The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1906-11-01

Mr.. Chairman, and Gentlemen Of the
Convention: Three years ago, was
honored by the Democrats of Decatur
county, with the nomination for Rep
resentative of this county, ir the state
Legislature. accepted the nomination
as political duty; at that time | told
you if elected ! would try to do the
duty imposed to the best of my ability,
and assured you then that / would not
be a corporation servant. | served in
the Both general assembly, and by the
terms of the biennial election amend
ment to the state constitution, it
became my duty to serve as your rep
resentative in the 31st general assembly.
How we'll | performed the duties
is a matter Of record, the measures
introduced were important, and in the
interest of the greatest number Of the
people. Among the bills introduced by
myself as your representative, was one
for uniform school text books, one
banks one for valued insurance policy
law, one requiring railroads to furnish
adequate private crossings where
parties owned land on both sides of
the railroad, and one to prevent fire
insurance companies from insuring
property for greater sum than the
actual cash value thereof, and last but
not least was the two cent passenger
fare bill. The reason that all those
measures failed to become laws, was
that special interests were so in
trenched in Iowa that they had powers
sufficient with the majority to prevent
their passage, but the effort made for
those bills brought them to the at
tention of the people of the state with
good results, and with probability Of
their enactment into law Ever since
the Civil war Except the Cleveland
administrator the Republican party
has had control of the government and
policy OF this country. This was
possible to degree on account of the
prejudice Of the people against the
Democratic party, on account of the
Civil war and the selfishness of the pro-
slavery faction of the Democratic
party, at that time. Since then every
special selfish interest found faithful
ally in the Republican party from the
spectators in government bonds dur
| ing and after the war, to ! every
beneficiary of spoliation under a high
protective tariff system that has en-
abled their special favorites to amass
larger fortunes in given time, on
account OF the protective system, than
in the same period of time, anywhere
on the globe, and the effect of their
policy has been to control the price Of
the raw material and the finished pro-
duct and the labor employed in such
manufactures, and the industries thus
aided found it to their selfish interests
to maintain the party in power by con-
triEutions to their campaign funds with
sums of money Of a magnitude hitherto
unknown in American politics, not for
the legitimate expenses of their cam
paigns alone, but as vast bribery fund
to control the national election and the
very nature of the benefits received by
protective eXtortion and the desire
Of the beneficiaries to retain the sys-
TEN so advantageous to them made it
certain that campaign funds for the
Republican party had only to be
suggested and the money was sure to
come. But the eXtortions of the pro-
tective system have grown until even
republicans have demanded that where
the tariff was shelter to monopoly it
should be removed, and because of that
demand on the part of the progressive
republicans of Iowa, we have witnessed
contest for the nomination for COVER
nor, prosecuted with energy on the part
of one faction and resisted by the other
faction, with display of malice and
disregard for majority rule unheard of
in our state history, until rule or ruin
seems to be the policy of the disap-
pointed minority of the republican
party Of this state.
| Gov. Cummins in his message to the
31st general assembly said in regard to
railways, that it is natural ard inevi-
table for railway companies in common
with other great corporations, to at
tempt to direct the course of govern
ment and mould it's policies to promote
its own interests. That railway mana
gers will endeavor with all their might
to secure the enactment of such laws as
will make their properties more valu-
able, and their revenue more ample,
and that they will exhaust every in
, fiuence to prevent the passage of such
laws which restrain or regulate their