Rock Island Argus., 1908-11-06
Do the People Rule?

DO the People Rule?
| Moline H.. Nov. 5.-Editor Argus:
Throughout the campaign you carried
persistently at the head of your ma
tional democratic ticket on your cdi-
Itorial page. the query: shall the PeO-
Iple Rule? the coined phrase of one Will
liam Jennings Bryan. 1t struck me as
a silly idea from the first to even con-
lceive of such a suggestion in a gov
crnment founded on the principle that
the people shall always rule. But the
lobject of this brief communication is
simply to ask of you if the question
for which you stood sponsor has not
Ibeen answered rather emphatically in
| the aflirmative?.
| INFANT INDUSTRY.
The Argus had hoped to be privileged
to suspend. for the time being at least,
1.-THE discussion of campaign topics with
the election, for to the injured, though
still alive, the post mortem is not pleas
ant experience But inasmuch as the wri-
ter of the communication has done
The Argus the honor TO enclose his
name in confidence, and has thus
proven worthy of an answer to his
question. is seems but polite that he
should receive the attention he courts.
| The statement that this is a gov
ernment based on the principle that
the people shall rule, is undeniably
correct, but whether or not the actual
impulses of the people found express
sion in the verdict pronounced at the
polls in Tuesdays election is quite
another thing. Down deep in their
hearts, The Argus believes, the Amer
lean people are for Bryan. Millions of
them have through a period of II years
stood by him in a spirit of devotion
not before known in the history of
the nation. Take, for instance, the
events of the campaign just clos
ed, where the crowds that gathered to
hear Bryan numbered two to one to
those who turned out to greet Taft.
And, measure for measure, the enthusi-
|asm shown was in like proportion.
| Take it right here in Rock Island
la republican stronghold-where Bryan,
speaking at the Island City ball park
on a chilly night, was greeted and
lcheered by twice the number of tri-
lefty people who were present in the
same place on balmy afternoon the
same week when Sherman and Long
worth were the attractions. and twice
as many as received Taft in Davenport
on bright warm morning with the
factories closed the week before.
No man is nearer to the
people today than w. j. Bryan,
and had the majority of the people the
lcountry over been free to express
themselves unhampered he would prob
Iably have been elected This is not
"a haphazard statement, but an honest
Iconviction. But the same un-American
lbulldoZing tactics that were worked
successfully in 1896 were applied in
the closing weeks of the late campaign.
lCoercion and intimidation were the i'm
Iplements employed. Men were told
upon the outcome of the election. All
lsorts and forms of dread disaster were
predicted and threatened in the event
Iof Taft's defeat. Orders were given
for immense bills of goods conditional
upon Bryan's defeat Numerous fac.
tories either informed their employees
ldirect, or posted notices which, while
lcalling their attention to the fact that
) they were to be allowed time off for
the privilege of voting, also contained
: the further statement that in the event
of republican victory they were to con.
tinue to be employed, leaving to the
employe his own conjecture as to what
,tsvl,t ~. e y.
Ielection A Moline factory gave on,
Inotice that the company had a great
lamount of manufactured goods to turn
out i'm the next 80 days contingent upon
} the continuation of the republican. par
ty in power, and st was expected that
lelection." Were the people left free to
trule in the face of such representa-
ltion of conditions as this, when it was
put squarely up to the working man to
decide whether he would vote as he
Ipleased or according to the dictates OF
his employer? Is there student of
politics in all this land who will ven
ture to say that the laboring people as
la class were not with Bryan in the
Hate campaign; or, on the other hand
is there reasonably inclined politi
lcian who will assert that the man
who works for living and sup
ports family would vote according to
the wishes of John ID. Rockefeller and
Andrew Carnegie, il he knew it, unless
his very existence and the existence
of his family depended upon it? And
the working people did know, almost
from the very lips of Rockefeller and
Carnegie themselves how those two
oppressors of the people wanted the
ELECTION to go.
Since the issue has been put square
ly, has the question Shall the People
: Rule?" not been answered in the affirm
ative. 1t may at least be well to await
developments for the final answer