The Elbert County tribune., 1904-12-29
A Wave Of Reform.

ing more than the headlines, that wave
Of reform will in the very near future
sweep over this country that may very
materially change our legislation and
work sad havoc among the men who
have been engaged these many years in
playing what they call practical poll
tics" The evidence that this reform
movement is beginning to get under way
is OF the most varied character. In short
there seems to be an awakening of the
public conscience, which has been appar-
emily paralyzed, or at least torpid or
sleeping, during the past five or six years
of unexampled prosperity.
In Missouri it began in the reform OF
abuses in city government. 1t spread to
the entire state and resulted, for the sec
ond time in recent years, in giving the
electoral ticket to a Republican presi-
dent, while at the same time electing as
governor the young man, heretofore un-
known, who had inaugurated municipal
reform in st. Louis.
In Wisconsin it is manifested in the
determination Of the people to compel
the just taxation of railroads and the
fair expression Of the public will at the
ballot box, resulting in the election of
Governor La Toilette by combination
of Republican and Democratic votes.
In Minnesota it manifested itself in an
enormous electoral vote for President
Roosevelt and the defeat of the Repub-
lican candidate for governor, because of
his known affiliation with railroads and
with the Standard Oil and steel trust
monopolies, which are dominant in the
mining sections of that state.
In Colorado it manifested itself in the
defeat of the Republican candidate for
governor, because of his affiliation with
the capitalistic forces. Massachusetts
elected another Democratic governor for
modification of the tariff and for reci-
procity.
In all the country west OF the Missou-
ri, and in many sections east OF it, it
manifested itself in determination at
all hazards to secure an amendment to
the interstate commerce law, which will
railroads in favor of the various trusts
and combinations. We might mention
many other illustrations of this reform
movement, but it is evident to every man
who THINKS about 1t that a movement of
such breadth and earnestness can orig
mate only in an awakening of the public
conscience, not in one section but in all
sections of the country.
1t is already beginning to manifest it.
self in literature. Three or four years
ago the country was flooded with histor-
ical novels, selling by the hundreds of
thousands, the veriest froth and fustian,
suitable only for reading by the man who
is tired out with the days work and
wishes something to divert his mind.
This year the book sellers are furnish
ing us with reading matter much of
which goes to the very core Of the evils
which result in the robbery of the poor
and the accumulation of fortunes be-
yond the dreams Of avarice. One OF the
significant things is this, that the advo-
Gates of this reform we're not originally
the leading political papers nor the party
papers, but the great magazines and the
independent press, but which will draw
into it in the near future every publica-
ton that appeals to thinking men.
Who would have believed year ago
that a series Of articles on the ways of
the men engaged in what has been called
the "high finance" would increase the
circulation of a magazine like Every
body's from one hundred and fifty thou
sand to six hundred thousand and which
may probably reach a million in the next
three months? Mr.. Lawson was writing
something that appealed to the public
heart and conscience, hence everybody
wants to read what he says. Ten years
ago, five years ago, series of articles
like this would have fallen on deaf ears,
because we were crazy making money,
playing the part of "Bunyana man with
muck rake" Now we are beginning to
wonder what is the end OF it all, and
whether apparent prosperity which is Sc
cured by methods which violate the laws
of God and man is worth having.
The reading matter of the next three
or four years in any paper that is stu
dent of the movements that are going on
in this country will be more interesting
than any novel, because it gets down to
where people live; and as a result of this
agitation hook will be put in the jaw of
the leviathan. There will be better
times for the poor man and less scandal
in the lives of the enormously rich; bet
ter regulation of every kind of policy,
and forward movement in the great
work Of temperance reform. When the