Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1903-09-05
tending. But they may get their eyes
opened sometime, and then the step
children; will refuse to longer support
the legitimate off spring of the party.
REPUBLICAN CALAMITY nowlER.

REPUBLICAN CALAMITY noWlER.
"We are becoming the servants of
corporations. We have lost our per-
sonal responsibility to good govern
ment which came to this younger gen.
GRAFTON as q blessed heritage from
their forebears. Once 1t was the will
principle of government it. was not
such government today, either in the
nation or In the state? No despot
ever lorded over q race of serfs more
imperiously than these corporations
lord it over this present generation.
political liberty has given place to
Industrial slavery. Government by
corporations .is as destructive to po-
litical liberty as an early frost is to
the flowers OF summer. Divest the PEG.
pie of their representative rights and
you subvert the basic principles of
government.
"When artificial laws, passed by
corrupting influence, restrict the trans
poxtation of products of labor the peo-
pie have q right to demand an in
Vestigation into the conduct of their
representatives In the Legislature.
Zone of the causes of the revolution
was the imposing of taxes on US with
out representation. Today corpora
lions buy from our legislatures i'm
munity from taxation and what they
fail to pay must be contributed by. the
private taxpayer. The men chosen to
represent the people become represen.
tatives of the corporations. The peo-
pie are unrepresented, although they
| hon,p tho h,s,1 nt ~ 70 tim
$50, I maintain, that taxation with
out representation is as prevalent in
1908 as il was In 1777 and needs vigor-
Gus action to combat it successfully.
denominations and consultations
of moneyed interests demand that
legislatures should be watchful of the
liberty of the people, but are they?
Are they so watchful in Wisconsin;
are they so watchful in congress?
81 do not decry wealth, national or
Individual. I rejoice in the pros
perity of our state and nation. but
DO decry the combination of wealth
that grows at the expense of the peo-
pie, and l lament the influence of
wealth when used to subvert the rights
O. the people through the bribery of
their representatives..
"Instead of occupying the position
of public servant, the railroads
throughout the country have become
q public master. And in their power
I see the gravest menace. In the sub
servience of state Legislatures I be.
hold the deepest degradation to which
humanity can sink.
"As for official and executive COR
ruption, there is little of that, and it
is always disclosed sooner or later.
The danger point is in the lawmaking
department, which ever seems ready
to listen to the allurements of cor
pOrate power.
"Members of legislatures are ap.
preached sometimes by direct bribery,
sometimes by sidedoor, sometimes
by promise of favor and occasionally
by intimid atoms. They are ap-
preached, however, and they yield"
Gov. LaFolette, of Wisconsin.
Those are strong statements, CON-
ing from such prominent republican
statesman, but they are undoubtedly
true. There is no man in an official
position in this nation today who
knows the strength of the corporations
in the lawmaking department as we'll
as does the intrepid Wisconsin COVER
nor. He has met the corruptionists
in the legislative halls in earnest COM
bat twice, and they have been the
victors. In spite of the fact that he
was elected on the very issues he
fought for in the Legislature, the peo-
pies representatives there voted
against the governors recommends
tions. He was backed by the popular
will, but the corporations backed up
their interests with money, and they
won. The only remedy for such a
condition is direct legislation. It is
easy for the corporations to work
conventions to nominate corporation
tools for legislative places, or to buy
the legislators after election. It
would be difficult for them to buy up
the majority of the voters when the
voting was on measure not stamped
with the name of party.