The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-09-30


pies Party. is a greater issue than
even free silver; for it means the es-
adjustment of good government and
the preservation Of liberty, while
Tree silver simply offers us higher
prices for our commodities and leaves
the work Of robbery unrestraine d.
Judge WEIGH will pardon us for say
ing that the plank in favor Of the
initiative and Referendum in our
platform does not demand the appli-
cation Of that system to our national
government. 1t is mere generaliza-
tion, and YET Mr.. Owen opposed it in
the committee on platform. While it
>, might Inconvenience the people to
nave to vote upon great questions
throughout the whole nation, the in
convenience would be much less than
the suffering now inflicted upon the
by bad laws.
suppose, for instance, One-third Of
the Congress had had right to submit
the act Of 1913 to the vote of the peo-
pie OF the United States. The result
would have been that long ago that
law would have been wiped out, silver
restored to its ancient place, and mil.
lions of our citizens have been saved
from bankruptcy and ruin.
Regulations could be made to limit
the re fc rendum to the few great ques.
lions which concerned practically the
whole people. In Minnesota there is
not an abuse Of which our citizens
complain that would not long ago
have been remcdied If the people had
had the right to vote upon it.
1t is nonsense to talk about Al Sow
ereign States a. Executives, Al Legis-
latures, etc. Such an argument can
be aduced with equal force against all
free government. We can avoid the
complications and the toll Of legislat-
ing for ourselves by putting the whole
business into the hands of one man.
We could save lots of truble by adopt
ing master.
When the Judge talks about the
MIN Der of people who are laboring
under the cOngenital intirmitieS of
the idiot, fool and simpleton, he talks
against the fundamental principles Of
free governments; and there is no re-
fuge from that excep: dcspotism. Our
institutions are founded upon the
great doctrine that all men, rich and
poor, great and small, wise and SIM
pie, have the right to think for them
selves and govern themselves. If this
principle is not true the founders Of
this government were lot of silly
theorizers, and we regret that Judge
WEIGH was net alive at that time to
advise them to remain under the
domination Of that shallow old luna
tic, George the Third. And we regret
1t still more because if the Judge had
been alive at that time he would not
be here to-day to bother us with his
nonsense.
We have objected to Mr.. Owen'e be-
trayal of the Initiative and Referen-
dun at st. Louis because his action
reached down to fund amental consid-
erations. 1t was as if one, in 1860,
had claimed to be a Republican, and
had voted in a Republican Nation a |
Convention in favor Of permitting
slavery to extend over the free terri
\ tories of the North. A man could no t
be at that time Republican and a
friend Of human bondage. He cannot
be today PopuliSt and opposed to
the Initiative and Referendum.
We have no malice in this matter.
We simply feel that the man who
could take the course taken by Mr.
Owen is not mentally SO constructed
as to be proper leader Of those who
are seeking to reform the abuses of
the world. He may be pleasant
gentleman personally, but he is not
built SO as to do the work which the
age demands. A leader should be a
locomotive not an air brake. He
should be at the head of events, not
hanging on to their coat tails, trying
to drag the world backwards.
We expect, Of course, that many of
these who have united with us in this
great conflict, upon the single ques-
tion of free silver, will not feel as the
Populists do. But even among these
men, free silyerites and Democrats,
there are those who perceive the force
of the Populistic reasoning. Even
our candidate for president, Hon. VIM.
j. Bryan, although not belonging to
the Peoples Party. went before the
committee on platform Of the Demo
cratic National Convention, at Chica-
go, and urged upon them that they
made the Initiative and Referendum
one of their demands. Surely if a
great Democrat, like Mr.. Bryan, could
take this course, one of our own lead
ers, whom we have been supporting
and voting for, for eight years past,
could afford to be true to the same
great principle. But he was not. He
went directly from q meeting of our
state delegation at St. Louis, at which
they instructed him to stand by the
Initiative and Referendum, in the
broadcast sense Of the terms, and he
made a speech against them; and then
denied it until the fact was proved by
four disintereSted witnesses.
We have no objection to the people
Of Hennepin county electing Mr..
Owen if they see fit to do so, but for
one, we cannot take the responsibility
of advocating his election; nor do we
think it wise, upon the part of his
friends, to assail us because we place
an eternal and fundamental principle
r.:.Ior xl,op tho TO poro int roct -,