The Forrest City times., 1904-01-29
Accusing a
Con science
BY CLYDE MONTAGUE
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Copyright, 1908, by Daily Story Pub. CoA

10 the current and strife of human en-
deavor while still an infant: pushed
along under the spur of necessity and
compelled to hold his own; a miniature
man at 5. child at 20; gifted with some
marvellous heritage from the misty
mirrors of the past; unknown, un-
claimed, unframed and uncared for
this was the history and antecedents of
Robert Melbourne.
Where he got hi&name was mystery
as profound as that of his birth and
parentage. Everybody knew him as
Rob and it was a tradition that prodi-
gal Australian doing" America gave
him the surname
Anyway he grew up in the street with
no schooling and only the education
which comes from the training of ne
Cessity. supplemented by the force of
his own personality. At he was a
nuisance, at 10 a terror. at Il a leader,
at ii king. While always a boy of the
streets, he showed at all times and
places a character and quality smack
ing of another sphere. A typical street
arab, he deliberately broke into a night
school-and thrashed the boy who
jeered He worked hard selling papers
and backing boots, but he always read
the papers and talked with his boot
backing patrons.
So eventually he got his feet on
higher round Of the ladder and started
in a new life. He became a lawyers as
sistant-to dig up evidence on the
street; then a law student; then full
1edged lawyer.
And finally at % he found himself
fairly we'll educated. ultra worldly wise
and self-confident. a power in city poll
tics. lawyer of recognized ability and
a man of more than ordinary perception
and education.
This was al % At 80 he had made his
mark. H was gentleman Of presence
and address, a lawyer much sought for
ana a politician whose knowledge of
human nature and the conditions in
the great cities was the marvel of the
party leaders from New York to San
Francisco. incidentally he vas a mem
bsr of congress and an orator whose
clean logic, ready imagination and con-
vineing rhetoric always filed the GAL
leries and drew tardy members TO their
seats when he held the floor
Never had Robert Melbourne made a
more brilliant or convincing speech
than the one on the Bracken bill and
when ha finished colleagues and OPP
ponents alike crowded around him with
COZ ratulations 1t had been a bold po-
sition to take and required courage to
Gefy criticism and censure, as well as
ability to sustain his point. His effort
accomplished the purpose Despite the
fact that public sentiment was opposed
to the bill and party leaders were afraid
Of II because corporation was its i'm
mediate beneficiary. Melbourne had
thrown the great ultimate benefit to the
people and the country in contrast with
a mere present sentiment so strongly
that ii stiffened the backbones of the
wavering members and the bill had
passed Immediately after his argument.
The bill was for the reclamation of
vast arid territory 1t gave extraorGi-
nary powers and privileges TO a corpo-
ration formed for the purpose on conGi-
ton that a mammoth system of irriea-
ton be established and maintained.
A great opposition had developed
from two sources. On one hand the
natural hostility of the public to grants
TO private corporations and the inev-
liable screaming of demaeOeic pOliti-
tians and newspapers had aroused a
clamor From another source came
cry that had enlisted a more reputable
and intelligent protest In the plans to
reclaim the wilderness 1t was necessary
to wipe out the claims to title of an in
considerable number of small settlers.
These claims to title were very shaky
and the value of the property involved
was almost nothing. 1t was necessary
10 have a clean title to the entire tract
and the bill provided clearly for the
wiping out of the vague shadows of
claims held by the squatters. This
aroused a protest which helped out the
demagogic anti-corporation wall until
the opposition had become so formida-
bic and the talk of doodle" so great
that many members who were really in
favor q. the bill dared not vote for it,
He had assured himself that there were
favorable votes enough If the members
dared vote So he had taken the floor
at the last moment and met the opposi-
ton face to face-granted that a pri-
vate corporation would be the bene-
ficiary and that hundreds of settler
would be obliged to move on or Perfect
their title under the new conditions
which presumed a tribute to the new
company. Then he turned and pic
tured with master hand the trarspor-
tation of a wilderness almost uninhab-
tied into garden spot teemine with
life and OVERLOOKING with milk and
honey-a trackless desert avoided by
man and beast changed with an Alad-
6in's touch to an empire inhabited by
happy and prosperous men and women
and children and able to feed half the
nation. And this Aladdin who was to
co this was the new corporation and
his lamp the countless thousands of gold