Gfo Nobraclxo. Indopondcnt
APRIL 27, 1905. -
dends to the Consolidated, it bad laid aside a
surplus of $8,000,000 by last January."
The Tribune in another issue utters the warn
, ing that "the fundamental principle of the munici
pal ownership men is the ownership by the na
tional government of the steam railroads;" that
"along with the ownership of the steam railroads
goes that of the express and telegraph companies;
that "it will be a band to nand ngnt, in wmcn tne
bayonet will be used freely on both sides"; that
"the farmers, who have been the conservative
force in this country heretofore, will have .a
strong inducement to throw their votes in the
direction of the ownership of railroads by the
forlornl cnvpriimpnt. What is coinff to come Out
oft it no man can tell, or even fully imagine. Yet
we must remember that the proposition for the
ownership of the mines arose from the oppressive,
unjust, unrighteous, and almost criminal conduct
of the railroads and other companies operating
them, which put up prices and cut down wages
without any reference to the equities of the case,
and without any consideration for either the
pockets or feelings of the people."
The New York World can scarcely find words
strong enough to express its impatience" with
existing conditions: "The American people have
been patient and long-suffering, but they are tired
of being exploited. They are tired of having their
heritage stolen. They are tired of having their
servants corrupted and their government de
bauched. They are tired of seeing public interests
forever sacrificed to the interests of organized
capital. .There may not be much 'economic the
ory and practice about the remedies they pro
pose, but an outraged, public sentiment is rot
likely to concern itself with political economy.
It strikes with the first weapon on which it can
lay its hands." . ,
Under the heading, "The Revolt," that journal
goes on to specify the forms of opposition in
various states: "It is a revolt that is spreading
with amazing rapidity. In Wisconsin, where La
Fcllette has been battling against railroad domi
nation, of the state, the people sustained, him by
unprecedented majorities and ' the legislature
elected him to the United States senate, 'in. Kan
sas, Where the people are struggling with the
Standard Oil monopoly, the legislature voted to
establish a state refinery. The federal commis
sioner of corporations is making an investigation
of the Standard Oil company in Kansas, and half
a dozen states have taken . repressive measures
-against uie .irusu jrum..ui uubbuuh iicijcuwi
first of all the public uprising against the . de
bauching of government by the agents of cor
porations; In Michigan a movement is under, way
to compel the legislature to submit an amendment
to the state constitution permitting municipal own
ership, and operation of street-railway lines. In
New York the legislature has undertaken an inves
tigation of the gas monopoly of the metropolis,
which may result in returning to the people the
expired franchises of that outlaw corporation.
In spite of the threats of Wall street a tax has
been imposed on stock transfers. The city of
New York is engaging in the ownership and opera
tion of ferries, and the municipality will escape
some of the exactions of the gas trust by doing
its own public lighting. President Roosevelt's
policy of federal regulation of railroad rates has
been received with enthusiastic approval in many
western and southern states, while the question
of establishing public slaughter-houses has been
seriously proposed as a counter-move against the
beef trust. There is hardly a city of any size in
the union which is not considering a project of one
kind or another for extending public control over
general utilities. There is hardly a state in which
there are not signs of a revolt against the exac
tions in one form or another of great corporations."
INDICTING THE UNITED STATES SENATE
There has been such abundant proof in late
years of the necessity qf revolutionary reform in
the United States senate-that it may be taken
as granted; but this recent testimony of the
Chicago Tribune, the greatest republican news
paper, re-enforces the general plea:
"We know how it is in Illinois. No man can
go to the, senate from this state unless he has a
complete understanding with certain powerful in
tereststhe railroads, the steel trust, the stock-
yards. The most powerful backers of Mr. Hop
kins in his late campaign were John W. Gates,
John Lambert, and Isaac Ellwood. They are the
barbed wire magnates, and Hopkins has been
closely identified with some of . them, or . with
members of the family of some of them, as an
attorney. He is, or has been, close to the beef
trust in all its operations, and Mr. Lorimer, whose
candidate he was, was the appointed champion of
' the oleomargarine interests on the floor of the
house. Yet Mr. Hopkins as a member of the
house represented .the greatest dairy district in .
the United States or the world. How was it in
New York when Mr. Chauncey Depew was re-,
elected to the senate? Mr. Harriman, now the
biggest railroad man In the world, was with Gov
ernor Odell on every other proposition, but on this
one he was with Mr. Depew. He believed that
Mr. Depew would be a more faithful representa
tive of railroad interests on the floor of the United
States senate than any other man who possibly
could be chosen. Mr. John Kean of New Jersey
was re-elected senator -by acclamation, and it is
notorious that New-Jersey is owned by the rail
roads. He celebrated his re-election by introduc
ing a railroad bill so avowedly framed in the
interests of the roads that even the most un
blushing advocates of their cause are unwilling
to support it. Senator Elkins of West Virginia
is a railroad man himself, up to his eyes in rail
roads, and he put through the Elkins bill, which
removed, from the Interstate commerce law, the
penalty of imprisonment as well as a fine for the
violation of its provisions. You might go through
the wh61e list and scarcely miss a majority of
senators whose affiliations with great corpora
tions are particularly close, although not neces
sarily reprehensible." -
To this general indictment the New York
World adds a specific count: "
"The World tells of the charges made at New
Haven that $150,000 was expended in the late
senatorial contest between Mr. Buikeley and Mr.
Fessenden. It asks: 'Where did this huge cor
ruption fun come from?' and then adds: 'Buike
ley. was everywhere known as a railroad lobbyist
and corporation agent. ' Fessenden was reputed
his inferior only in point of success, not in po
litical methods. Yet when it came tothe republi
can caucus an honest and capable candidate like
Representative Hill received only nine votes
" against Bulkeley's 153 and Fessenden's 73. Con
neticut had auctioned off Senator Hawley's seat
and the railroad and life insurance interests had
bid it in , for Buikeley." .
The Kansas City " Star ' asserts that, "The
United States senate, which is largely owned by
the trusts, stands in the way of effective hew
legislation for the regulation of monopolies and
for the punishment of those who conspire to rob
the people." . . - v ,
It is a very remarkable and significant fact
.that the senate, is "catching it" from all quarters
and from men of all sorts and conditions. A
conservative college . president In conservative
Massachusetts is . one of the. last to speak out. In
a recent address President Pritchitt of the Massa
chusetts Institute of Technilogy, said:
Tne two tnmgs ore so closely mterwmea
that they can not be separated and they operate
today powerfully to limit the number of men
who can enter or who can remain in political life.
The senate of the United States is today the most
powerful body in the government of our country.
How long would a man remain a member of that
body who advocated strongly and persistently a
general measure which seemed to conflict with
vested interests?"
The Kansas City Star sums up attempts to
cure the senate evil:
"There has .long been a prevalent sentiment
in favor of popular election of United States sen
ators. But for years it found merely formal ex
pression in the constitutional amendment to that
effect which was regularly proposed by the house
and defeated by the senate. Of late, however, this
feeling has developed rapidly and it has now
resulted in a definite program which is becoming
a live political issue. So long as senatorial pri
maries were held only in the south they were
of comparatively slight significance because that
"region furnishes only minority members of the
upper house. But within the last year the ob
structionary tactics of the majority in the senate,
and especially as hostility to the popular demand
for governmental supervision of railroad rates,
have forced the issue in the north. Wisconsin
' -r- PAGE I
has already adopted the senatorial primary la
a direct attempt to send to the senate men who
represent the attitude of the people rather than
of the corporations in dealing with the railroad
question. Governor Deneen is advocating the
adoption of an analogous measure in Illinois.
Bills to the same effect have been introduced in
the legislatures of Washington, South Dakota and
Minnesota. Now that the movement is well under
,way it may be expected to make rapid progress.
. A, the legislative sessions two years hence there
will undoubtedly be a wide attempt to secure
the senatorial primary. The senate itself is sole
ly responsible for the movement for its recon
struction. For that seems to be the only way to
make It the representative body which the peo
ple have determined that it shall become."
The Chicago Record-Herald lately added ten
counts to the universal indictment, thus:
"The house of representatives passed a pure
food bill. The senate refused even to discuss it.
Hence the plaint of the people still. is: 'We know
not what we eat.' But the whisky blenders and
the makers of adulterated foods are glad. The
house of representatives passed the railway rate
bill, restoring to the interstate commerce com
mission the powers it was originally supposed to
possess. The senate refused even to discuss the
measure. And the shippers of freight and the
consumers of goods that go by rail are sorrowful.
But the railway king rejoices exceedingly. The
house of representatives passed a bill to give the
Panama canal a better administration. The sen
ate slaughtered it in cold blood. Therefore the
president and all friends of the president who
want to see America show the world its great
' constructive powers In building the canal are
regretful. But the senators' pets who hold fat
places on the old canal commission pat their
pockets and smile. The president negotiated ar
bitration treaties with eight European nations.
The senate amended - them to death. The sena-
-" tors can boast that their prerogatives remain un
impaired. But the friends of arbitration are In
mourning. The president negotiated a reciprocity
' treaty with Newfoundland. The senate amended
it to death. Many industrial interests of this
nation suffer. But great is Salt Fish, and Lodge
and Hale are its prophets.
' . 1. "Oh, how we love our senate' ; ; ' , :
t .-, - . ..,. mm , ,, , i i ;, ,. , ; in.,,,, .j i
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