people think for them Instead of
reaching. and being Informed enough
to do their own thinking. Fourth,
and last (but not least), they vote
for party and not principle. We seo
thio at every election and we know
It Is true or elso the democratic party
would have been In power, A vast
portion are ignorant and careless,
and those who are Intelligent and
do know have not the honor to put
principle above party and vote for
what they know Is best, or elso W.
J, Bryan would have been In the
White House today; hence the people
do rule, and get exactly what they
'vote for, but not what they want, and
'certainly not what they need. I am
a subscriber and lover of W. J.
'BfYan.
James Nutter, Plttsfleld, N. H.
The trouble Is the people don't rule;
It Is the money power that rules
the Rockefellers, the Morgans, the
Aldrlches and Cannons. Jf the people
rule would they tolerate the Payne
Aldrlclaw that Taft calls the best
over? If the people ruled would they
- tax themselves a billion dollars a year
. to support a government that ought
,.to be run In good shape for one quar
ter that amount? The tariff comes
out of the consumer the poor most
ly; 'why not tax tho millionaires a
little? Tho fact Is these millionaires
do too 'much buying of laws and the
voters. I was offered $65 for my vote
at ono time. Whether that was the
regular price or whether they want
ed me I don't know, but I let them
.know ,1 was not for sale. The-fact is
that all the money the republican
party over had or over will have
Rockefeller's, Morgan's and all
could not buy me nor tempt me. The
money power is getting, what they
want, not the people. Now I am go
ring to tell what is In my heart. I be
lieve Mr. Bryan la. a man of the peb
, pie arid a very able man.
ers of small plants, factories and light vote, and other floaters. They
To tho Editor of Tho Commoner:
'Senator Owen has asked tho question
"If tlio people rule, why don't they
;got what they want?" To compile
'spociflc ovldonce in answering ouch
;a question would bo dlfllcult; In a
'brief article, Impossible, But here
'aro somo general statements with a
,i'ow facts and reasons as evidence:
: Tho peoplo do not rule (with apol
oglos to Mr. Sherman, ot al). In
speaking of tho word rulo wo shall
.consider national and stato govern
mental action (I omit municipal and
other local government bocatiso hero,
'with tho exception of tho larger and
'tho middle alzo cltlos that aro in
fluenced by tho public utility syndi
cate, a different sot of special intor
oots dominate public action). Walv
'ing tho fact that women, children,
and dlsonfranchlsod mori havo lndl
'roct lnfluenco In dotormlnlng the ac
tion of tho votora, lot us call tho
peoplo that twonty million mon and
women of tho United States who aro
logally qualified, to vote. Tho peoplo
,thUB. restricted aro composed of cap
italists, odltors, farmers, day labor
ers, clerks, salosraon, doctors, la"w-
yers, merchants, public officials, and
many othor groups, all of various
grades of education, various activi
ties and various stations in life.
Anothor vlow: Tho twenty mil
lion votora may bo dlvldod into
classes. Ono wo shall call wago
oarnors factory and mill employes,
farm hands, track mon, streot labor
ers, clorks, salesmen, janitors, teams
tors, otc. Anothor class, tho flvo
' million farmers, stock mon and gard
, onoro. And anothor, tho two mil
' lion skilled workmen steam and
' stationery engineers, carpenters, mas
tor mechanics, plumbers, masons,
'oto. Thoro aro also about ono and
n half million buslnoss mon engaged,
in small industrial and commorclal
''enterprises merchants, druggists,
hotel keepers, shop kooporo and own-
mills. And again there are one mil
lion professional men lawyers, doc
tors, ministers, electricians, public
officeholders, teachers, etc. Then
there is a small group of so-called
"capitalists" made up of millionaires,
near-millionaires and "lesser lights."
An accurate number of this group Is
not obtainable but It has often been
estimated at a quarter of a million.
Wo shall use that number for con
venience and not accuracy. One ele
ment still remains, It is sometime?
called tho floating vote. It Is made
up largely of adult male citizens
from the slum districts, the red light
districts, the gambling dens, aftd the
saloons. This group has been esti
mated from a quarter of a million to
a million in number. We shall call
it a halt a million.
It should not be understood from
the above analysis of tho electorate
that these classes are clearly divid
ed. There are thousands of farmers
who own shares in stock companies.
There are probably as many mer
chants who are interested in rural
real estate and there are many pro
fessional men who have Investments
In various enterprises. But, on the
whole, the above classification is
fair.
The capitalists are engaged in big
business enterprises which aro
classed "as industrials, franchise, and
transportation undertakings, conse
quently, are affected by public ac
tion. For this reason theso special
Interests aro in politics, always havo
been and probably always will be.
Tho capitalists . are, divided into
two groups, one is headed by the
Rockefeller group, another by the
Morgan-Guggenheim interests. These
two groups, allied through holding
companies and community of inter
ests control the big business enter
prises of the nation, namely, the
transportation interests, tho public
utilities, tho mining and lumbering
enterprises, tho iron and steel indusr
frloa mjiTHrifT orwl Hafllllnc In1tiatr-r
v7' F ... """""& .,,,
packing and milling interests, and
others, together with the insurance
and banking business. Combined
they have a capitalized power of
about thirty-flvo billion dollars. But
this is not all. Controlling the bank
ing Interests, as they do, they con
trol tho action of Wall Street which
is tho financial brain of tho economic
activities of all tho people in the
United States. Through this center
they can give the business world an
electric shock of terror that passes
from the largest city to the most
distant prairie or forest hamlet, from
tho brown stone front to tho most
humble hut. But tho special inter
ests to control politically must have
voters.
They havo two sources of securing
votes. One through tho political
bosses, another through their busi
ness dealings. Consider the bosses;
they Bhould bo classified into two
groups,
by tho
Business, and those who own initia
tive enabled them to build up a ma
chine and with the power of their
machine to sell their influence to Big
Buslnoss when tho occasion demands.
But for our "purposes, wo shall sim
ply call them all bosses who hold
tho balance of power between tho
peoplo and tho special interest's.
Tho bosses must get the votes. To
do this they havo an efficient ma
chine organization held together with
rivets of public office and spoils. In
this machine aro found many so
called respectable citizens business
mon, intelligent public officials, re
tired farmers, and others. But the
machines not all good; it has some
sharks and tho sharks usually con
trol. Thoy collect the big fees from
Those who havo been made
Big Business for tho Big
study the three million Illiterate
voters. They hunt for the foreign
born vote which numbers six million,
over half of which comes from south
ern Europe where despotism has
killed the appreciation of civic duty
In representative government, where
oppression has bred a hatred for the
government, where illiteracy is pre
valent. They secure the services of
"padones"" and the "leaders" who in
turn corral this foreign vote for tho
bosses. Men are brought to tho polls
in droves and are voted like cattle.
The slush fund, blackmail and mis
representation secure this vote. Tho
term "republican or democrat"
means nothing to them. They vote
as they are told.
Five million of the wage-earners
receive an annual income of less than
five hundred dollars. Many of theso
have families and the ghost of the
bread line is ever near. Many of
them belong to the illiterate class
above mentioned, a large percentage
come from the southern European
vote and because of their illiteracy,
of their low civic ideals, and of the
ever-present economic pressure they
make a fertile field for the bosses.
Just how large a vote all of these
elements make is not known, not
even the bosses know, but if it were
possible to combine them into one
solid vote they still would be In the
minority. So much for the bosses,
now for the special interests and the
rest of the field.
Of the ono and a half million men
engaged in small industrial and com
mercial enterprises thousands of
them arc working fifteen hours a day
to "keep their business out of bank
ruptcy. Many have financial obliga
tions with the special interest group,
some of them are naturally petty
aristocrats with standpat ideas. So
the threats of a panic and the pull
of economic and social strings gather
in a goodly harvest from' this group.
The remaining twelve million vot
ers, namely, the farmers, the inde
pendent business men, the profes
sional men, the skilled workmen, and
tbe better paid wage earners, are
still to be secured. Their first handi
cap Is that they are divided into two
camps; ono called republican, the
other democrat. Inheritance and
dead issues keep them thus separat
ed. With this situation the special
interests stack the cards.
How is It accomplished? The cap
italists work in solid phalanx. They
aro organized for business and a part
of their business is to control tho
government for their own special
benefit. To do this they secure the
strongest minds of the country and
through these minds they rule. Cap
tains of industry aro skilled in the
management of men and they, with
hired professional talent, constantly
note what tho people are thinking.
They study the psychology of tho
public mind the prejudice, the pride
and the selfishness of certain types
of people. The social, religious, and
political whims of particular groups
and then with the skill of a Napoleon
they create through their vaTious
avenues of influence, a situation that
bewilders and befogs the public mind.
Thoy succeed in making what should
bo friendly groups, warring groups.
False and insignificant issues are
magnified to mislead. To mold pub
lic opinion they work through the
"ninety per cent bad" press, through
lodges, labor unions, churches and
hundreds of other avenues.
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IM-
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qOjUbU proved poultry! dairy and
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also White Leghorns. J. P. Smith
(owner), Bushong, Kansas.
now they are. waving the -party "reg
tho special interests, they sayto Big
Business: "Wo want so many thou
sand dollars, what do you want?"
Thoy organize tho saloon vjoto, tho
slum victims, tho toughs, tho rod
ularity" club. They play the game
fast, but not fair. When real lead
ers arise to fight for public Interests
those master minds first use money
and influence to control the people's
leaders. If that fails, then their
whole machinery of destruction is set
in motion. "Unsafe," "demagogue,"
"disturber," "chautauqua orator,"
aro the . epithets applied. Motives
aro falsely "played up." Lies and
A RUN-AWAY BOY WILLIAM JEN
r nings Thompson, of Bluffs, Illinois.
Age, 13; height, 5 feet; weight, about
90 pounds; fair complexion dark hair,
light brown eyes; has slight scar at
outer corner of left eye and a deeper
scar under point of chin; left home on
August 30th, 1910, and was then
dressed In blue overalls and dark coat
with black stripe. Last heard from
was at Moberly, Missouri, on Septem
ber 3rd, 1910. Address all letters of
information as to wnoreaDoum tu .
father, Lew T. Thompson, at Bluns,
Illinois.
I OST LEO L. VALLIERE OF CEDAR
Pnnlild TnTiln Inff lirkmrt fTl AUfTUSt
18th, and 'has not bden seen or heard
Just4of since. Description: Age, yyeaf?A
ru reec anu incnes tan, ncib" ---
pounds, auburn hair, blue eyes, "i"1'
good looking, good maners and habits,
fairly crood education: .upholsterer by
trade. When last seen wore cianc
trousers, brown coat, black snirc,iibv
felt hat, size 7. Writo J. H. Vail I ere,
942 18th Ave., W. Cedar Rapids, Iowa:
47DR QUICK SALE, C47i ACRES OF
T. mineral and timbered lands located
on tho western oxtonslon of tfto, Mesabo
Iron Range, bordering on small hakes,
good soil. Prico $5.00 pdr aero, no
reservations. Al Kuehnow, Dulutu.
Mfnnesota. ' . .
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