The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-12-30
"a DANIEL COME TO JUDO
MENU"

Mr.. Pingree, Mayor of Detroit, has
been elected governor Of Michigan on
the Republican ticket, by virtue Of
preaching Populistic principles. He
visited Chicago the other day and this
is the way he talked:
michigan railroads will either sell
tickets for 2 cents mile or they will
have their charters taken away.
There can be no compromise. There
is not one of the corporations which
can go into court and sustain its
present discriminating practices.
They allow the rich men who can at.
ford to advance the money to ride for
less than the poor man. The
farmer pays the same freight rates
that he did when his wheat was worth
nearly double its present value.
Everything has fallen in price but
railroad rates and railroad fares. 1t
is time the government was taking a
hand in this matter and standing be-
tween the people and the trusts which
are sapping the very life blood of the
nation. The fact that the railroads
sell some tickets for cents mile is
proof they would not lose anything by
selling all tickets at the same price.
l.
any railroad ever sold any tickets at a
loss. We propose TO set the example
in Michigan.
Mayor Swift ought to veto the q
cent fare ordinance. am in favor Of
a Scent fare, and think we shall soon
have 2-cent fare. 1t seems to me
that should the mayor conclude it was
possible to enforce the law for AGENT
fare he would go the people one better
and veto it with recommendation
that the price be made cents.
Il have studied the matter and I
know that on a 2-cent fare basis the
companies can pay fair and Just divi-
dends. They can give fair return
Tor the actual money they have tied
up in the plant. 1t would be the duty
of any mayor to veto this ordinance
and demand further reduction.
"My old companion and interesting
vested rights'-seems to have
moved from Detroit to Chicago. He
is a monster which needs severe treat
ment. Mayor Swift will need to sit
up all night and fight with a two
edged sword to beat him as we did. It
makes me tired to hear the corpora
tions talk. l have held that the peo-
pie are always supreme. They gave
Viz lIduCAISC duu UIlcy Cdu Jake III
back. 1t is nothing moro than a
license, anyhow. / never believed
that any council had any right to give
away the streets for all time, and we
won on the insistence that the fran
chise was nothing but license, the
license subject to regulation in all
things by the grantors.
'Hackmcn and cabmen have as
much vested rights as the man who
owns the street car lines. You never
| hesitate to take the license from the
cabman or the hackman as soon as he
overchargcs. There Is no doubt that
the street car companies are over
charging. Their stocks are watered
to I'LL the ocean. They are robbing
the public and robbing the people who
are least able to be robbed. It would
be too bad for the mayor to accept 4
cents, when II cents is right and pos
sible, he might as we'll get or cents
/ hope he will do it.
Prosperity? Fiddlesticks. There
can be no prosperity SO long as the
country is at the mercy Of the money
lenders. The social system is out of
joint. We need a. law against great
fortunes. Men form combinations
and put their hands into the pockets
Of the poor. They never take from
those who have, but steal from those