Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-11-24

WASHINGTON. NOV Ll-ASPtCauA WI
respondence of The Argus) The les
son of this election should come home
to the people with added force an.
effect. simply because they did not ex
ert their prerOSative as a voter, and {
killer. therefore. of vicious practices
and political evils. The democracy
has lost the house by between 40 and
so. in the Sixtieth congress. Ii shoul1
have won. As ! said some time ago
ZIG majority republican iii the house
of representatives was an herculean
task to overcome. 1t could have beer
overcome if the democrats of the
United States. who really are demo
Gratis. who believe in democratic pr.n
cipals. had come out and voted the!f
honest convictions. because there were
enough men defeated-democratic can
didates-by less than 800 majority, 10
have won the house.
The trouble with the democratic
party in this country is that they do
not go to the polls and vote. The red
son they do not vote is because they
are satisfied. Satisfaction means con-
tentment. and contentment means in
~ tIC pOl-tAttAA MS NAAstt N4''
turb this country. and make il a coun-
try of. for and by the trusts. and not
the people. IL seems to me. after 10
years of service in Washington as Il
newspaper correspondent. and six
years service as secretary of the dem
Ocratic congressional committee, there
is nothing which will overcome the
republican majority IN the house 0r
the republican majority in the nation
from a presidential standpoint, except
absolute poverty, and a pinching in the
belly which Will make men think of the
cruel wrongs being wrought by the
trusts and combinations, absorbing the
money of the masses. When man
has all he wants. he does not think;
he wants TO sleep and rest. He is ut
terly Indifferent 10 anything that COM
pels him to take himself out of his
lethargy and become active.
| have the prOfOundeSt consideration,
the kindliest thought. for the people as
a whole. in the United States. II is
not the people that l am angry with.
They do ne mean to be neglectful of
their own interests. but when they are
prosperous. when they feel that they
are contented they will not go TO the
polls and they will not vote to relieve
their fellow citizens who are not in
the same condition they find them
selves in.
In the case of high prices for food
and raiment the farmer is the gamer.
He is the man who usually settles all
disputes at the polls. The man with
the fixed income. like the ldbOring
man, and clerk. is the man who suf-
fers because of high prices. Thousands
of farmers who naturally are demo-
Gratis went TO the polls and voted
against their own party because they
believed it was trying to do something
to disturb present conditions, which
were prosperous conditions so far as
they are concerned Thousands of
clerks and workmen went to the polls
and voted against the republican party
because it stood pat" and refused to
do anything to help them or cut down
the price of things in this country TO
an equality with those prices at which
they were selling to foreigners. It
to know they are buying their own
homemade goods as cheaply here as
they are sold 10 a foreigner but when
the condition arises that the average
American is satisfied, they vote their
and the fact of discrim-
ination in prices has no effect upon
them because they have the price ask
ed by American manufacturers.
Now then, what is the remedy, and
how and when will the democrats win? |
If this thing continues it only |
can result in one thing. and that is n |
financial crisis that will bring every |
man who has a family, to his knees,
and compel him to recognize the fact
that all the wealth of this nation is be-
ing concentrated in the hands of the |
few
When he has been drained to the
last drop, and he sees the pinched and |
wan faces of his family, and his own
belly begins to hurt from cruel want,
he then will go to the polls and vote
TO depOse the kind of men, the kind
of party. that advocates this double
demanded by the prin-
ciples of the republican party.
There is another thing that helped
to defeat the democratic party in this |
recent election, and that is the socalled |
Independent" vote that put up men
agains democratic candidate for coll
gress who would have entered demo-
cratic caucus and helped to organize
a democratic house of representatives,
which would have Investigated every
thing appertaining TO the republican
which investigation
would have stunk the republicans out
Of power.
The man primarily responsible for
this condition. not only in New York,
but in Illinois and California. is one