Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1908-02-28
and State Plunderers

chine politicians and plunderers of
the people especially to those who
know nothing Of the infamous corrup-
tion of territorial days and since
statehood
We came to the old territory 80
years ago to make it our home and no
sooner had we got settled in Yankton
than we were compelled to defend the
people against carpet bag thieves and
scuundrels sent out upon us in early
days, and in view of the modern meth
DDS of the corporation bloodsuckers,
we can feel nothing but contempt for
men who hire out or sell themselves
to the corporations to help rob and
plunder the farmers of the state.
All the old timers will remember
the corrupt, whisky drinking, lecher-
Gus gang that was sent out from the
east to rule the people of the territory
and who stole everything in sight,
headed by one ignorant chief justice,
others, and all were of the graft
grasping breed. The editor fought
the corrupt gang to a finish and they
were cleaned out when statehood
came.
AS the corrupt carpet baggers dis
appeared over the eastern hills, head
ed by Gov. Burbank and Gov. Ordway,
in came the smooth, sleek, modest
free pass corrupting railroads. They
moved around wish gum shoe silence
and always with a smile, special car
and pass. The unsuspecting legis-
lator was coddled and wined, and
tales of corporation poverty were
poured into his ears until he was
ready to get up and fight any son-of-a-
gun who tried to destroy the rail-
roads The fireworks began under
Pettigrew and Moody and in time the
demands of the railroads forced Petit
grew to assert his independence and
refuse them control Of the state. A
rupture came and Pettigrew left the
party, and his first lieutenant, "A. b.
Kittredge succeeded to the position
of chief boss, which included the rail
road lobby, the standard oil lobby,
the insurance lobby, and at the head
of these stood Kittredge with a Ca
madam renegade and other servile
tools to do his bidding. Kit was sell
dom seen in the gas light. He was
shrewd enough to keep as far bac.s
out of sight as possible, but his crea-
lures at Pierre hnlldozed members
and made them drFInk, ran them into
bawdy houses, and thus exposed them
so as to force silence and destroy
their opposition to corporation mea-
sures These same tactics were used
at Yankton and Bismarck before
statehood, and when the corrupt lob
byists got their grip at Pierre, God
help the honest, courageous man who
was set upon by these human hyenas.
The writer is drawing no fancy pic
! ture. The horrible conditions enum-
Grated was secret history at Pierre,
and some of them carried on their H.
centious orgies down to Chicago as
some in Sioux Falls know to their
sorrow.
Thus was stalwartism born. thus
did it thrive and grow and corrupt,
and while a majority of the people OF
the state, were unable to get the in
side history, they knew in general
way what stalwartism means and how
it fourished under the backing and
patronage of the Milwaukee or North
western railroads.
Kittredge, as the big boss, occupied
| a private Office at Sioux Falls, and
there he issued orders and called his
agents for consultation. He domi-
| mated nominations for county, legis-
lative and state officers, and hundreds
know this is true. If any poor devil
| went up to Pierre and refused to obey
the orders of the railroad lobby, Kilt
redge ordered his political head sever
ed. and there are few people in Lin
coin county who can swear to this
and still we find men who proclaim
themselves stalwarts and followers oi
the big boss. Pride, manhood, hon
esty and virtue would point to the
other course, but men who can follow
Kittredge are welcome to the corpora
tion collar and their own opinion ol
what constitutes stalwartism.
Men may dilter politically, bu,
there is no excuse for any honest tax
| payer following the stalwart machine
any longer unless his prejudice is sucf
that he is willing to be robbed rather
than be right.
4 The boss system was born Of corrup
tion at Pierre and every man who j:
a leader in the Kittredge camp grad
uated from the Pierre school into tn,
stalwart school, 1t is pretty tough
charge to make, but it is true, and n,
man can conscientiously support th
Kittredge school of politics unless h
is willing to swallow the corruption
at Pierre that made it possible for th
railroads to run this state Is. year
and defeat every bill introduced il
behalf of the people.
4 During little scrap in the territor
| ial legislature at Bismarck, Judg
| AikenS tIaY, cf frh ;c cn,,nfv wac load