Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1905-01-27
! western Reform movement.

,0UG 10nue16 uu1t u0vo uOtACou al un0
last week or two the remarkable inaug-
urals delivered by the governors of
western states, nearly everyone Of them
advocating earnestly the reforms de
manded in the different states Two Of
them, the governors Of Indiana and
Wyoming; have sharply called stten-
ton to nefarious custom of selling votes
Out of five thousand voters mentioned
by the governor Of Indiana in certain
district twelve hundred are regularly
listed for sale to which ever party gives
the most. The condition of affairs are
even worse in Colorado. Governor
Folk of Missouri has perhaps been the
most aggressive in his demands for re-
form. Nowhere has there been greater
need of reform than in the state of
Missouri, owing to the fact that she
has two large cities, in each of which
it is generally conceded that corruption
is rampant Minnesota and Wisconsin
have been urging closer regulation of
corporations, with Illinois demanding
the enactment Of primary law which
will put it ont Of the hands Of the pol
itical bosses, the men who ride on rail-
road passes and furnish railroad passes
to willing delegates to control county
and state conventions.
Iowa has no Legislature in session
this year, but the utterances of Gov
ernor Cummins on various linee at var
ious times leave no question but that he
is in sympathy with and actively sup
porting these general measures Of re-
form. With the governor Of Wiscon-
sin and the retiring govonor Of Minne-
sofa he visited Washington and urged
upon the president the policy which
he had already decided upon with ref
erence to railroad legislation.
This means that there is an awaken
ing of the conscience Of the common
people and Of business men in all this
wide Mississippi valley. For years past
the great aim and end of the majority
Of men has been to make money, and
they have gradually fallen into the
adoption Of methods which are often in
absolute conflict with the standards of
morality heretofore maintained and
generally accepted not merely by pro-
fessed Christians but by all good cit.
izens. a
When matters get to their worst they
begin to mend. Progress is like the
motion Of the water of the sea, in waves.
For years the strong men forget the
rights of their fellowmen and the weak
and trample on them, but the natural
workings out Of evil brings men face to
face with the eternal and immutable
laws Of rectitude Let us hope that
this awakening of conscience may ex.
tend over the entire United States, and
that We shall have better government
in the cities, relief from the oppression
Of trusts and com binations the country
over, and have sounder and ssner and
purer legislation in all our legislative
bodies, state and national.
The battle is now on. We have
never known . movement of reform to
spread 60 rapidly as that for the reform
Of corporate methods Last summer
when we were alone among the agric-
ultural papers. and in fact among
papers generally in demanding that
congress put teeth in the interstate
commerce law. we felt that we were as
"a voice crying in the wilderness"
We felt, however, that this must be
done or the government of this nation
would pass from the hands Of the peo.
pie into the hands not of the railroads
and other corporations, but of individ-
uals who own and control these corpor-
ations.
So rapid was this movement and such
powerful support did it receive from
the president in his message to congress
that no doubt many Of our readers felt
that the corporations were on the run
and victory in sight. We warned them
q couple of weeks ago not to enter