The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1910-04-20


The stand-patters freely admit that
! Mr.. Cummins is not their political
| idol They accuse him of being a
selfish, ambitious demagog. They
| claim that while he is, or has been.
| the beneficiary of the railroad inter-
ests the brewing interests and the in
surance interests, he also acquired the
governorship and senatorship as the
friend of the oppressed. This they
! do not consider fair. They picture
! him as accepting railroad fees with
one hand while the other is waving
| in eloquent gesture as he declares,
Rather would ] lose this good right
arm than quit the cause" etc. etc.
They show him to you upon his
| knees at night praying his God to
deliver him from the corporations.
and the next morning cheerfully tuck
| ing tainted money into his jeans, the
same coming to his law firm as pay
ment for railroad lobbying. thus, like
the proverbial Terry, saving his soul
and his bacon at the same time.
How About Deliver?
But" you protest, "tnese are
|
strength. And surely he is not fight
ing the fight of the trustified, the priv
ileged and the incorporate at present.
Furthermore, he is not an isolated
phenom Why are the majority
of the Iowa Representatives ynsug-
ents? Above ALL what caused Dolli-
yer. Cummins' associate and senior,
| to about, face!' after years and years
of stand-pattery? Could so old a
campaigner be stampeded by the
white orifamme which waves about
the brow of Cummins?
When you mention Dolliver, the
average stand-patter groans and goes
up into the air. Words are of no
value to explain or condone the apos-
tacy of Jonathan p. Dolliver, for
| DOlliver was the idol of the stand
patters, their Henry of Navarro.
They can only explain Deliver by
admitting that he must have con-
ceived Iowa to be hopelessly insurg
ent, and that brings us back to the
main question, What made it 500"
Why should this state, as safely
republican as Pennsylvania, have re-
, belled against it's political gods?
Rooseveltian? But Roosevelt's in
fiuence, whatever it may have been,
was nationwide and might more ap-
proportionately have been expected
to break out in New York, which was
closest to his personality.
The Iowans themselves run around
in circles when they attempt to explain
Iowa, and you find many of the stand
| patters have insurgent ideas, but dis
believe in the insurgent Henderson
leader, I'm a low tariff man." said
wideawake attorney of Fairfield,
"but I can't stand Cummins."
| I'm as progressive as any insur-
gent" said an Osceola editor "but 1
! don't believe in Cummins."
Even standpattery is shot through
and through by insurgency.
Again, why?
"ChautauQuas'' the Answer.
Well, here's the explanation, and
you won't get it from the insurgents
or the standpatters, because they don't
realize it. The answer is-the Chau-
tauquas and the Lyceum.
Sounds rather weird to you, does
| it? Well, think a moment. The
| CnautauQua is as much an lHSlllu-
ton in Iowa as the theatre is in New
York. Go into any Iowa county seat
and ask the hotel clerk, what did
you have at Chautauqua last sum-
mer?" and he answers you as mat
! ter of coursely and more accurately
than a Broadway hotel clerk answers
your query, whats running at the
| theatres now?
There are more Chautaquas and
| Lyceum courses in Iowa than in any
other state in the union, especially
| Chautauquas. Summer after summer
| Iowa is fairly freckeled with Chau-
! tauquas. Summer after summer the
! farmer and the small town dweller
takes his vacation at "Chautauqua,"
and remember, Iowa is essentially Il
rural and q small town state. sum-
mer after summer the Chautauquas
have listened to Bryan, to LaFollette,
to Folk, to Ben Lindsay, to Senator
Gore, to Gov. Johnson, to Gov. Han
ley and to dozens of others, aim ost
everyone having some sort of an Gin
surgent' message.
| AS a standpat manager of Chau-
| tauqua plaintively remarked to me,
| "All you Chautauqua fellows are re-
| formers, aren't you?" Even Tom
Lawson did not disdain the Chautau-
quas but Aldrich and Cannon have
! passed them by, and now they rub
| their eyes in wonder at the restive-
| ness of the west.
The Chautauquas did not design
edly foster this insurgency, but the
radicals were put on the program
/ because they were in the public eye,
and they drew" Summer after sum-
mer the small-toWner and the farmer
heard the message, and winter after
winter he thought it over. And the
result? insurgency, Downward Re-
vision. Progressiveisn, and strong
chance of Third Party!