Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1907-03-09
TWO KINDS OF PERFORMERS

oad a denagoeue The first NAV be an agitat-
or who plows the field of public sentiment and
starts a reform, the results and the reward OF
which he may see; the second IS the man
who after years of selfish endeavor crowns his
selfishness by claiming as his own the fruits OF
the other mans labor Or the first may be the
quiet ordinary citizen who does his plain duty
without fuss or feathers, while the second blat-
antly ad vertses his righteousness when he
does what he could not help doing.
Among the first were the men who twenty
years ago started to educate the people about
the robbery of railway rates, about the control
of public service corportions about corruption
in city, national and state governments. They
were called populists. anarchists, socialists,
rnugwumps, and every other name that the in
fluences of evil and the Infringing multitude
could devise. President Roosevelt was among
these, the leaders of the old peoples party We're
that kind of men. They reformers when
it not a popular thing to be reforn1er.
But their work not in vain. After all these
years. the public has finally become aroused on
railroad rate reform and similar questions, and
the fruits of the agitators labor are ready to be
gathered.
Here enters the demagogue. From the law
Office of the robber corporation, he beholds the
fields that white unto the harvest, and he
decides that those fruits shall be his. And he
enters and gathers and claims the fruits his
own And yet he has shame, tho he neither
prepared the soil, sowed the seed, nor
guarded it's growth
And some there be who applaud
For the information of those who heard Mr..
Spooner Monday night, we would state that
nevertheless there are 118 other members of the
House, 10 other members Of the railroad com
mittee, besides the Senate.
Representative Spooner stated Sunday
night that he would vote for the county option
bill, bat he did not want any of his audience to
tell. We hope of our readers will mention
it. Nevertheless, Mr. Spooner went out of his
way to falsely accuse Mayor Cooley of negli-
gence of duty in enforcing present laws. 1t is
a well known fact that Mayor Cooley has sue
ceeded better than any other mayor, and that
whatever infraction there is arises from the
strong competition, which in turn is caused by |
Spooners habit of filing up his vacant build |
ings with saloons.
Much of the important work of the 1egsla- !
ture is done in committee rooms-and the pub |
lie knows little or: nothing about it, We should
like to law that would require keeping
complete and accurate minutes of committee
proceedings, that what each member said as
we'll as how he voted would be made matter
of public record, in addition to the testimony of
witnesses. Such minutes should be printed I
and 81 +,I bat III
would get next to the curves of the fellows who
try to sde-track and smother bills by all man
rers of tricSery in the committee rooms. Why
not tsra OH the light?-Elbow Lake Herald.
S
When in the grasp OF an irresistible "brain
storm" some men so lose control of their men
tai activities that they both distort the truth
and believe to be truth that which is pure
fabrication. The impulse is said to be ungov
ernable, tho the reasoning faculties of the per-
son himself rebel
In his address of Monday evening, L. c. i
Spooner, in his attempt to answer some OF the
lust criticisms of his official conduct made by .
the editor of The TRIBUNE allowed himself to
be carried away into the realm of fancifu fab /
relations. In the first place, he AYERS that we
printed certain paragraphs last week under or
ders from the head of the shippers association,
and that Lynn Haines prepares his articles un-