The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1905-02-11

cog. The very decisiveness of their
victory startled the state. Was 1t
, possible that out of 100000 people in
| st. Louis not one preferred Folk to the
| boodlers? Could the vote which pro-
duced such result be honest? Coun-
try-folks began to ask questions: coun-
ty papers began to print pictures OF
bUOdlers knocking down aged, gray
haired men; pictures were printed OF
the judges demolished bench and of
Folk delegates leaping from the court
house windows And as the sturdy
Missouri farmers thought of these
/ things they set their teeth and grimly
vowed, that whatever St. Louis with
it's police and "Prominent- Citizen"
Ring-rule might do, they, the people
at the fork of the creeks. the people
interrupted by the hired tools of
modern robber-barons greedy for stolen
public privileges. could and would
nominate Joseph w. Folk for Cover
nor. And this VOW they kept when
the Democratic State Convention met
at Jefferson City last July.
Could the story end here there would
be in it naught but hope and JOY to the
lover of good government, but it does
not end here. Defeated in their effort
to defeat Folk. the ''Prominent
Citizen" Ring turned it's attention to
the other state officials and there met
with it's accustomed success: It secured
the nomination Of men who for years
past in their official positions have
assessed railroads and other public
service corporations at from e-fourth
to less than one-fifth their actual
value: all the while private property,
farms, lands. houses, horses, cattle,
have been assessed at from two thirds
to three-fourths of their actual selling
value. The presence on the ticket Of
these men. one of whom escaped prose-
cution for bribery only because his
crime was not known until after the
statute Of limitations had matured,
confused and COMPOUNDED the peopk of
Missouri: here was Folk, the prose-
cutor of boodlers, running for Governor
on ticket containing as candidate for
the next highest office, that of Sec
rotary of State, the name. of man
whose immunity from criminal prose-
ecutlon was due. not to innocence of
crime, but to the statute of limita-
tions. Another man nominated on the
ticket with Mr.. Folk was known as
the plant tool of monopoly corpora
tons; and what that meant to the
people may be seen from a few H.
Illustrations. For example. at a time
when the ST. Louis Transit company
Ga street-railroaD was capitalized at
$3O.O00,000 and charged the people a
tlVe-cent fare in order to earn div
ldends upon that figure. the same COM
pany was made to pay taxes on only
some $l6,0O0,000, less than a fifth of
its capitalization. Again. an official
o; the St. Louis Laclede Gas company
stated in the witness stand that his
company's plant could be duplicated
for 100000; and it was assessed for
taxation purposes at that figure The
company is quite willing to adopt that
1lgure when it comes to appraising it's
property for taxation. but when it
comes to charging St. Louisans for gas
the price is fixed a a rate high enough
to earn dividends upon nearly ten
times that amount. The Laclade Gas
company is capitalized at $50, OOO, 900,
and the daily stock-market quotations
SHOW that its actual selling value
ranges from $4,000, 900 till $4,000, 900.
1t was to retain this power of getting
something for nothing. this power to
charge high prices for gas and street.
car fares so as to earn profits on ten
times the capital actually invested,
that the "Prominent-Citizen Ring en-
ployed Boss Butler and his Indians"
first to defeat the nomination of Folk;
then. having failed in that. to saddle on
the ticket upon which Folk was a can
dldate for Governor men who could
not command public confidence or
public respect. This scheme worthy
Of Machiavelli himself, succeeded. And
so mystified, so discouraged were men
at the sight of Folk weighted down by
fellow candidates who were either the
tried tools of monopoly. or We're guilty
Of aiding and conniving in the bribery
Of State Senator. that thousands Of
voters lost all interest in the election
and either did not take the trouble to
go to the polls, or else voted against
the entire Democratic ticket, Folk in
Guided. The result WIS that Folk
was elected Governor on the eighth of
November by an unprecedentedly small
margaln: Missouri, a "rock-ribbed'
Democratic state, is accustomed to
giving its Democratic tickets an over
Whelming majority; Bryan carried the
State by 5S.727 Folk carried it bv q
plurality of 3o,100 and a majority of
only $3.50; all the rest of the ticket
went down to an inglorious defeat-the
first time since 1870 that a Missouri
state Democratic ticket has been de-
feated in a presidential year.
Part of this poor showing may be
due to the efforts of Boss Butler and
his redoubtable Indians" In certain
wards of st. Louis where they retained
control of the polling-p places Folks bal
lots We're destroyed much after the old
time methods of primary-election DAYS:
but this accounts for only small part
of the final result. for the Butler en-
dlans' were confined to but A few
wards of one city; moreover. the great
detection from the usual Democratic
vote took place in the rural districts.
And from This If NAV h. c,;,1. -