The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1900-10-19

swer: Honesty" And by that 1
mean not only that the politician and
statesman shall avoid violating the
penal code, but that he should be
scrupulously honest in his convictions,
in his intentions, in his speech and In
his acts. The commandment, Thou
shalt not stear' is directed as much
against the larceny of the thoughts
and ideas of another as against the
larceny Of a horse. Literary larceny
is termed plagiarism or piracy, ac-
cording to it's degree, one being petty
and the other grand larceny. A mans
ideas and thoughts are as much his
property as his horses and cattle.
The literary thief, when discovery
overtakes him, is not sent to Jail, be-
cause the penal code does not extend
to his offense; but he finds that he is
held in public odium and has ruined
his career So when a politician or
statesman steals the thoughts or ideas
of another and, without giving credit
to the original owner, converting
them to his own use, his offense is not
one which makes him amenable to the
law, but the penlty is as sure and Sc
we're as that of the literary pirate. his
offense is against public morals, and
public opinion inflicts the punishment
Must Keep His Promises.
When a candidate for public office
makes promises to the people. he must
keep them. If he gives his pledge that
certain reforms shall be made If the
people elect him. three things are re-
quisite. The candidate must honestly
believe that reforms are needed, there
must be something to reform, and, II
elected, he must fulfill his pledge and
effect the reforms.
And when a candidate for public Of
flee comes before the people he must
appear in no borrowed garments. His
plumage must be all his own, for II
not just as soon as the people detect
his disguise his experience will be SIM
liar to the ass that paraded in the
lions. skin. The men of to-day are
very keen-sighted, and there never
was a period in the history of the
world when shame and false pretenses
had such a hard time. I think, in fact,
1 know, that the people of Minnesota
have weighed the claims and merits OF
the different political parties and their
respective candidates presented at this
election. They see, on the one hand,
the Republican party, tried by forty
years in the management of the affairs
of the state, and it's candidates sup
ported by the splendid record of their
party and pledged to carry out Its
great and lofty aims, to protect and
advance the interests of the common
wealth, and to uphold the principles
which have lent luster to twenty-five
Republican administrations. Conserv-
alive where the peoples interests are
concerned; progressive in aiding the
states development; aiming at the
highest and greatest good, the Repub-
lican party has been a safe and wise
counselor, in whom the people have
learned that implicit confidence may
be placed.
DemOcracy's SoiIed Garments.
On the other hand, they see the Dem
ocratic party and it's candidates, with
no record except few inconsiderable
soiIed garments which Democracy
would gladly hide beneath it's OWE
tattered raiment-with no principles
except an imitation set constructed of
negations of everything Republican.
And to-day Minnesota Democracy and
arrayed in plumage surreptitiously
borrowed from Republicans, hoping
that the people are not sufficiently
keen-sighted to detect the disguise,
staggering around in attire "a world
too wide for their shrunken shanks."
The plain fact is, my friends, that
our political opponents have made a
desperate attempt to steal our thun-
der, and are trying to persuade the
people that the ideas and plans they
advance for the carrying on and i'm
proving our state government are their
own, while, as a matter Of fact, every
substantial thing they possess or pre-
sent they have purloined from the Re-
publican cupboard. Consider the DEM
ocratic state platform. 1t points with,
pride to our system Of
Grain Inspection,
which the Republicans gave to ths
grain growers and shippers of the
state fifteen years ago. 1t points with
more pride to the state laws for the
control of railroads and railroad rates,
and to work the present state railroad
and warehouse commission is doing.
They imagine the people are credulous
enough to believe that they have
placed the railroads of Minnesota un-
der state control But the people
know that the state laws for the SUI
pervision and control of railroads were
the work of Republican legislatures;
that on March 6, 1871, Republican
legislature passed an act entitled, "An
act to regulate the carrying Of freight
and passengers in this state" where
by the state asserted it's power to ex-
ercise control of railroads in the in
terests of the people. That act pre-
scribed a maximum rate for freight
and passengers, and provisions suff1-
cient to prevent prohibitory rates and
determinations, and the man who was
mainly instrumental in winning the
fight for the right of the state to as
sert such control, was that great man
of the people, Cushman X. Davis. II
was a Republican legislature that
passed the laws creating the state
board of railroad and warehouse COM
missioners and which gave them the
powers which they now exercise.
Taxing Railroads.
It was Republican legislature that
provided for the taxation of the un-
used railroad lands. The first sugges-
ton of legislation for the inspection of
Minnesota wheat, and of protecting it
from being mixed in Eastern elevat-
ors with wheat of inferior grades, was
made by the Hon. A. J. Edgerton, the
first railroad commissioner under Gov.
!. Austin, and Gov. Davis in his third
annual report. dated Dec. 81, 1873.
To-day we find our political oppo-