The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1909-08-04
UNITED STATES
TOO RADICAL
POLITICAL COWARDICE RAMPANT
Former Secretary of tho Treasury
Shaw Says That Leaders Are
Too Close to the People.

CHAUTAQUA, N. Y, August g.
Political cowardice is a characteristic
of the present era, according to Form
er Secretary of the Treasury Leslie
M. Shaw, who addressed a large au-
dience at Chautauqua assembly on
Evolution in Matters Political"
Perhaps the most startling of the
secretary's statements was the asser-
ton that senators and Representatives
are at present too close to the people.
They ought to be more out of touch
with the people than at present. Some
of the most agitated and popular re-
forms were hammered by Mr.. Shaw
in his aggressive address. Direct
primaries were branded as dangerous.
Popular election of senators was term
ed political heresy. Introduction of
the initiative and referendum was de-
clared revolutionary.
In proof of his belief that things are
getting entirely too radical in this
country Mr.. Shaw asserted that if
Taft, Roosevelt, and Bryan should
die, either Hearst or La Toilette would
in the national government as eviden-
ced during President Roosevelt's term,
was pronounced an unmitigated dan
ger, making it possible for an execu-
tive to perpetuate his regime for 50,-
600 years. In this connection the for
mer secretary called the popular de-
mand for Tafts Intervention in the
tariff bill revolutionary.
Sees Fault in Public Life.
1.-THE spirit of the times is not
friendly to craftsmanship" said the
former governor of iowa. "Ask any
man who has served long term in
either house of congress, and he will
tell you that never in his time was
there such large measure of political
cowardice. The fault is of the people.
Few men continue long in congress
who study measures and vote their
mature judgment. The people will
not stand for that. We are too busy
to study questions ourselves, and we
will not concede that those whom we
have selected for this particular task
are better prepared to judge of the
merits than we.
1.-THE safety of the state is dependent
in a large measure upon the legisla-
tive representatives holding such Sc
cure tenures of office that they can
vote their convictions. All we now
ask of our representatives is that they
stay close to the telephone and take
instructions from home.
1.-The direct primary, more espec-
tally the election of United States SEN
ators by direct vote of the people, and
most certainly the initiative and refer
endum, spell revolution from the gov
eminent as founded by the fathers If
any one of these political heresies had
prevailed during the greenback craze
of the middle seventies we should
have had an unlimited issue of green
backs.
Capitalization Never Equaled
"If Theodore Roosevelt, William II.
Taft, and William Jennings Bryan
We're each to die and if the people
should nominate candidates in the
two great political parties, the nomin-
ees would be William Randolph
Hearst and Robert NJ. La Toilette.
What their platforms might contain
even the most imaginative cannot
predict.
THE Capitalization we now witness
has never before been equaled in any
country on the may, Russia not ex-
cepted.
Pending the passage of the rate bill
l said to President Roosevelt that this