Hutchinson gazette., 1899-09-21

debtors, by government, must be un-
done by government.
Again, the fierce commercialism of
the age, which has tended to enthrone
the dollar and enslave the man, has
lowered the standards and has covered
the land with corruption until corrupt
concentrations of money, welded by
unscrupulous men, have acquired such
n complete control Of the governments,
national, state and municipal, that the
people are almost helpless Laws de-
structive TO their interests are passed
through bribery, and laws necessary
for their protection are kept off the
statute book by bribery. To meet this
new and unfortunate condition 1t Is
necessary that the people be given the
power, in certain emergencies, to legis-
late direct, either by a popular vote to
put specific acts upon the statute book
or to declare certain specific acts al
ready on the statute book to be null and
void, This would destroy the business
Of bribery, because it would render the
fruits of bribery worthless. No corpor-
ations would buy legislature or city
council If the acts Of that legislature or
council council could be nullified by the
people.
In some countries Of the world they
have long had q system of this kind.
They call it initiative and referendum,
meaning that the people shall in certain
emergencies have the power to initiate
legislation and shall have the power to
have legislation that already exists re-
fcTed to vote of the people. This
system has worked marvelously well
where it has been tried, and we must
have political party in our country
with sufficient devotion to free institu-
tions and republican government to es-
tablish it here. 1t is not question to
speculate about. 1t is not chimerical
idea; it is simply question of self-pre-
servation.
Again, the Anglo-SaXon race has shed
more blood to maintain the right Of
trial by jury and the right of free
speech than for any other purposes,
And the establishing of the right Of
trial by jury and Of free speech is re-
garded by the world as the greatest
achievement in the history of govern
ment. Both our federal constitution
and our various state constitutions
guarantee those rights to every Ameri-
can citizen. Yet within the last few
years federal judges, appointed through
corporation influence, and sitting on
the bench with corporation bias, have
stricken down trial by jury and brush
ed it aside with mere wave Of the
hand. And they have established what
is now known as government by injunc-
tion in its stead--a system under which
the liberties OF the American people be-
come subject to the whim, the caprice
andprejhdice Of a federal judge. 1t Is
a complete subversion Of the most
sacred rights Of man. 1t is the assas-
sination,of free institutions. Even in
monarchial Europe no such system
would be tolerated for day. If 1t is
to continue here, then the republic is
at an end. Then the highest hopes Of
man must be broken, and we will be
goSerned by q money oligarcly, gov
erning through the creatures whom it
puts on the bench. Need say to you
my friends, that to put an end to this
system and to re-establish in all its
sacredness and all it's purity trial by
jury, the bulwarl of the liberties of the
English speaking people, we need a
political party that stands for some
thing higher than spoils? We need a
party that has high ideals, and that is
capable of lofty devotion and great
self-sacrificc.