East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1909-08-10

| or laws and institutions for the public
good, and he conservation of our ma
! tural resources, not for the trusts.
but for the people; these are real is
| issues and real problems. Upon such
things as these the perpetuity of this
country as nation of homes really
depends. We are coming to see that
the simple things are the things to
work for. More than that, we are
coming to see that the plain American
citizen is the man to work for The
imagination is staggered by the mag
nitude of the prize for which we
work. If we succeed there will exist
upon this continent sane. strong
people, living through the centuries
in land subdued and controlled for
the service of the people, its rightful
masters, owned by the many and not
by the few. If we fail the great in
terests, increasing their control of
our natural resources, will thereby
control the country more and more.
and the rights of the people will fade
into the privileges of concentrated
wealth.
Water Power Trust.
There could be no better illustra-
ton of the eager, rapid. unwearied
absorption by capital of the rights
which belong to all the people than
the water power trust, not yet form
ed but in rapid process of formation.
This statement is true, but not un-
challenged. We are met at every turn
by the indignant denial of the water
power interests. They tell us that
there Is no community of interest
after year at these congresses by their
paid attorneys, asking for your influ-
ence to help remove a few remaining
obstacles to their perpetual and COM
plete absorption of the remaining wa
ter powers. They tell us it has no
significance that the General Electric
interests are acquiring great groups
of water powers in various parts of
the United States, and dominating
the power market in the region of
tdNll 6lpuDs Anu MHbtNtI
power, dominates all industry. Have
you ever seen few drops of oil scat
tered on the water spreading until
they formed a continuous film, which
put an end at once to all agitation of
the surface. The time for us to agi-
tate this question is now, before the
separate circles of centralized control
spread into the uniform, unbroken,
nationwide covering of a single gl-
gantic trust. There will be little
chance for mere agitation after that.
No man at all familiar with the situ-
alton can doubt that the time for ef-
fective protest is very short If we
do not use 1t to protect ourselves
now, We may be very sure that the
trust will give hereafter small con-
sideratien to the welfare of the av-
erase citizen when in conflict with
Its own.
The man who really counts is the
plain American citizen. This is the
man for whom the Roosevelt policies
were created, and his welfare is the
end to which the Roosevelt policies
lead. AS a nation we are fortunate
at this time in this fact above all
others, that the great man who gave
his name to these policies has for his
successor another great president
whose administration is most solemn
ly pledged to the support Of them.
Stands for Roosevelt Policies.
1 stand for the Roosevelt policies
because they set the common good
of all of us above the private gain of
some of us: because they recognize
the livelihood of the small man as
more important to the nation than
the profit of the big man; because
they oppose all useless waste at pres
ent at the cost of robbing the future;
because they demand the complete,
sane and orderly development of all |
our natural resources, not forgetting !
our rivers; because they insist upon |
of opportunity and denounce |
monopoly and special privilege; be- |
cause discarding false issues, they |
deal directly with the vital questions |
that really make difference with the |
welfare of us all-and most Of all, !
because in them the plain American |
always and everywhere holds the first |
place. And l propose to stand for |
them while / have the strength to |
stand for ANYTHING.