Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1904-11-02

$f GaS 5ss So. ETE
That something must be done, and
done soon, should be clear to all. A few
more Colorado situations would precipi-
tate the rule of the soldier, paid by the
corporation, or by the taxpayers whose
state officials are owned by corporations.
, The peoples party advocates the
tnitiative, by means of which the peo-
pie can originate and pass such laws
as they desire; the referendum, by
means Of which they can veto such
legislation as they disapprove; and
the right to cancel the commission OF
such public officials as have given dis
satisfaction.
! One Of the evils OF the present sys-
tenn is that the PEOPLE are not con-
suited when laws are to be made; they
only hear of the legislative acts after
they are published. Even fleet-footed
lawyers find it difficult to keep pace
with the changes constantly being
made in the statutes.
! The initiatiue and referendum, would
correct most of mat; AMI the inperd-
tiVe mandate and right to recall would
do a great deal toward keeping public
officers faithful to trust To cancel the
commission of the public servant who
has been recreant to duty is mild enuogh
punishment. If such power be not
given the people, then our statutes
; should make the betrayal of public trust
punishable with the heaviest penalties.
We shoot the private soldier who deserts
to the enemy. The extreme penalty IS
supposed to be necessary to deter others
i from deserving. But when a senator or
! representative or governor or judge sells
j his vote or his decision to the enemies OF
| the people, in violation of solemn pledges
made to the people who elected him, is
his crime less grave than that Of the
deserter who is shot?
Not Earthly Editions Of Jehovah.
If Cleveland had been impeached for
that mysterious bond deal, and Shlras
disrobed for his flop on the income tax,
rascality in high places might have
slackened it's gait and mended its ways.
The peoples party favors the election
of all officers by the people For one
thing this would bring the federal judges
to their senses, and take out of their in
! fated souls the idea that they are earthly
| editions of Jehovah. The life-term in
| Office is so undem 0crat1c and so inner
| emily vicious that it is matter OF aston
| ishment that our forefathers established
| it. It is safe to say that they failed to
realize the peril. Jefferson alone saw
the dealy danger which lurked in this
autocratic body Of men, and warned the
people of the inevitable consequences.
But even he could not have foreseen the
extravagant usurpations which have be-
come the everyday occurrence with us,
| the drag-net Injunction, the imprison-
ment without trial by jury, the practical
abrogation of hdbeds corpus. A cor
poration which does not own federal
Judge or two is as much behind the times
as it would be if it did not own lawyers,
| lobbyists, newspapers, politicians and
professional witnesses.
! When our party was first founded 1t
declared that "the necessaries of life,
which the poor must have to live, should
not be subjected to tariff tax: and that
no mans industry should be built up at
the expense of another. These princi-
pies are surely sound and democratic.
They are expressed in almost the exact
words Of Mr.. Jefferson, whose ideal was
a system Of national taxation upon lux
uries in which the poor man need not
pay any tax at all.
A Sketch of Great Commoner.
| learned what l know of the pr1nci-
! pies of democracy at the feet of Alexan-
der H. Stephens. My home was in his
district, and was one of the thousands
Of young men who gathered around him
in his later years and fought his battles
against the democratic bosses who
1
Time and again he defled the democratic
they saved the machine by throwing to
his an official nomination which he had
not sought He spent his fortune and
made the last speeches of his glorious
life in the vain effort to inject some JEFF
democratic party.
Having learned what true democracy
was from Stephens and from the writ
ings of Jefferson, am not willing tc
change the creed at the dictation of Bel
mont, Pat McCarren and Arthur Cor
man.
Measured by the old standards of JET.
ferson, Jackson, Benton and Stephens
the party which calls itself democratic
has no right to do so: It contains nc
democratic principles. It does not seek
to accomplish any democratic purpose
1t has no harmony of creed, no unity OF
action, no common legislative object
One and all, they would like to capture
the offices; beyond that, they do not
agree upon any earthly subject.
In effect, the democl attic party of to-
day has no mission except to keep the
people divided, in order that the cor.
porations may have no substantial op-
position. The republican party is one
good horse; the democratic party is
another; sometimes the corporations
ride the one, sometimes the other. In
either event they keep in the saddle
One the Pot, the Other the Kettle
Of Blackness.
Senator John T. Morgan, of Alabama
is the Nestor of the south in the United
States senate; and if anybody is compe-
tent to tell what modern republicans
and democrats are, it is this veteran who
has served his state so long in the upper
house of congress. In December last
Senator Morgan declared publicly
through the newspapers, that there was
no practical difference between the two
old parties; that each of them rallied
against the trusts during a campaign
and each became servants of the trusts
after the election. He called one the
pot and the other the kettle, for black
ness.
Yet Senator Morgan has to submit tt
the humiliation of being carried along
obedient, helpless, filled with impotent
ra po-hv a lot Of oornorof T., =