The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-09-16
THE SUN. WEDNESDAY,. SEPTEMBER 16. 1905:
SHALL TEE People RULEs

SHALL TIE PEOPLE RULEP
To THE Eprron OF The suN-Sir: The
Interpretation and explanation which
your Utah correspondent. Mr.. Hilles. gives
Of the question In the Denver platform
regarding the rule Of 'the people, are as
saddening a. they are startling. had
fanoied the declaration that the question
Shall the people rulef' In the aovershad-
owing issue" In all questions under dis
oussion In the pending campaign was only
intended a. q catching. rhetorical, party
skit. till your Salt Lake correspondent
declared It o very real thing. which seems
10 me to portend, II we are not careful.
o very sectional and serious issue between
the East and the middle West. 1t must
be 30 II the middle West thinks Eastern
voters and necessarily the officers they
elect are all -boodlers' and are those
whom the Denver platform describes az
Representatives OF predatory wealth.
II Eastern voters are to send such sena-
tors and members Of the House to Wash
ington political association with them by
those from the middle West who are
not "boodlers' but are devoted 10 Roose-
welt and Bryan represent only clean and
upright o~itlzens, must be very hard to
bear and put Q sever strain on . political
union between such a~ntagopistic ele-
ments.
One wonders all the more ut the out
break Of your Salt Lake correspondent
when 1t 10 recalled that q great railway
corporation prosecuted by Roosevelt az
typically predatory is q child Of Utah.
That Commonwealth Is q sharp competi-
tor Of New Jersey In producing railway
charters that give comprehensive pow
ers to directors and executive committees
and empower them to purchase shares In
the corporations Of other States. L. not
Kentucky responsible for the Southern
Pacific Railway VIII It not turn out on ex-
animation that one or another Western or
Southern State controls railways doing
business In Utah and Nebraska, and that
the last named States have ample power
to prevent foreign railways from sitting
competition a. Massachusetts, has re-
Gently controlled In her jurisdiction the
New Haven and the Boston and Maine COR
porations7 The rule Of interstate oomity
does not exclude State rights. II either
Utah or Nebraska wishes to repel the
investment Of foreign capital In her COR
porations she has the power and she
can also forbid the corporations she has
created from buying shares In the
corporations Of other States either for
investment or monopoly or any other
object.
SHALL the people ruler II they do
not or cannot rule in Utah or Nebraska
then each Of them can call on "the United
States to make good it's guarantee to
each Of a Republican government made
on section 4 Of Article ~. OF the Federal
Constitution.
The number Of people in Nebraska is
estimated at 1,22s.0o0 and In Utah at
$50. 900. Do they not rule in their wi
Slater To be sure. there were In the last
elections only .1O1 ga voters In Utah who
voted and 37S. 72S in Nebraska, or q voter
to 8 I-1o Of population in the former and
a voter to s $40 Of population In the latter.
Utah, 1t IL to be said. has women's suffrage
on equal terms with men. u Wyoming,
Colorado and Idaho have, but Nebraska
has not.
The census Of 1890 gave a total popula-
ton Of 70. 800. 1877. but q voting population
Of only 81. ooo. 900. and yet only 1850. AS
voted in that year. or one voter to s 5-io
Of people. The total present population
Of the United States has been estimated
at 8 8 .s12, 05s. but only $50, S2l voted in
1904, a less number than In 1900. SHALL
the people ruler
It was a little below the belt that MI.
Semple struck when at Hot Springs he
twitted the Denver convention and Mr..
Bryan on the small percentage OF voters
in Virginia relatively to the people,
and smaller yet in South Carolina. The
D~enverites were not referring to that per-
centage when they asked shall the
people ruler It is immaterial and lrrel-
evant that in Salt Lake the ratio is 2.7s.
in Omaha 4.e4, In New York see, In Rich
mond s.57 and in Atlanta (Georgia) 1871.
Each State can make the qualifications Of
its voterss such asitpleases. Fit keeps clear
OF the Fourteenth Amendment It's quail
fcations Of votersf for memberso OF its lowest
house are the qualifications Of voters for
Its Congressman and the President. Some
OF the States permit aliens 10 vote; others
give votes to women. There 10 no pro
tence Of uniformity.
The Denver convention and Bryan did
not refer to those conditions when they
asked Shall the people ruler" They
affirmed that q majority Of the voters.
since Bryan was first a candidate in 1893.
have been ruled In q great majority of the
States by the money power. the repre-
sentatives Of predatory wealth. and not
by the people, Bryan proposes to change
thatl Your Utah correspondent thinks
the rule Of the voters by "boodlers' IL
general in the Eastern States-meaning
by 'boodlers' those opposed to Roosevelt
and Bryan. And yet 1t 10 Republican
voters who, outside OF the Southern States.
have generally ruled the United States
during the last decade. 1t Ia all perplex-
ing and saddening. yet 'the people must
and will rule somehow. IL each voter to
vote a. his OWL selfish interest prompts,
or as q trustee for himself and othersi
Does not rule by the people, exclude the
bosses. big and little. the municipal and
private corporation bosses a. well as the
money power and 'the representatives
Of predatory wealth'2
POPULAR RULE.
Nv~ v0vw Qonk>-hnr IN