The Idaho scimitar. [volume] (Boise, Idaho) 1907-1908, 1907-11-02
The Peoples Struggle.

That there is necessity for reform in business
and political methods throughout the United States
is recognized and conceded Almost if not every
large municipality, and nearly if not every state is
to greater or less degree affected.
The people had become tolerant of abuses by those
leading in business and politics. they apathetc.
They did not and do not condone corruption and
corrupt methods. They needed an awakening 1t
necessary that they should shake off their leh
argy. They stretching themselves now. They
awakening
Unparalleled prosperity and the unbroken domi-
nance of political party afforded and were the
prime causes of abuse of opportunities, out of which
has grown corruption. Satisfaction with their own
personal condition so far as immediate material
wants concerned led the people to accept quiet
ly if not to view with complacency, wrongs which
their better instincts warned them were most dan
gerous and pernicious. This satisfaction with the
material prosperity so abundant and general induced
them to continue in power the political party under
whose administration it fourished The unequal
distribution of easy money did not disturb them
much they did not care if some were accommodating
vast wealth SO long they getting enough to
make them comfortable They knew that they we're
enjoying luxuries which had been denied them and
their fathers before them and they had no particr-
lar disposition to inquire how was that few were
gathering to themselves wealth, never dreamed of
in the worlds history. Had the few been content
with less, and granted the many a little more the
day of reckoning would have been postponed, and if
opportunities had been granted the many there
might have been no day of reckoning, possibly none
being needed. The plain and unmistakable intent
of the few to absorb all opportunities and deal them
out to whomever they wished, much more than their
accumulation of enormous wealth, forced the revolt
and made possible the reforms. The many could
nothing in the future, if the few were allowed
to continue their method of absorption until everv
avenue of opportunity closed to Them unless
and until the gate opened by the few and they
were allowed to enter and to remain only so long
as it pleased the few. AS soon the many really
determined to examine into the methods employed
by the few to seize and hold the opportunities which
belong to the many, shocking condition was re-
vealed Corruption seems to have entered the most
sacred precincts. The funds set apart for the widows
and orphans and supposedly held by the great life
insurance companies as the most sacred of all trusts
used to enrich the cuStodians of the funds and
is if in contemplate irony, to corrupt and debauch
society. 1t is unnecessary to portray the extent of
corporate abuse in detail; it is practically cock
enslve with the country's The fact that cor
upton and corrupt methods so widespread
While alarming, is not necessarily sign of deca-
ence 1t does not afford just grounds for pessmism
The fact that the people are awakening to the true
ituaton, and determined to attack corruption
unish corrupt and eliminate corrupt methods
5 the hopeful sign This awakening and demand
or reform is as widespread as are the abuses
In our great Northwest we have the railroads. the
mber trust the lead trust and the sugar trust con-
picuously, which enrichng themselves beyond
eason, and using their vast power to deaden