The copper era., 1909-11-25

| production OF wealth and COMMERCE
are In the class with the farmer
They belong to the eemnion people
as do the mechanics.
Next, 1 am going to put in the
merchants. Of course, there may bt
a few merchant princes who would
not be in this class, but the mer
chants as whole are of the common
people; they buy from the common
people and sell to the common people
and trade among them.
That makes a very large class
when YOU put in dill tie farmers, Ia.
borers, mechanics and merchants
but that is not all There MAY be q
few physicians who would not care
to be in this class, but most of the
physicians will be very glad to be
counted among the common people,
for they work amongst them; they
get up at all times of night to adj
minister to the suffering of the peo-
pie and they do more work for moth
ing than any other people in the
community.
Now am going to put iii a class
that there may be some Question
about, and that is, the lawyers The
great majority of the lawyers belong
to the common people. In fact; my
friends, they are a very important
part of that body we call the COM
mon people. 1 read an editorial in
the New York Tribune two years
ago, and it was about the framing of
the Oklahoma constitution. and it
spoke of it as having been written by
the "Cornfield Lawyer" (dOn't mis-
take what said, for in one place the
paper had it that said the "Corn-
fed" lawyer, but it is "Corn- field ,")
and he assumed in that editorial that
because it had been written by a
"Cornfield Lawyer" that there must
be something wrong with the consti-
tuition of Oklahoma. The fact is that
that constitution is the best constitu-
ton in the United States today, and
the men OF this territory cannot do
better than to read it over carefully.
[ am aware that one of the high dig
nitaries of this country is not satisfied
with it, but, my friends, he and the
Oklahoma constitution had it out
once, and he ought to be satisfied
with the result He went down
there and told the people what he
thought of their constitution and
they in turn told him what they
thought of him He told them that
they were making a mistake in their
and they came out and
ratified it by about 100000 majority,
seventy thousand of which came
from republicans. Now 1 want to
say to you, my friends, that l am
very much in favor of statehood for
this Territory. 1 believe you earned
it long ago. We heard tonight of the
of the pioneers who re
claimed this land from the wilder
ness. Those people who came out
here from the edges of civilization
and by sacrifices made this land bios
som have a right to govern them
selves without sending down to
Washington for the men who hold
1 hope you will have
and 1 know you would
have had it if we had a democratic
president instead of a republican.
When President Taft was out here
ne took occasion in most of his
speeches to say that while he was in
favor of statehood, he was the whole
thing. We know he is not the whole
hing; we found that out when the
Tariff question was up, but say TO
you, if we had a democratic presi-
lent, he would not have to put the
With him in favor of statehood and
lie could talk in favor of it without
But when he suggests
hat you get a good constitution, be-
;ore applying for admission he in
ults your intelligence, as if it was
necessary for him to come all the
way from Washington to tell you to
De careful to get good constitution,
When you have much more reason to |
De careful than be has, because you |
ire the people who have to live un-N
Ter it. My friends, 1 believe the peo- |
Die of Arizona haye sense enough to |
Know what they want and courage |
enough to do what they like. hope |
rou will NOT allow yourselves to be in |
luenced by the suggestion that if |
Tour constitution doesn't suit the |
PRESIDENT and congress, your state |
lood may be delayed. think that
low is as good a time to settle |
hat question as any. I believe that |
he men who have sense enough to
ee the concealed riches in these hills |
md in this soil, have sense enough to
7rite their own constitution, and if |
on are not fit to write your own con-
you are not ready to be ad
1itted as a state. My ADVICE to you
ut don't write your constitution to
ulI ohJ OOOJ O6S
our constitution what you want and
hen tell the president and congress
hat this is what you want and if
hey turn you down, tell them that
on stand on your rights and will
eep your constitution until there
re people in Washington who are
-illing to recognize your rights.
was speaking of the lawyers when
depressed to speak on your Consti
1tion. We will put in the lawyers;
nd then we will put in most of the
ewspaper men-not all of them.
here are some big newspaper men
hat would not be willing to put in
mong the common people. (Voice
rom crowd-"Don't put in Hearst.'O |
will not discuss any individuals or
lention any names, but one of the
Unfortunate things about the jour-
alism of today is that the papers
re owned and controlled by someone
hose name is not known. We can
I'll what they stand for but we don't
now who they are. We know that
ley are champions of the trusts, the
and the railroads, and
e know that some of them seem to
elong to a kind of "black hand'
,ciety whose purpose is to assassi-
ate every friend of the republic.
o, would not put in some of them
it'll the common people, first because
cannot tell who they are always,