The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1906-01-31
VOTERS.

The Independent voter has the desti.
MES of the United States in bis hands.
He can decide which of the two great
parties best represents the reforms he
is after, or will most honestly admin.
lister the laws. The Independent voter
does not usually become aroused I'M.
less the political grafters are too ras-
cally and defy honest public opinion.
For the past two or three years the
Independent voter has increased in
numbers snd energy and has shown
his sagacity in overcoming such Oh.
stacles as the blanket election tickets
offer, to defeat his purpose. He has
90 scared the political bosses, that
many are still suffering from their
fright and others have retired to q
seclusion where it Is best for them to
remain.
The modern independent voter be-
gan his pranks with the political par
ties in 1904. He defeated four gov.
errors that did not please him, and
those he elected in their places were
all reformers or their opponents were
too friendly with corporations.
At the election last fall the ~indepen.
dent voter exhibited his power In other
states where political bosses and cor
ruption were rampant. He turned the
rascals out in the boss.riddeu states
of Pennsylvania and Ohio, although
they were ~entrenched with majorities
OF hundreds of thousands. The indie.
pendent voter exhibited a startling
discrimination between those candi.
dates who were harmful and those who
were harmless, so much so that the
bosses are still lame with the pound
ing they received and hardly able to
sit up and take notice of how it all
happened.
What makes the independent voter
more powerful than in former times is
his capacity for organization and his
discovery of that terrible ordeal, for
known grafters and boss servers, Of
publicly questioning them. The in.
dependent voter cannot as formerly
be put off with fair promises that may
mean much Or little, but requires the
candidate to plainly answer in writ.
ing the questions he fires at them.
The pledge must be eyes" or NO"
The independent voters have organ
lied into associations and leagues and
the questioning of candidates is as.
signed to a committee, which Is direct
ed to furnish the replies. SO that the
voters may know who are their friends
and who their enemies, and a vote
accordingly. Organizations of farmers
and workingmen have discovered the
latent power they have, and in Ohio
joined In the Questioning and thus se-
cured three-hfths of the legislature
pledged to vote for an amendment to
the constitution to submit the r~eferen-
dun and the initiative system to a ref.
erendum vote of the people,
Independent voters in other states
who believe In the referendum system,
which is a sure cure for grating and
corruption, should organize referen-
dunn leagues, as in Ohio, so that they
can join with the other non-psrtisan
associations in questioning the candi-
dates Of all parties and vote only for
those who pledge themselves to carry
out the reform demanded.
The independent voter has discov.
cred that with the initiative and refer
endum in his hands he has Legislators
under his control and the corpora
lions powerless to corrupt them. God
bless the independent voter, he Is our
present hope in time Of trouble! He
is u shield and buckler against the
corruptionists. May he live long and
increase exceedingly.-The State.