The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1910-09-07
trlCtS.

the name with all its glorious men,
cries. They propose to hold fast to
the teachings of that strange man.
Abraham Lincoln, the second great
est character in all human history
the man who was so poor that he had
to bury his own mother in the woods
and then turn away to make finally
the eternal declaration of principles
of the republican party that gov
ernt of the people, for the people and
by the people shall not perish from
the EARTH" Every republican plat
form must hereafter be founded and
truly administered on those teach
ings.
AS I see the truth, the American
people are now, through the revolt
in the republican party, attempting
to form a true government for them
selves, a government that will best
serve to give each his just share of
what nature put into the public
storehouse of this country. the mines,
the timber and the soil The antag-
onistic attitude of the present major
ity of the dominant political party
will serve only to make more certain
people as a whole.
The cry that conservation will
stop so called development would be
true if we considered only the COM
monty accepted meaning of that
term; that is to say, it will stop the
acquisition of the remaining heritage
of the American people by a few
private interests and corporations.
There are no issues now that jus
tify the perpetuation of either the
republican or democratic parties I'M
| d r. their present control; but there
will be a republican party that will
| form a government for all the peO-
pie. If any other party is formed it
will be for the classes. Lincoln was
the only president, prior to the ad-
ministration of Theodore Roosevelt,
who had a real government problem
| to solve.
The United States was the richest
country in natural resources the
world has ever known, and its nat
ural wealth has been "a free for all
grab" The larger portion has fallen
into the hands of, comparatively
speaking, a very few individuals and
corporations. During this grab"
period, everybody has naturally been
| more or less prosperous. The prob
lem of raising revenue for the con-
duct of the government has been an
/ easy one, and the principal function
of the government has been acting
as a receiving and dishursing agent.
So far with few exceptions. namely
nf "a hpan 1.
rect tax on the people for the sup
port of the national government, the
revenue being received from internal
revenue taxes and duty on imports,
the latter made possible by the work
ings of a high protective tariff sys-
tenn. The result of that almost i'm
pregnable tariff wall has been to stop
competition from abroad, and con-
Sequently to build up in the United
States some OF the richest and most
powerful trusts and combinations Of
capital OF which history has any rec
| ord. Some of these command wealth
| that almost equals the financial re-
sources of the government itself.
This great aggregation of wealth.
under the control of few men, has
been almost wholly acquired during
a period of about twenty-five years.
The basic value of this great wealth
is largely the illegal acquisition OF
the public lands with their rich store
of minerals. coal. oil and timber.
This has been simply the robbery of
| natures storehouse.
1t has made possible the building
of railroads whose high earnings
through the charging OF exorbitant
rates. have invited and encouraged
the raising of the capitalization OF
such roads to many times their phys
ical cost. A burdensome tax. levied
in the form of exorbitant and une-
quail rates against the producer and
consumer has resulted in order that
dividends mi"ht be paid on such
| highly watered stocks.
Under the protection of high tar
! if, trusts and combinations have
been formed which are today effec-
lively controlling the cost of about
| all the necessaries of life. Small
competitors have been put into bank
'ruptcy Up to this writing there has