The Detroit times., 1910-06-14

Conservation has captured the ma
ton. Official opposition 10 the con
servation movement has vastly
strengthened the conscience OF our
people. Efforts to obscure or belittie
the issue have only served TO make II
larger and clearer In the public est
nation. The conservation movement
cannot be checked by the baseless
charge that will prevent develop
ment, or that every man who tells the
plain truth Is either q muckraker OF
a demagog.
The conservation issue Is mora
Issue. and the heart Of II Is this: Fol
whose benefit shall our natural re
sources be conservation the beneh'
OF us all, or for the use and proft Of
the few?
All monopoly rests on the unreguiat
ed control Of natural resources. Sucf
control by special interests Is impos
sible without the help OF politics. The
alliance between business and politics
is the most dangerous thing In ou'
political life.
IL is the snake that We must Kill
| The special interests must get out o.
politics. or the American people vii
rut them out OF business.
Because the special interests are II
politics. we as a nation have lost con
! fdepce in congress. This Is serious
statement, but IL is true. Ii does no
apply, OF course, to the congressmer
who are making SO fine q fight for the
conservation OF self-government.
| But In the meantime the people o
the United States believe that. as
whole, the senate and the house nS
/ longer represent the voters by whom
they were elected, but the special In
terests by whom they are controlled.
The tariff has been made tool K
increase the cost OF living. The WOO
schedule, protesting to protect the
wool grower, is found to result In sac
rificing grower and consumer alike Il
one OF the most rapacious OF trusts.
The cotton cloth schedule was In
creased In the face OF the uncontra
dicted public testimony OF the manu-
/ facturers themselves that IL ought L
remain unchanged.
! The steel interests by a trick sc
cured an indefensible increase In th'
tariff on structural steel.
| The sugar trust stole from the gov
eminent like petty thief, yet con
gress. by means OF dishonest SEIZED
ule, continues TO protect II in bleeding
the public.
At the very time the duties on man
ufactured rubber were raised, ths
leader OF the senate, in company with
the Guggenheim syndicate, was organ
izing an international rubber trust
whose charter made II also holdins
company for the coal and copper de
posits OF the whole world.
| For a dozen years the demand OF the
nation for the pure food and drug bill
was outweighed In congress by the In
terests which asserted their rights Il
ipoison the people for a profit.
Congress refused to authorize the
preparation OF great plan OF water
way development in the general inter
est, and for 10 years has declined Il
pass the Appalachian and White noun
tain national forest bill. although the
people are practically unanimous fol
both.
The whole nation is in favor OF pro
tecting the coal and other natural re
sources OF Alaska, yet they are still
III grave uduecT VI uclHb dOSOTUeu W
the special interests. And as for the
general conservation movement, con
gress not only refused to help 1t On
but tried to forbid any progress with
out its help. Fortunately for us all
in this attempt 1t has utterly failed.
The loss Of confidence In congress
| is a matter for deep concern to ever,
thinking American. II has not com,
quickly or without good reason.
Every man who knows congress wei
knows the names OF senators and mem
bers who betray the people they wer,
elected to represent, and knows alst
the names OF the masters whom the,
obey.
Political platforms are not SINGER,
statements Of what the leaders Of
rarty really believe, but rather form
OF words which those leaders thinl
they cap get others to believe the,
believe. All this the people realize
and they are ready to act on thei
knowledge.
/ Some of the men who are respon
sible for the union OF business ant
politics may be profoundly dishonest
but more Of them are not. Many o.
The old-style leaders regard the politi