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The Commoner.
Wanted A Man
Wanted A Man Sounds like an ad In the
want column, docs it not? And that is as it
should be. From now until the nominating con
ventions, of all parties have concluded their
deliberations, this "Wanted A Man" ad should
bo kept at the head of the want column by every
patriotic American publication in the United
States, and in each caso bo placed next to the
pure reading matter. The various parties, like
individuals, will of course, differ in their con
clusions as to the qualifications of tho "Man."
Lot tho republicans, tho socialists and tho
prohibitionists, select whom they will, we arc
hero concerned only with tho qualifications of
tho democratic nominee, ono who will in truth
represent tho people instead of tho "1111010818."
Tho coming struggle between tho two great
parties must be between the defenders of tho
popular rights and the defenders of tho
monopolistic privileges. In such a conflict the
leader of the democratic forces must bo absolu
tely freo from the influence of privileged cor
porations, and abovo tho suspicion of trust
domination. In fact, he must bo one who has
justly earned the reputation of being tho im
placable foe of special privilege and a sincere
tribune of the wealth-producing classes.
Four hundred and fifty-eight years before the
Christian era, tho internal affairs of the Roman
republic had become so tangled that the people
demanded a "Man" at tho head of affairs, and
they know whero to find him. They found Cin
cinnatus at work on his farm, ploughing with
a yoke of steers. The committee told him of
his country's great distress and needs. lie left
his oxen in the yoke, went with the citizens'
committee, and straightened out tho tangled
troubles of his country. This is all this lengen
dary story of Homo tolls us, and wo are left in
tho dark as to what became of the cattle.
Has the democratic party a Cincinnatus? The
democratic party of this country can produce a
groat many such men. No man who has
labored assiduously in tho intorest of the few
as against the many, who has betrayed the
trust the people have imposed upon hfm in order
that ho might become the pliant tool of great
corporations, trusts, or combinations, to serve
as their legal adviser, thus ignoring the rights
of tho people that the coffers of the privileged
few might be filled, can ever become the stand
ard bearer of tho democratic party. No, tho
man of tho hour, ho who is to lead the demo
cratic hoots to victory next November, must not
bo the servile tool of vested interests, but must
bo a man of tho people, abreast of tho times,
freo, untrammeled, progressive, and absolutely
incorruptible.
I am not considering tho splendid qualifica
tions of that brilliant coterie of democratic
statesmen, whoso names are now so prominently
before; tho public as available candidates
I need not mention Bryan, tho great com
moner, Wilson, Clark, Kern, Marshall, and a
host of others, whom I as an Indianian and
veteran of the civil war would bo pleased to fol
low to victory. But thero is another in tho
ranks of democracy, as groat as any of these I
liave mentioned, to whom tho convention should
turn the Cincinnatus who still has his hand
to tho plow.
This man is in tho fifty-seventh year of his
ago, and of an ancestry, tho very best. His
honored father served twenty-two years in con
gress, and was tho leading constitutional lawyer
of that body, serving as chairman of tho judi
ciary committee.
After the son's graduation, ho studied law
and began the practice of the profession Tn
1877. In ten years ho was considered ono of
tho foremost lawyers of his state. In 1890 ho
was elected attorney general of his state
Tho young attorney general was confronted
with an enormous volume of work. His stntn
came into the union of tho states under pecu
conditions Unlike any other, tho new state
retained the ownership, and control of its en
rtn dym0f publlc lands' constituting a vast
domain. To encourage the building of railroads
and construction of other public utilities m-inoo
ly donations of this public doman, n the case of
the railroads, ranging from ten thousand acres
per mile, upward, were made expmnE t
taxation for long 'terms ySanSSof
and many other valuable privileges il! '
tended to these corporation". feiJSSa":
road systems were established and their pro
moters greatly enriched. Not content, how
ever with tho magnificent largess bestowed
upon them, these corporations, encouraged by
the liberality of the laws, and the laxity and
favoritism displayed in their administration,
maintained strong lobbies at tho capitol, and
actively and aggressively entered the field of
politics. Contemptuously unmindful of the
rights and welfare of tho people, and actuated
solely by a greed for unlawful gain, they
formed great combinations and ruthlessly
stifled competition. Shippers were oppressed
with outrageous and unreasonable rates, an
arbitrary and dictatorial attitude was assumed,
suggestions of regulatory legislation were de
rided, and their domination of state affairs be
came almost intolerable.
The attorney general entered heartily into
an active fight for the correction of these abuses,
and did much in the preliminary battle for re
form. Many suits were Instituted by him
against the offending companies for the recovery
of the lands illegally acquired. All these were
energetically, and in the main, successfully
prosecuted against spirited and strenuous de
fense by able railroad attorneys, and more than
two million acres of land, much of it of great
value and extreme fertility, were restored to
the state, to the resultant benefit of tho public
schools and the actual settler. 'The legislature,
aided and largely directed by the chief law offi
cer of tho state, enacted a comprehensive rail
road commission law, placing these corporations
somewhat under regulatory power of a commis
sion. This law was at once vigorously assailed
by all tho great railroad systems, and a legion
of tho most eminent corporation attorneys of
the country wero employed to break down and
discredit tho new enactment. A complacent
circuit judge was found to sustain the juris
diction of the federal court, sweeping injunc
tions wero granted against tho enforcement of
the rates promulgated by the newly formed com
mission, and the court held the law to be
utterly unconstitutional and void. The cases,
practically pioneer in our judicial history, were
promptly appealed to tho supreme court of the
United States, and there the attorney general
proved his metal. . -The court, despite the able
efforts of distinguished counsel, representing
tho roads, utterly overturned the judgment
of the circuit court, and declared the law valid.
As a direct result of his successful efforts in
these cases, millions of dollars, in freights,
have been saved to the people, combinations of
competing lines have been effectually prevented,
physical valuations of all the roads have been
made, and the Issuance of watered stocks and
bonds, as a basis for unreasonable rates, has
been rendered impossible now. Indeed, so bene
ficial have been the operations of the commis
sion law, as broadened and strengthened under
his subsequent administration as governor, that
it has been used as a model for legislative
enactments of a similar character in many of
the older states. '
Before the conclusion of his second term as
attorney-general, there was an insistent de
mand from all sections, that he should become a
candidate for tho democratic nomination for
governor.
Yielding to the earnest importunity of his
friends, he consented to become a candidate
The contest for the nomination was membrabio
After a hard campaign, the bulk of the demo
crats, conscious of the alarming condition of
stae affairs, and the necessity for a clear bra?n
J?nm Sf ?? and visorous hand at the helm,
rallied to his support, and with the prestige
o his signal services to the people fresh upon
lhon'firstWbanont0mInated In th CnVentl011 "
At the inception of his term, the new gover
nor in h s initial message to the SogfalltSre
with felicitous vigor and clarity of expression'
marked out tho principle which would control
his administration. Combinations and console
dations of competing railroads wero not to bo
wirT' t Bowor8 of the railroad commission
were to bo enlarged and more' clearly defined
a strong and effective anti-trust law was de
manded, extravagance in expenditures of public
fiipds was to cease, appropriations were to bo
measured by revenues, tho deficit in tho treas
ury was to bo speedily discharged, public e?
vico, and other corporations, were to bear tK
share o taxes, primary elections wore t b
legalized and regulated, and tho fees of county
VOLUME 12, NUMBER lg
officials were to bo reduced to a proper basis
To discharge the deficit and place the state
upon a cash basis, it was found necessary to
recommend an increase in taxation. The in
fluence of these alien and disturbing elements
was easily apparent. The session dragged
wearily along, week after week, with much
wrangling and discord, accomplishing nothing
Through the persuasion and seduction and
blandishment of the railroad lobby, a number of
consolidation bills were passed. Each in turn,
was promptly vetoed by the governor. His veto
messages were vigorous in their denunciation of
tho measures introduced at the instigation of
corporations, and so clear were they in their
demonstration of the evils involved, that efforts
to pass them over the vetoes proved ludicrously
futile. Indignant at the supine inaction of tho
legislature for more than sixty days, the gover
nor sent them a message, bristling with rebuke,
and boldly and sternly demanding the carrying
out of the party's pledges. It was effective.
Within a few weeks, a strong anti-trust law was
enacted, the tax rate was raised, appropriations
were reduced to meet the income, official fees
and allowances were reduced, a primary elec
tion law was passed, an improved basis of cor
porate taxation was adopted, and arbitration for
labor disputes provided for.
Naturally, a storm of opposition to the gover
nor was aroused. The increase of taxation was
not popular, the powerful influence of the rail
roads was solidly arrayed against him, disap
pointed seekers for appropriations from tho
public funds were not scant in their denuncia
tion, members of the legislature, writhing and
sore at the just rebuke administered to them,
opposed him as openly as they dared, and many
of the county officials, their excessive emolu
ments, partially abolished, heartily abused him.
These disaffected and disgruntled elements com
bined in an effort to defeat him for a second
term, always accorded an incumbent by an
unwritten party law. The republicans and popu
lists, then strong politically, combined. The
cry of demagogy was raised, the efforts at re
form declared to be insincere, and a hostile
daily press proclaimed that capital was being
driven from the state, that the cause of pro
gress would suffer, and its growth and develop
ment checked and retarded, if not destroyed. A
bitter campaign ensued. Disregarding the
wholesale flood of criticism and oftimes personal
abuse loosed upon him, he contented himself
with a clear and explicit statement of the im
provement in the condition of state affairs. Ho
demonstrated that millions were being annu
ally saved to the people in reduced freight
rates and official fees. Ho showed a deficit ex
tinguished, the credit of the state restored and
a full treasury. The checks imposed upon
corporate rapacity were self-evident. The im
proved condition of the educational, penal and
eleemosynary institutions spoke for themselves.
Tho answer was sufficient. He was re-elected
by van overwhelming majority.
Beginning his second term with the unques
tionable approval of his people, the governor
earnestly renewed his demand for promised re
forms. He urged upon the legislature a con
tinuance of the economy that had marked his
first administration, and the measuring of ap
propriations by revenues; liberal support of
the public schools and higher educational in
stitutions, protection of laborers in the prompt
payment of their wages by extending the pro
visions of the mechanic's lien law to them, aboli
tion of the cruel doctrine of the fellow servant's
law in the interest of injured railway employes,
a more radical reduction of official fees, and an
improved basis of taxation for railway, and
other corporations.
At the end of his second term, the affairs of
the state were found to be in such an admirable
condition, and the wisdom with which they had
been administered was so strikingly manifest,
that, practically without a contest, he was
elected to tho United States senate. The wis
dom of his people's choice has been thoroughly
attested in his unanimous selection by his col
leagues as the leader of his party there. A
learned lawyer, a deep student, a keen analyst, a
natural leader, well poised, with a character
untarnished by the faintest breath of suspicion,
his selection for the post was obvious; and, as
remarked .by ono of his colleagues upon his
recent election a second time to tho place, "none
olso could, or should, be considered in connec
tion with it."
A democrat by birth, tradition, training and
Inclination, his services to his party have been
many. Ho was a delegate at largo, and chair
man of the state delegation at the national con-
.