Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-02-24
BOSTON .FINANclER FLAWS THE
SYSTEM" in SPEECH
AT PEORIA
TOAST TO "THE ENEMY"
Says He Is Not An Agent Of Reform
But Expresses Admiration for Re
formers-Proud Of Breaking sys-
tem's silence.

Lawson Of Boston was the principal
speaker last night at the annual Creve
Occur banquet held In the Coliseum In
spite Of the efforts made by the Off
cials Of the club to have Mr.. Lawson
make temperate speech he
flayed s'the system" right and left for
its operations in assuming control Of
the peoples interests. In paying his
words of tribute to the insurance
world he said that, as much as has
been accomplished, much more is to
be expected.
The other speakers and the toasts
to which they responded were:
President A. B. Stickney of the Chi
cago Great Western railroad-"T The
Railways and the People"
Rear Admiral Winfield Scott Schley
THE Macy OF Our Country"
Congressman j. Adam Bede-"C Civil
lization; It's Cause and Cure III
Congressman Charles A. Towne
''Washington's United States"
Lawson,s Toast to "The Enemy"
Mr.. Lawson's toast was "The En-
eniy and the Enemies the Enemy Has
Made" In part he said:
"Not for one moment would I have
you think regard myself as the
agent Of the mighty insurrection
against graft that has broken out in
this country, but just run over the tre-
mendous series Of happenings that
accompanied my narrative during the
twenty.one months Of Its telling.
when my story began the great
cruel system wass:in It's heyday It's
.votaries were only exercised with one
branch OF their nefarious task how
to find places in which ito store the
countless millions they were making
as the magician makes doves, rab-
bits and other creatures OF the air, and
water
mot cloud was In their sky. They
had the American people just where
they wanted them-busy as bees in
their labors Of extracting honey from
all the marvellous flowers with which
God Almighty had adorned their won
derful country busy as bees and as ig-
norant Of the wonderful processes by
which the fruits of their labors were
SO brutally appropriated.
"The first definite result Of my work
WdS tuo UlCdhluS I'LL LILO llISI lllll0 Ill
it's history of the contemptuous silence
Of Standard Oil. It issued an official
proclamation to the people, saying in
substance that was 4 liar and Stand
ard Oil plain, honest, law abiding
citizen"
Tells Of Reform Wave.
Mr.. Lawson recounted the awaken.
ings Of the country, the reforms that
have come to New York, Boston, Phila.
delphia, Chicago, in Wisconsin, in Min.
nesota, Florida, and of the operations
Of the system in Kansas, saying:
"Chicago arose and surprised the
world by turning out the organized
grafters and political parties, and pro.
claiming for municipal ownership. Now
am no municipal ownershipist, but
the fact that the people of the greatest
city in your state found vent to their
feelings in municipal ownership means
nothing more than that they spoke, and
in impressive tones. If 1t had not been
municipal ownership it would have
been something else, which only meant
that they had begun to feel their fet'
ters.
Next came Philadelphia, where the
people arose between night and morn
ing and marched In mobs-but law
abiding mobs-drove out Of their