Hutchinson gazette., 1900-12-20
A BASIS OF UNION.



The socialists did not cast an large
q vote rs they expected, but innsmuch
as there was II tremendous gain they
have no reason to feel discouraged.
The world was not built in n day and
socialism viii not win in u year.
But the vote for the socialist can
ddates is no indication of the actual
strength Of the principles that the
party represents, There are Il million
voters that believe socialism to be
the ultimate hope Of the people, who
did not vote for Mr.. Debs. These men
are in all parties, Some were not
quite ready TO cross the llubicon--
some hoped for partial relief in some
other wNy--nn immense multitude Of
socialists, under the leadership Of
Mayor Jones, OF Toledo, voted for
Bryan, not because Bryan was socin-
list, but because they believed that
his election would stop the bloody
carnival of crime abroad and would
retard the progress of plutocracy at
home. If Bryan had been elected the
growth of socialism would have been
retarded to some extent, but the
triumph of Mckinley throws wide
open the doors for the success Of the
socialist propaganda. The Debs men
as rule were anxious for republican
success because they believed their
party would thrive on bad govern
ment and that Mckinley would give
them the worst there is in the shop,
They wanted the trusts TO triumph
for trusts make socialists faster than
all their orators and all their news
papers,
Since the election we have received
letters from all parts of the United
States saying that socialism is the
next step for reformers, and most of
the writer's voted for Bryan. Genuine
reformers have no more confidence in
the democrats than in the republic
cans. At least two million men voted
for Bryan who would not vote for
any other democrat They voted for
him because they believed he was an
honest and sincere man and because
he was better, purcr, braver than his
party What will these men do now?
They are not Office seekers, they are
not hankering after the flesh pots Of
Egypt. They are not hunting for
loayes and fishes, they are not hum
bic enough to take the crumbs that
fall from the rich mans table. They
want better govcrnment-thcy want
n chance for every man to earn n
good liying-thcy want future pros
pect for their boys and girls--they
want n more equal distributionSof the
good things of life. They cannot get
these things from either of the old
parties. Their only hope is to form n
new party, or to join the socialists,
There are two great questions on
which all rcformcrs can agree and
those are direct legislation and public
ownership. (of what?) This is as far
as most reformcrs wish to go at
present and this is as much as social
lists can hope to get for many years
to come, Public ownership is the only
way to dispose Of the trust question
and direct Legislation win give the
people chance to prevent the pas.
sage of bad laws and enable them ia
enact good ones regardless of the
complexion Of congress or legislu-
lures. Direct legislation is death
blow TO corruption and under it Gas
Addicks, Of Delaware Quay, Of Penn.
sylyaniu, Hanna, Of Ohio, and Thurs
ton. of Nebraska, will be as helpless
in the United States senate as any
other rascals will be in private life
Why then cannot all reformers unite
on these two great questions and
form national party on this basis?-
Nonconformist.