Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-21
RAPS THE MACHINE
Senator Owen Declares for In
itiative and Referendum.
FOR RULE OF THE PEOPLE
Urges Appropriations for Benefit Of
Physical Health Rather Than
for Battleships.
FOR RULE OF THE PEOPLE

for Battleships.
NEW YORK, March 21.-"The founda-
ton stone of the control OF government
by the people will be found in the initia-
tive and referendum declared Senator
Robert l.. Owen of Oklahoma in an adj
dress in Carnegie Hall last night under
the auspices of the Society for Ethical
Culture
The political health of the nation is
distinctly bad in many of the states,
where corrupt machine politics operating
as an agent of selfish interests, both po-
litical and commercial has obtained con-
troll Of party government, nomipating ma
| chine men committed to selfish interests at
the precinct. in county conventions and
in state conventions. nominating officials
from constable to governor by machine
methods" said Senator Owen.
THE people appear to rule through
party machinery, but do not rule in
fact, because the party machinery is
in the hands of corrupt machine men.
controlled In the interest of the few and
against the interest of the many. The
! remedy is to restore popular government
and to overthrow machine government,
and the initiative and referendum is the
open door by which this can be done, by
which it has been gloriously done in Ore
gon.
Prevents Passage of Sanitary Laws.
Machine control of party government,
among other evil results, makes imposs
BILE the passage of laws needed for the
nf he -oi~ hoe af ho
nation, notwithstanding the urgent de-
mand of the people expressed through
medical and sanitary associations from
the Atlantic to the Pacific for twenty
years
THE fact is the United States govern
ment has no organized department of
public health, no proper publicity of
matters affecting the public health. no
proper cooperation with the states.
when the insurance companies and the
gigantic corporations raise millions. of
money to corruptly influence the cleo
of financial authority, with it's far-reach-
ing power, to effect votes in an intensely
commercial nation, you may expect while
machine methods prevail that the nomna-
tons in both parties will be favorable to
| the selfish commercial interests and that
such interests will exercise corrupt and
sinister influence over those chosen to adj
minister government in the legislative, eX-
eCuIlVG anu JUDICIAL DTduCU6S OIL the gov
eminent.
I'm vain the people demand election of
senators by direct vote; in vain do they
seek publicity of campaign contributions;
in vain do they demand laws forbidding
corrupt practices and other reforms of
government; in vain do they demand con-
troll of monopoly, reduction of tariff and
lower prices. The people are appealing to
, the nominees of machine politics commit
ted against them. These nominees are too
Of MOI rios MIA wing nnlfffcS
for profit You can never control CONNER
cial conspiracy or ambition by your gov
eminent until you have taken your gov
eminent out of the hands of commercial
conspiracy and out of the hands of purely
selfish political ambition.
"And how will you do this? BY the ini-
tiative and referendum.
Honest Man Handicapped.
"It sometimes happens that even the
machine men are compelled, in order to
abate suspicion and to elect the state
ticket, to nominate a man absolutely
above suspicion, but if they do. you can
depend upon it that his power for public
service is sufficiently handicapped by his
environment that he cannot accomplish
much substantial constructive service. 1t
has been interesting to observe Gov.
Hughes of New York trying to establish
one of the ten amendments, a direct
primary in vain. Has not this audience
intelligence enough to know why? 1t is
because the right of the people to di-
rectly nominate, by direct primary, the
right of the people to select. means the
peoples rule and the overthrow OF one of
the agencies of organized cOmmercialism
and of organized political ambition. The
machine politicians fatten on the public
treasury, on official favoritism, on state
franchises, on municipal contracts.
I'VE do not need the present exposures
hot
Everybody knows who is not imbecile.
Exposures Not Needed.
I'VE do not need Tom Platt's alleged
contribution of 100000 to the Harrison
campaign as evidence. nor did we need
the exposures of the insurance compa-
MES by Gov. Hughes to tell US what this
gross corrupt system means. We all
know.
I'm eight years we have made an annual
increase in our appropriations for the
army and navy over the average of the
years just preceding of more than
thousand million dollars. Our patriotism
is being played upon in large measure by
those concerned in selling us materials OF
war How much have we spent for the
national health? Are we indeed in league
with death, that we spend a thousand
millions on an increase In expenditure
for war purposes and rely on Nathan
StrauS TO AGATE the klIllHS VI Will
infected milk in New York. The cost OF
one battleship would build a macadam
road Of improved construction between
the cities of Chicago and New. York,
which would pay splendid interest on
the investment, while a battleship costs
eight hundred thousand year for ex-
penses and goes to the junk heap in
twenty years
No Evidence of Patriotism.
THE pension roll of the United States
of more than a hundred and fifty millions
year. which is pointed to as the evil
dence of patriotism, is in fact the crown
ing example of the terrible cost of bad
government, for the reason that three
fourths of the deaths and disabilities
affecting our pensioned soldiers were due
to preventable disease and exposure and
were not due to the projectiles or missiles
of war More than three-fourths of
these deaths and disabilities, due to such
disease, were preventable and will be
prevented in future under a wise and vir-
tuous administration of government. only
ment are restored to and capable Of being
enty per cent of our national expenditures
are que either to the wars of the past,
through the pension roll. or wars in an
ticipation through the army. navy, etc.
II we, the people of the United States,
FOLLOW the great example of the Aus
tralian states, adopt the initiative and
referendum, we can then adopt improved
methods of self-government, we can abol-
ish rnonopolieS and commercial Oppres-