The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1910-05-10
Senator Owen Attracting
Much Favorable Mention

Washington D G. May To-
Especial Correspondence. Under the
caption Of progrese 1ve leaders in the
United States senate, George Il shlb-
ley, tie well known magazine wgher.
has the following to say in the May
number Of the Twentieth Century
Magazine about Senator Robert j..
owen OF Oklahoma
One OF the most striking figures in
american politics today is Senator
L. Owen A Ie IL D., Of Oklahoma,
n personal appearance he IS tall well-
developed and handsome His sym
.pathies are whh the people, and as he
.is a practical statesman. keen, re-
sourceful and an orator Of the first
rank, he is a tower Of strength in the
senate. He is constantly presenting
importaia facts and directing atten-
tion to basic principles. Industrious in
collecting data and masterful in hand
ling it, he has delivered great speeches
against the tarifTsshelter for trusts,
against privately-owned paper money,
for the guarantee of bank deposits. for
direct election of United States sena-
tors by the people, for an income tax
and an inheritance tax, for a depart
ment of public health, for the removal
of burdensome governmental restric-
tions in Oklahoma, for a postal saw
ings bank system in which the funds
shall be kept in the several commune
ties and not diverted to Wall street;
and he has vigorously promoted the
movement for the initiative and refer
endum. For two years he has served
as chairman Of the national commit
tee of the Peoples Rule League of
America, during which time he has
presented to congress three memorials
on the initiative aud referendum and
secured the publication by congress of
10000 copies of each memorial. One
of these helped to establish the ini-
tiative and referendum in Maine. In
1905, in Oklahoma, he took steps
which helped to bring about the ques-
tioning of candidates and the estblish-
ment of the initiative and referendum
in that state
During July, 1908. as chairman of
the National Committee on the Peo-
pies Rule League, he visited Mr..
Bryan at Lincoln, Neb, and secured
from him a letter to his personal rep
|resentative at the democratic national
convention at Denver, requesting that
the platform emphasize the need for
restoring The Peoples Rule. That ac-
counts for the splendid platform de-
claration on that subject. And SEN
ator Owen prepared the details of the
now famous democratic national plank
of 1908. for the guarantee of bank
deposits.
During the past year he has put in
many days planning with others for a
widespread national movement for
the restoration of the Peoples Rule
as a result of the 1910 campaign. In
this connection, he wrote to friend:
"The over-shadowing issue appeal
ing to the patriotic intelligence OF
both parties is; How to secure a
more equitable distribution Of the pro-
|ceeds Of human labor? How shall the
crafty hand of monopoly and trade
conspiracy be restrained?
Certain great evils are obvious.
Private Monopolies now;
4 Fix high prices on every neces.
sary of life.
30 They fix low prices on all raw
material, or crude products Of unor-
ganized labor in field. forest. mine and
petty factory
"s. They reduce the output on the
ridiculous theory Of over-production.
They close factories; they discharge
willing and faithful labor; they es-
tablish blacklists; they tyrannize over
those unwilling to submit to unjust
terms"
They protect themselves from gov
|ernmental interference and obtain gov
ernmental favor by the use Of machine
politics and machine politicians, and
thus often mislead. thwart or control
the legislative and the executive au-
thorities, and occasionally are sup
posed to even influence the judiciary
They deceive the people by false
news and by crafty articles in the
press of the country. using intellect
ual mercenaries who make the worse
appear the better reason. They own
in large degree many metropolitan
papers and number of magazines.
"These esiis essn only be corrected
by tfs overthrow es machine politics
/ in both parties. Democratic leagues
should be organized within the demo
cratic party and republican leagues
should be organized within the repub-