The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-03-18
ANOTHER CONVERSION.

Minneapolis, March ID. 1896.-Messrs
James Everington ard Alfred Humphreys.
Republican committee of Seventh pre-
cinct of Second ward.
Gentlemen: Fairness to you requires
that. as chairman Of your committee,
should 40 longer delay statement of my
purpose to retire from the committee and
the party organization. 1t will therefore
devolve upon one of you to call to order
the caucus which meets one week from
today In taking this action it may be no
more than just that / should name some
of the reasons for severing with party
with which l have acted since casting my
first vote IA years ago.
Briefly, these reasons are, first, the con-
viotiOn that commercial interests have Sc
cured possession Of the Republican organ
iZation for their own ends. and second,
the conviction that t is easier for voters
to step out of the party and realign them
selves on live issues for the general good
than to attempt to reform and regain con-
troll of the party organization.
Look at national, at state, or at city ad
trine of the approved organs OF Repub-
Lean party ON national, state or city is
sues, and the conviction is forced upon
one that cOmmercialiSm has usurped the
place of patriotism in the Republican
party. William Mckinley. the leading
presidential candidate, announced from
the public platform in this city on his late
visit, as cardinal Republican doctrine,
that, Business is politics, and politics is
business" In perfect harmony with this
principle, manufacturers make the tariff
laws, lumber and railway interests die
tate state government, banking and bond
interests make the currency laws. and lG-
uor interests and municipal corporations
control Republican city administration.
The money power of the east finds that
business is politics and politics is bust
ness" when it uses the party OrganiXa-
ton to put down American free coinage
and set up the British gold standard, or to
issue interest bearing bonds in place of
non interest bearing greenbacks. The
manufacturers and trusts found that
business was politics and politics was
business when they wrote the tariff
schedules contained in the Mckinley bill
Pine land, lumber, mine and railway in
terests have found that business was poll
tics and politics is business in the Re-
publican administration of Minnesota
during the past 25 years. The liquor.
gambling and dive interests of this city,
during the present and preceding Repn5-
lican administrations, have found that
business is politics and politics is bus
ness when they secure to themselves the
famous and infamous policy" which per
mts them with the consent and
under the protection of the adj
ministration, to defy and ignore the
laws expressive OF the peoples will or
these questions. To all appeals of citi-
zens in behalf of good government, to all
petitions of the people against system
OF government in the interests of the few,
the officials and organs and bosses of the
Republican machine reply. Business in
terests require it, No doubt they do.
The bankers and manufacturers who sup
port the national campaign, the lumber
and railway interests which support the
state campaign, the liquor and dive inter-
ests and municipal corporations which
support the city campaign, require" that
the laws and administration delivered bv
the political machine which they support
shall agree in every particular with the
specifications of the contract. They do
not invest their money for fun or senti-
ment; fer business lit cd ,1U-Bnaotha
ment: for politics is business and bust
ness is politics." This sordid and inso-
lent doctrine is in defiance of every in
stlnct OF patriotism and good government.
For years l have been blind enough to
De!leve tnat the remedy for these evils
was IN getting out to PRIMARIES I am
finally weaned of this farcical notion.
When you go to the primary what do YOU
get! You get the privilege Of choosing
between Reed to superintend the making
OF laws in the interest of bankers, bond
syndicates and trusts, and Mckinley to
snperintend the making of laws for
bankers, bond syndicates and trusts.
You get the chance to say whether the
Merriam Clough machine shall admin
lister state government in behalf of their
lumber and railway friends, or the
Washburn-Eu machine shall admin
lister state government in behalf of their
lumber and railway friends You get
the privilege of saying whether the may
or who administers the policy" in be-
half OF liquor, dive, and corporate inter-
ests shall bear the given name, Robert,
or the given name, William Henry. In
the Republican organization as now
ruled all attendance at primaries is a
lolS IL ID oIuipty d uSuJ UHIW4on TWO
gangs governed by the same motives and
bent on the same ends. The voters who
blindly participate in the fight simply al
low themselves to become the tools of
this gang or the other. AS long as vot-
ers will sit as blind worshippers of one
old party machine this corrupt corporate
and boss system, from which Republican
government in America is now so bitter
ly suffering, will continue and will grow
in menacing power.
The remedy is not in getting out to the
primaries, but for patriotic and earnest
voters DESTROYS of government for and by
the people to get out of the old corpora
tion-ruled and boss-ridden machine. If
the corporations and bosses want the ma
chine, let them have it. 1t is our duty to
see that in getting it they do not get us
with it. The machine without the vot-
ing masses attached to it will do the pro-
| prietors no good, and the government
and the country no harm. We can get
along without it. The existence Of re-
publican government in America does
not depend upon the perpetuation of that
ring-ruled partisan organization. In
1894 there were more votes cast for the
new Peoples Party than were cast for
John G. Fremont in 1855 and nearly as
many as elected Abraham Lincoln in
1880 The Ppnnle,S PARTY ia NOT cnn