Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-12-31

party machinery made one of the po-
 litical wonders of the year. After his
 open espousal of the national and state
 ownership of railroads last year the
 current ran very strong against Mir.
 Bryan in the party. This situation
 he met last April by frankly saying that he had come to the conclusion that the people were not ready for the
 ownership idea yet and that regulation
 must be tried out on Democratic lines. This did not prevent him from cham pioning the initiative and referendum
 programme. Not until the middle of
 November did he definitely announce
 his willingness again to accept the
 nomination. No opposition appeared.
 At least one course of legislation
 was grist to the Bryan mill. While the overshadowing bulk of federal
 power was fumbling over a rate bill in 1906 and the reorganized interstate
 commerce commission in 1907 was struggling with the vast problem of
 keeping tab on the railroad manage
 ments the idea that the humble state governments could impose lower rates
 by legislative enactment took root and made remarkable growth. Missouri joined the procession by March, and the courts arranged with the railroad men to give the two cent rate trial for ninety days, after which opinions still differed. Other states to pass rate
 bills were Pennsylvania and Michigan in April and New York, Illinois and Minnesota in May. But the New York bill never became law owing to the veto of Governor Hughes on the ground of being not carefully weigh ed. In all the states where these laws were passed litigation against them has been begun by the railroads affect ed.
 The drift toward public ownership took the shape of state commissions with new powers and was felt in the elections of Busse in Chicago, Johnson in Cleveland and in the fifty year trac- ton transfer ordinance in Philadel- phia.
 The American people are soldering up" This expression applies to one of the most significant political move ments in which the conscience vote appears. When the returns of the Mo- vember elections were in, no one result attracted more general attention than the fact that the wave of "dryness" which had been sweeping over the south had made itself felt in Della ware, Kentucky and Illinois and was gathering impetus sufficient to carry it far into the north and west. Georgia has gone into the strict prohibition column under law in effect on New Years day, and the new state of Okla homa came into the Union with clause in that radical con- stitution of hers, making five prohibit ton states. But many others are vir- tually so on local option lines, the dry sections increasing until it is now es- timated that half the population of the nation are living in communities free from the public saloon. Other features of the November elections were the capture of Salt Lake City from the the election of Dr. Taylor as the reform mayor of San Francisco over the powers of graft, the Republic an sweep of Kentucky by 14,000, Dem- ocratic retention of Rhode Island and the cutting down of the Republican lead in New Jersey and the defeat of the Hearst-Republican fusion by Tam many in New York city, besides the victory of Johnson in Cleveland, al- ready referred to.