Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1910-07-15

and nation; and true to it's past his
tory of conservation demands the
enactment of laws which shall pro-
vide that every grant or franchise to
individuals or corporations for their
use of any of the natural resources
of the state, shall be coupled with
the express provision that such in
dividuals or corporations shall pay
into the state treasury annually sucn
percentage of the gross earnings de-
rived through the use of Such natural
resources as may be determined by
the rate commission Of the state TO
be just and reasonable; and that IN
case of forfeiture all Improvements
made by any such grantee on the
public lands of the state shall be Tor
feited to the state. We charge that
the Republican party has been
reckless squanderer of our natural
resources Of our public domain,
once the greatest heritage OF our
people, the Republican party has,
from the year 1862 down to the
present time, granted to corporations
181, 419,568 acres, and to foreign
capitalists and noblemen a total or
HIP, 600 acres, equal in size In the
aggregate to ten average states OF
the Union; from all of which the
people of the United States have de-
rived no profit Or compensation
whatever. The Democratic party
during it's history added to our pup
lie territory the lands bounded by the
Mississippi river on the east and the
Pacific ocean on the west; and con-
sistently conserved these lands Tor
the use of the homesteaders OF the
nation. During approximately three
quarters of a century OF Democratic
rule there was granted to the several
states in trust only for the education
of the people CT ,893,919 acres or
land During the whole OF that
period Democracy opposed the count
less schemes and opportunities OF
favorites and refused to grant any
of the public domain except to BONA
f1de homesteaders and for the pur-
poses of free public education. we
point to these facts of history as evil
dence of the attitude of the Democ-
racy in respect to the conservation
of our natural resources.
We favor the enactment Of a law
requiring the publication of all cam
paign contributions and expenses
prior to the time Of election.
We favor the enactment and the
rigorous enforcement of a stringent
corrupt practice act to the end that
politics may be purified and mem
bers of corrupt combinations IN poH-
tics adequately punished.
We denounce the infamous Payne
Aldrich tariff law passed by the last
congress as betrayal OF the In
terests of the people, and as meas
ure enacted for the benefit Of special
interests offering no relief what
ever to the consumers Of our coun-
try; and we approve Of the gallant
opposition of the Democratic mem
bers of congress to the same; and
declare for a prompt reduction OF
the tariff in favor of the people. and
not in the interest of the product OF
any trust or combine ton whatsoever.
We favor an amendment to the
constitution of the United States
authorizing congress to enact an In
come tax law.
We reafirm our devotion to tie
Democratic principle Of economy in
public expenditures, both state and
national. We denounce the reckless
and unjustifiable extravaganza of the
Republican state and national ad-
ministrations; and we oppose the
practice Of creating unnecessary Of
fees for the purpose of supplying
places to political henchmen, whose
chief occupation is that of keeping
the Republican party in power at
the expense of the tax payers or the
state.