The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1898-04-14
COMMON SENSE And VICTORY IN
MILWAUKEE

IN every CITY where the people nave
nade the egresious mistake Of allow q
ne such public functions Is lighting q
be city BY gas and electricity, street
ar service, water supply, telephone
ervice and other natural nonopolies {
o 90 into the hands OF corporations,
be result has been . poor service and
! high charge for il, and worse than
ii, followed by corrupt city govern
nent.
This is the situation In the city Of
Wis, and it 10 simply one
;ase in thousands. 10 that city there
IRE AZ, Ala registered voters. Nine out
Of ten, il not larger per cent. ofthese
voters who are oppressed and robbed
BY the city monopoly, are shocked BY
the bad city government, and want to
see a change. Probably about one
thousand OF these voters, including the
most influential and wealthy men"
are given special favors: are given the
services Of these monopolies free.
These are the men most able to pay.
Yet free or cheap service is furnished
to them so they will not complain
while the other forty lone thousand vo-
ters mot SO rich aid infius ntiaD are
robbed By high rates for poor service.
But, you ask, why do not the forty
one thousand voters use their votes to
change this bad and oppressive system
and establish justice and equity -? That
is the problem. The trouble is here
1876 Of these voters are Republicans;
1887 are Democrats and 9,l2l are Pop
ulists. The Republicans have less
than majority. but when three tick
cts are run they always elect. The
monOpOlists of course furnish cam
kaign funds for the Republicans and
manage to capture their party leaders
and newspaper organs. The party boss
no doubt accepts and uses the money
Of the lnonopolists to capture bis own
party convention and establish himself
as a boss, and having done this the
monopoly newspapers lay on the par
ty lash and whip every Republican
voter into standing by the "dear old
party" This Is the usual proceeding
and is occurring in other cities all over
the country.
But, what is the remedy? 1t is to
cut off the source of corruption: it il
to take these natural monopolies out
Of the hands of private corporations
and syndicates. 1t is to use these
public necessities as public functions
for the benefit of all the people, at cost
and then there will be no one getting
rich at the expense of the public, there
fore no one in a position to use these
monopolies to corrupt politicians ant
city governments. In short, it il
municipal ownership of these natura'
monopolies.
But how can this ever be accomplish
ed while the city is ruled by a part,
that is owned by the greedy and cor
rupt monopolists? 1t cannot. TIL
only way and the only hope to throw
off the clutches of monopoly from TIT
city and for good government to b,
established is for the majority of thu
voters who are opposed ~ such op
preston, robbery, and corruption, tt
cooperate and vote together. Tner,
are 1921 Populists voters and 1887;
Democratic voters in Milwaukee, max
ing total of "A ,49s voters, " lie tn,
Republican machine controls only IL,
SIG voters. Now if the Peoples party
and the Silver Democrats (if they art
opposed to monopoly rule) CO. operate
the people will win y victory by owe
six thousand majority. This is exact
ly the comm0n-sence course that ha
been agreed on and the overthrow Q
mon opoly domination and victory TO
90 I'd government is in sight.
The Peoples Party proposed tn
cooperation, as we understand il
provided the silver Democrats woul,
overthrow the gold and monopoly ell
ement in their councils, and woul
make square fight not only to bea
the monopoly Republicans and get tn
Off ces, but at the same time to pledg
the officers to remove the causes o
corruption and bad government. Tn
. Democrats agreed to this and put tn
following plank in their platform:
We believe that one of the mos
sacred duties which citizenship i'm
poses upon US is to secure an honest
, economical and efficient municipal ad
: ministration, and we appeal to voter
OF all parties to aid US at this time t
bring this about.
We believe the prevailing corrup
ton and bribery in all large cities to b
caused by the fact that public ut,litie
= are controlled by private corporations
e The dependent relation of corpora
= tiOns upon the good will of aldermen
coupled with frailty of human nature
t. makes it impossible to secure officis
honesty. While there are disadvant
e ages attendant upon municipal con
). troll and ownership of public utilitie
o they are Insignificant compared to tn
wholesale corruption and bribery in
cident to control by private corpora
= tiOns.
Therefore, in the interest of the pub
j. lie morality and good government, "
Z favor, when the condition of the city
finances warrant, municipal contro
e and ownership of all public utilize
, and the immediate erection of q mu
niclpal garbage plant.
E The cooperative ticket put up b
p the two parties is as follows:
), For mayor, David s. Rose.
e For comptroller, John r. Wolf.
q For treasurer, VIM. BollOW.
!, For city attorney, Carl Runge.
D 1t is sure to be elected. Thus tb
> nine thousand Populists have gotte
e the cooperation of fifteen thousan
e silver Democrats to put q great fund
= amental principle of the Peoples part,
t but it is indeed nothing more than