Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1906-05-04

people of the state will determine the
from January 1907 to January 1909
They will determine whether it is tC
be government of the people by the
people and for the people, or whether
it is to be government by the cor
porations for the corporations through
a political machine headed by Sena.
tor Kittredge, Martin. Burke and
Alex johnson. This is no campaign
assertion. 1t is a cold and stubborn
fact known to every voter in the
state.
Shall the corporations rule or shall
the people rule?
This is the question that every vOt-
Ell in the state must determine by his
ballot on the 18th inst.
One can hardly presume for mo-
ment that the people will surrender
their rights and vote the control of
state affairs into the hands of an un-
scrupulous gang of corporation agents
men who are servants Of the corpora
tions and care nothing for the honor
or welfare of the people or the state.
Any patriotic liberty loving citizen
would say on the instant: The people
will protect their rights and clean out
the corporation agents and political
bosses.
Shall the people rule or shall the
corporations rule this state?
! To the average citizen there is only
one answer and the answer would be
almost unanimous were it not for
corporation Doodle, dirty politics..
Machine promises and the bull-dozing
tactics of Kit, Martin, Burke and
Alex johnson of the Northwestern,
the slickest manipulation of the gang.
ElrOd'S insurance commissioner has
held up the insurance statements
until last week in order to keep the
boys silent. A dirty bit of political
bulldozing, but the machine and its
tools are capable of anything beneath
the consideration of honorable men.
Then hundreds of post office appoint
ments are held up to make every ap-
plicant believe he has a chance to win
out. 1t brings the postal service
under the influence of congressman
who voted to rob the government out
Of mileage never earned. OF course
such men as Martin and Burke
are capable of anything that is disrep-
utable.
Were it not for the corrupt infu-
ence and bulldozing tactics of the
machine every county in the state
would send a Crawford delegation to
the state convention, but there will
be counties enough to face the issue
manfully and send delegates to Sioux
Falls that will forever end the cor
rupt sway of the machine in this
state.
There are very few counties today
over which the machine has domin-
ating influence, and with proper Or
ganization among the progressive re-
publicans the machine could not carry
a single county in the state. The
rural population are up in arms
against the infamous system Of taxa
tion, but occasionally farmer is
found who is willing to be robbed for
the sake of railroad pass or a ma
chine promise.
There is not man in the state who
can name enough sure machine coun-
ties to make 400 votes to save his life,
while the Gamble, Crawford, Cassill,
Hall, Parker, Bently, combination
can count votes enough now to give
them over one hundred majority in
the state convention, and these coun-
ties have been named several times;
but the machine crowd has never
dared to publish the list of counties
it expects to carry. The machine has
not one county in the state today
that it is absolutely certain of carry
ing. We have conceded Brown coun-
ty to Campbell, McCook to Kits Beer
natsky and Hughes to Burke, but if
the fight that is being made in Law
renee against Martin was duplicated
in the counties named each one would
send a Crawford delegation.
|. Martin will lose Lawrence, and
Ustrud will carry Minnehaha, and
that winds up the machine, but
the Gamble Crawford forces can win
out without either Lawrence or Min
nehaha.
Go wherever you will through the
state, you have only to mention Gov.
Cummins and you will find an anti
machine man. The influence of the
anti-machine battles in Wisconsin,
Minnesota and Iowa, would have
made majority Of the voters in this
state anti-machine if Crawford had
never opened up the issue. Such is
the power of sympathy for men fight
ling battle for the people. The
anti-machine influence came from
those states with such force that
South Dakota was anti-machine be-
fore the campaign opened. Ali that
was necessary was to arouse the peo-
pie to the duty before them.
| There are about 500 anti-machine
lvotes coming from counties where no