Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-10-17
FOLKTALKSlN PHILADELPHIA
Governor of Missouri Addresses Great Mass
Meeting Under Auspices of City olub
NEED or GREATER CIVIC PATRIOTISM
Speaker Says Municipal Governments
Now Arc Administered ny the
Few and Not by the
People.

PHILADELPHIA. oct 1.-the GREAT |
battle between the republican organization |
and the city party, the municipal reform |
organization recently formed here. today |
was enlivened by the visit of Governor !
Folk Of Missouri who came to lend his |
voice in the interest Of good government |
The Missouri governor tonight addressed
large and enthusiastic audience in the
Academy Of Music. He spoke under the
auspices Of the City club. which claims no
connection with the city party. Governor
Folk had an exceedingly busy day and his
reception wherever he appeared during the
day and evening was hattering one.
The crowd that attempted 10 gain en-
trance to the academy tonight was so great
that the doors were closed before the meet
ing began Several thousand persons who
could not get in were addressed by the city
party speaker. While the curbstone mass
meeting was in progress. Governor Folk
arrived and the assembage would not per-
init him ia enter the building until he had
addressed them. He made a short speech.
When he entered the academy the entire
audience stood up to welcome him. with
him on the stage were George Burnham,
! jr., president of the City club former Post
master General Charles Emory Smith,
former, United States Attorney General
! Wayne MacVeagh: William II. Potter,
former United States minister to Italy and
about 100 other citizens of prominence.
Mayor Weaver occupied a proscenium box
and was given a warm welcome when he
| appeared.
| President Burnham, in explaining the OBJ
jects OF the club, said the organization was
allied with no party. that it neither en-.
dorsed nor named candidates, but stood
ready to help any genuine movement for
good government. He presented Wayne
| MacVeaugh who made a brief speech, in
| Producing Governor Folk
| Governor Folks speech.
Governor Folk spoke in part follows:
| The most conspicuous fact of municipal
J governments in the United States today
/ is that they are governments by the few
and not by the people. There is more ag-
I gressive rottenness and less aggressive pa
! triotlsm I'm our large cities than anywhere
else. II the patriotism can be made as
/ aggressive as the rottenness, the problem
OF good government would be solved by the
people taking the government into their
adelphia the people are to blame; If cor
ruption is to be eradicated the people alone
is a battle which will be felt by every
town, city and state in the land. The bene-
NJ NJ 0t victory t4r Or so0d s9yeTnmsnt %stn ne vii
feat will demoralize those who believe in
good government by the people. The aver
age man does not appreciate the solemn
duty he owes his city, stale and his coun-
try.
| the land means the patriotism that comes
from the heart. not from the head.
/ Many men would be Wiling Il need be,
| to give up their lives for their city
state If they are needed. sometimes, and
this kind of patriotism cannot be too highly
commended. but the man who is willing
is the man that is needed just now. There
may be as much patriotism in giving ones
time to the betterment of civic conditions
and the election of good men to Office and
in purifying the ballot as in barring ones
breast to the bullets of an enemy. There
never was a time when the need for pa
triotic men in public affairs was greater
than now. We need more men actuated
alone by the public good and fewer OF
those who are in politics merely for reve-
nue..
The strength of the lawless element is
nothing when II comes in contact with
a public conscience thoroughly aroused.
Philadelphia at last seems to be awakened
and. though the gang has been strong, Il
is being Shattered beneath the shafts OF
public opinion under the leadership of
Mayor Weaver. The people can overthrow
civic evil whenever they want to and get
Just as good government as they deserve
or bad as they permit it to become. The
law-abiding people are in the majority in
Philadelphia and there is hardly a COM
munity in this country of which this can
4 not be said They are usually quiet, how
ever, while the lawless are so Vociferous
as to deceive many as to their number
, They may blum and bulldoze. but they
are towards and If resolutely fought can
be overcome. They are always active, how
ever, while the average good citizen be-
comes active only occasionally.
, Great Moral Revolution.
, The moral revolution that is now sweep
ing over the land is merely revival of the
: rule OF the people. -Four years ago the
. laws against bribery in all of the states
were considered practically dead letters.
Not because the offense was uncommon,
> but because Il was uncommon for officials
. to be prosecuted for it. When the prosecu .
tions were commenced in st. Louis members
of the house of delegates claim that this
bribery had been going on so long that
they were entitled to notice to quit before
{ being prosecuted. Some of them argued
? that members of the house of delegates
having been taking bribes from time imme-
3 morial had acquired a right to do so, and
( Il was Just as proper for them TO sell their
votes as for the merchant to sell his wares.
. for bribery strikes at the foundation of all
= laws. Yet because the law denouncing IL
= was not enforced bribery became the usual
and expected thing all over the land; cor
rupt men feasted and fattened at public
e expense; laws became merchandise on the
= market and all this time the public con
=, science was asleep. When the revelation
d came the people saw that they had been
( plundered they saw the offense in all of is
( enormity, and from one end of the land q
. the other there was civic awakening
9 Any special privilege is graft, even Law
n be hateful to every fair-minded citizen
: Unless the spirit of civic righteousness nov
= abroad In the land dies out, and there Is nc
r likelihood OF that we viii pass from tht
: sordid age OF commercial into the age OF
:, high ideals.
Functions of Political Parties.
A political party has no right to ask fo
. I support because il Is that party, but be
( I cause Il stands for the right. II a pOlitica
J party cannot get votes on the ground OF
. / PATRIOTISM II has no right to ask for votes
on the ground of partisanship. Under ou
| form of government political parties ar
| necessary, for Il is through them hat III
people can come to agreements on publi
questions and announce their principles anC
intentions, but political parties should b.
3 the servants of the people, not their mas
a ters. 1 have spoken Of corruption. briberl
a and grating, using the terms as they ar
- commonly used, anonymously. While thJ
l. effect on the public may be hjlriou
8 from grating as from bOodling, there is ;
a distinction between them. The bOodler sell
- his vote and prostitutes his trust for brib
money contrary to law, but the CRATER 1
l. not always a boOdler. When those on IN
inside OF any great financial concern diver
the trust funds for their profit. that is (
i ] graft against the law: when a class Of mel
. have special privileges whereby they ca
IL prey upon the rest OF the people, that Is
II may even be protected by the law Tn
| remedy for corruption bribery, grating a
Is every kind is 10 enforce the law. III th
| system is working an illegal game instea
g OF trying to beat the game, the better wa
70 Is 20 stop the game.
Governor Folk arrived In PHILADELPHIA bs