Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1908-09-04

in, he is treated with such degree
Of contempt as to be positively in
famous.
The Future Of Reform Forces.
Every true democrat must rejoice
over the present political situation.
To know that some of his cherished
principles are now conspicuous planks
of the republican platform, to knowl
that the advocacy of democratic ideas
has made republican president i'm
mensely popular with all, except the
political bosses and the frenzied finan.
ciers, Is, in itself. splendid reward
for his long years of patience and de-
yotion. To watch the democratic mi.
crobe crawl into the conscience OF
republicans and take possession OF
their thinking machinery is a spec.I
tacle so uncommon, 80 gloriously i'm.
pressive, as to reassure every chronic
doubter that there Is yet God OF
Israel. Whatever the outcome of the
approaching presidential election the
force of political gravitation will
sweep away every obstacle that now
seems to divide the reform forces.
Kindly fate has. or will, decree, that
the Larrabees. the Cumminses. the
LaFollettes, and the organs and
Roosevelts cannot be kept apart. The
sympathy and power springing from
reform ideas will not long permit itsi
votaries to dwell apart in separate |
camps. The advocacy of the same |
principles, the ambition to accomplish
like results, the holy purpose to
serve the cause of the common people. |
as against the enemies of society,
~ Ill 1rra
forces and invest 1t with numericalI
and moral strength that will add new
dignity and new power "to the battle
cry of freedom"
Show Progress Of Reform.
One of the things difficult to under
stand is the slow degree of progress
attending all reformatory measures
/ the proposition to destroy this evil or
even to mitigate 1t is certain to be
stubbornly and cunningly resisted.
i This is understandable to the extent
| that Interested parties who profit by
! the existence Of this evil may be ex.
/ pected to resist 1t abolition. 1t is al.
/ so understandable that no lofty ideas
or ideals but only the basest of hui.
man conceptions. greed, self1shness
and sheer love of power inspire the.
opposition to reform. But no reform
could be long delayed If none but sell
l fishly interested parties would fight
reform movements. Their numerical
i strength would be so feeble that they
Il could be easily overcome. What is
inexplicabla is the fact that usually by
Il far the greater number Of those array.
ed against reform movement are the
very ones who should be on the re-
form side, who should help push the
reform along. Men who have nothing
to gain except their own degradation
will fight reform more fiercely, more
irrationally, than the directly inter,
ested class. This strange phenomenon
can hardly be explained by the ex
PLANTATION that these opponents of re
form are ignorant and prejudiced. AT
ter Pontius PLATE had judicially in
CURED into the accusations against
g Christ and declared him innocent the
4 course-fbered Roman populace shout
' ed itself hoarse, cruelty him! cruelty
him! This same spirit in more OF
e less 4modi6edsfor has played signi
II acant part in all the history of oul
!, race. To denounce the reformer as
an agitator, to invest him with the
afss sMa,sfspressesnG Is hound I;
4 prosecute him who has the viii ant
Y ability to point out the wrongs unde
which society suffers and to offe
n remedies. is the favorite method EN-
e ployed in our day to postpone or IL
kill outright every reform movement
J. The poor whites" Of the South were
I long greater mainstay of SLAYER,
than the slave owners themselves
The fact that the inferior status o
$ the blacks in large measure degrad
e ed the poor white" in no sense re
:. strained them from vigorous de
v Tense of black slavery. Some year,
fffgo. William Larrabee, Governor OF
e Iowa, performed one of the most la
t borious and painstaking tasks ever
l. undertaken by the executive of any
y State. He revealed In the most lumin
6 Gus way the piratical tactics Of rail
o way managers. Instead of being re
s warded with seat In the United
II States Senate, the corporations with
u the help Of the republican voters re
Y tired this splendid public servant. Fol
: over twenty years LaFollette has
e fought for right and justice in Wis
I cons1n. Instead OF the people standing
true to him they desert him from
time to time In such numbers as tc
: make his task SO great an ordeal
that an ordinary man would never be
q equal to 1t. When Cummins, of Iowa
: bowed the nerve and ability to crap
/ pie with the same problem the cor
] poratfons have united against him, re
e ceiving the support of the very PEG
pie who should stand true to Cum
n Minis
+ Panics.
The most distressing circumstance
connected with monetary panic sucf
/ as we have been compelled, periodic
!. ally to endure, is the loss inflicted or
small depositors. comparatively pool
I people who are the least able to beal
the loss. Mr.. Bryan, sustained by the
Y entire democratic party, demands {
measure that will eliminate this ugl,
feature from all future panics. AND
!, indeed 1t Is difficult to see how panic
could gain much Roadway II we coull
SO arrange the banking business thai
run on banks would not occur Il
e is this panicy condition, as Infection.
and demoralizing as the small pox It
self. that we would render impossible
by compelling the creation of FUND
by the banks out of which any de
positor could be paid at any time, re
/ CARELESS of the insolvency Of thu
bank itself. A more common sens
reform has never been proposed bu
y like all demands for justice 1t will b,
opposed by some of the very peopl.
who should be the most strenuous ii