The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1907-05-24
BURTOES DEMOCRATIC SPEECH.
HOT SHOT FOR THE NATIONS
POLITICAL TRUST.
Says That the People Should Elect
Their Laws and Every Official
By Direct Vote


hours last night ex-senator J. r. Bur
ton held the close attention Of a good
sized audience at the Grand with all
the power OF his old-time oratOry.
Many who listened to him did not
agree with him, but they gave him
their attention. All OF Buttons stead
fast friends were there and some who
have ever been his enemies
When Burton announced upon his
return 10 Kansas from the Iron cOun-
" Jail that he would lecture upon
The Political Community OF Inter
estss" there was expressed a curiosity
TO know just what the term signifed-
Burton made il plain last night In
his language the political community
OF interests consists Of combination
Of four men in the national house Of
representatives and the president
which combination controls the poll
tics Of the country, every department
Of the government and the commerce
Of the nation.
Burton denounced in the bitterest
OF terms the present system Of gov
eminent and took each official from
postmaster up in turn but when fl
appeared that the next official to be
denounced would be the president, he
would present the palms Of his hands
and in most sarcastic tones say:
Il must not take the other step, I
must not. The king can do no wrong"
Burton began with the formation or
the first government and followed
that line down to the formation Of
the government Of the United States
He showed wherein every gOvrnment
up TO the time the federal government
was formed finally became despOt-
ism
And he said, have we yet learn
ed how to make a government that
is not a despOtfsm2 So far, it is an
experiment The dominant idea with
Washington and those other good men
who formulated this government was
not how much power can we give
this creature2' but how little. They
said we must so arrange il that no
one man nor body OF men shall have
too much power Their idea was to
create departments for the different
branches Of government and arrange
them so that no one department
should be able to cOerce another.
Our 1OrefaLherS even went so far
as to divide the legislative department
into two branches-the house and the
senate Their IDEA was to make il
hard to pass laws But we have learn
ed the trick and It il not difficult al
all Our fOrefathers knew what hap
pened in the time Of Justinian. He
found thousands Of laws that no law
yer could understand He burned
them all in disgust and started all
over again. Unless we are careful we
will be forced to have a bonfire Of our
own one Of these days Every two
years we make a book Of laws here
is this state They are making them
in every other state. And down in
Washington they are making them ev-
cry year II is an easy matter to make
laws-that is, for the political COM
munity Of Interests to make laws"
In attempting to show how far the
government has wandered from the
IDEAS OF its founders the ex-senator
showed / CIV the latter had planned
to ksrp the legislative and executive
branches separate
But this has been bridged over
he said rs il not a fact2 The post
master belongs to the executive
branch The congressman belongs to
the legislative branch Suppose the
postmaster OF Topeka should die to-
night What would you dog Why
early tomorrow morning a. delegation
would take the train for LeavenwOrth
and there would ask a mana con-
gressman-whO he was going to ap-
point postmaster. Do you think that
a congressman should name the post
masters OF a state2 No Just as far
from that as possible. Then the Ques-
ton arises How does the congress-
man get these pOstOffices2 Let me tell
you There is but one way that he
can get them. He buys them, and
can get them in no other way.
No, he doesn't buy them with mon
ey. The president has these Offices 20
give out He gives them to the con-
gresham. The congressman accepts
the gifts because they will help him
in his state. But why does the presi-
dent distribute them to the congress
man. What does the president want
with congressman What does he
want with a senatOr2 Does ne want
him in the interior Department. Does
he want him to help out in the va
riOus other executive departments?
Oh. no. He wants him for but one
thing. To make laws He wants him
to make laws to suit the president"
Mr.. Burton then voiced TRADE
against the system Of appointing fed
eraI judgeS-mOre political patronage
held in the palm Of the political
community Of interests" He con-
cluded the TRADE with the statement:
Because Of this system not 10 per
cent Of the people in the country have
full confidence in the federal bench
from the supreme court down"
Another bridge between the differ
ent branches Of government pointed
out by Mr.. Burton is the veto power
tom Of transmitting messages to the
legislative branches. He stated that
the veto power was intended as a
means to kill legislation that had been
passed by mistake
Returning TO the Community Of In
terests," Mr.. Burton said:
-Four men in the national house
dominate it as completely as dom
mate my stable boy The speaker,
the leader Of the opposition and two
men, at the head OF the committee on
rules form a combination that IS Su-
preme- This combination was per
fected by that masterful man, Speaker
Reed. But it had been in its fOrma-
ton for half a century And this sort
OF condition does not apply to the
house alone There is the same sort
Of q ring in the senate The chairman
Of the appropriations committee and
the finance committee with i've 9TH
ers control everything Of course
other senators can speak Any sena-
tor has permission to talk any time
on any subject and as long as he wants
to, but they do the iegislating- Add
70 these eleven men the president OF
the United States who holds the scep-
ter over all and you have the political
community OF interests
These twelve men can dominate
the legislation OF the country; they
can dominate the judiciary Of the
country: they can take any Of you and
send you to Jail or take your property
away from you. They have the pow
er to DO that whether you have com
mitted any crime or not And IL you
give them too much trouble they may
have the viii.
You hear a great deal about the
Interests " continued Mr.. Burton,
about commercial interests but let
me tel you that these twelve men con-
troll ten thousand times more than the
Interests The Representatives OF the
interests are ready TO fs.l at the feet
Of this combination any time it says
{ the word ("