The San Francisco call., 1906-04-03
BRIGHTER ERA
FOR REPUBLIC
Governor Folk Sees Hopeful
Sign in the Awakening
of the Public Conscience
TALKS TO DEMOCRATS
Tells IoWans There Is Room
for but Two Great Par
ties in This Country

DES MONIES, Iowa, April 2.-Gover-
nor Folk of Missouri was the chief
speaker at the Jefferson banquet to-
night under the auspices of the Iowa
Democratic Club. Democrats of prom
inence from all parts of the State at
tended, and the gathering was one of
the most noted ever held in the State
under the auspices of this party.
Governor Folk, Responding to the
subject Good Government" spoke in
part as follows:
We are In the midst Of one of the most
dramatic periods of American history-the
period In which the people, rights are to be
defined and observed they never have been
before There some who see danger to
our institutions in the agitations resulting from
the exposures In official and business Hfe l
do not share this view. To my mind the hope
for the perpetuity of this Government by the
people was never brighter than now. The
ract that this awakening has come at time
of unusual prosperity shows that it does not
proceed from a spirit of discomfort. but springs
from the moral of the people. 1t is
simply determination to stamp out the things
that dishonor in public life and the things
that Cypress in private life-a urn resolve
that the Government shall be representative
of the good not of the bad. The energies OF
this public conscience have been extended from
the domain OF the public wrongdoer to that
OF the private wrongdoer and it is probing
into the carryings-on of grafters of every kind
1t is not insurance companies the people
complain Of. but abuses OF trust on the part
of some of those running the insurance COM
panies; the people understand these things
and know that while some insurance people
and some bankers are crooked, just as some
officials are crooked, 1t does not follow that
all insurance men or all bankers and officials
are without honor. The people are diScrlm-
mating between the good and the bad.
This movement against graft Is not a cru
sade against wealth. but against the abuses
whereby obtain great wealth. 1t is
demand for common honesty In public life
and private business. No man that IS doing
an honest business need fear from the arousing
n he 00 nS0ie nf he OnIa
The distinguishing characteristic Of this cru
sade for higher ideals IS the conservatism OF
the people. They do not oppose riches hon
estly acquired but they do object to special
privileges out Of which tainted riches grow.
The agitation against iil-gotten gains does not
mean rabid socialism or the destruction or
the vested rights of any one The cry Is not
for socialism or anarchy, but that the corpora
ton magnate respect the law that governs
the conduct of the corporation, as he asks
others to respect the law that protects the
property of the corporation.
This Government does not rest either upon
the idle rich or the idle poor but upon the
energy and patriotism OF the middle class
This is the class that suffers under the reign
of the special privilege The elimination OF
special privileges is the great question before
the people of this country-the railroad rebate
special privilege the tariff so arranged as to
give special privileges and create monopoly
and severy special privilege founded on graft
There Is room In this country for only two
great political parties. Our form OF Govern
ment naturally makes one the party OF special
privileges and the other the party OF equal
rights No grander mission can be in store
fight for the rule of the people against graft.
Clothed in the armor of righteous cause the
attack Of Democracy upon the citadel OF graft
and monopoly, IL aggressive enough, must
triumph in the end. for the prfncipies or true
Democracy are enduring because they are
inst and inyinctbe because they right.