Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-10-18

4, the American Farmers Against the Ex-
| .ortions of the Railroad Companies
! which VIII open any mans eyes who
I thinks that the regulation of railways
/ either as TO their rates. or the issue of
{ their stock and bonds. or the keeping of
! their accounts or the prevention of
! their Determinations between persons
! or points OF shipment or kinds of mer
/ chandise, is new departure in states
manship. Neither can it be said that
the farmers Of the middle west did not
gather some fruits OF their labors. If
they were compelled to hold their
meetings without the auspices of the
republican party at the outset, they
! lived long enough to be invited back
i TO the fold; to see the substance OF
/ their demands find a place in the stat
ute books Of nearly every state, and in
! 1887 IN the statutes OF the United
! States. We are not up 10 the lessons
with which these farmers OF Iowa.
! Wisconsin. Illinois, Minnesota, and the
states west OF the Missouri made the
+ period from 1870 TO 1880 memorable in
| the annals Of the national life. In their
time they We're thought to be eXtrem-
lists and fanatics: yet the opinions
which they espoused are now seen TO be
moderate and worthy OF all acceptation.
Even the railway managers themselves
admit the wisdom of the farmers who
were at once their patrons and their
judges. With no dissenting voice except
the president of the Atchison. Topeka
and Santa Fe, who still insists that g
railway ought 70 be permitted TO
charge what the traffic Will bear These
transgressions of party discipline in
past times are referred to- not for the
purpose of defending them. bu, for the
purpose OF pointing out some OF the
new conditions which have made the
republican party of today so hospi-
table TO independent views of public
affairs that it is no longer necessary
for anybody 10 leave the party in order
TO seek an audience for his opinions in
cold. unfr!endlv outside world
Party Bosses Undermined.
Il has been a little hard for old--ire
political leaders 10 understand the
forces, now nationwide n their in
huence, which have undermined the au-
, thority of party bosses in nearly every
state. Failing 70 understand, il Is not
strange that they have underestimate
these forces Indeed. some of them are
so obscure and are spread over so long
a time that they have naturally escap-
ed the notice of professional! politicians.
! L is now perfectly evident that new
} public opinion has everywhere develop
ed; but the agencies which have pro-
dueed it are so remote ard so nuner-
Gus that they have easily escaped at
tention.
The universal spread of knowledge.
q sy,.
the problems with which the govern
merl- IS concerned and the methods %
dealing with them in legislation ard
in the administration Of the laws may
be said 10 constitute foundation upon
which this new public opinion has bull,
itself UP. until today neither long ser
vice nor fame nor the prestige Of great
office Is any longer able to protect a
public man against the searching
cross examination 10 which ne is sub
jected by his constituents. Without
this new state of the public mind there
could be no effective insurgency in
either political party: and while il may
not be the cause. it IS the sure support
Of every protest which has been made
against the dictation OF party leader
ship more jealous in the service of
private than Of public interests.
La Toilette Biazed Trail.
/ Il IS no, surprising that the voice Of
this protest should have been heard IN
states remote from the capital before 1t
had begun to make itself audible in
con gress: and it is not remarkable tina;
il should nave reached its earliest and
most fruitful development in those
great communities which forty years
ago foresaw danger. and in a grim
awkward way set about TO protect
/ themselves without regard to the ease
and comfort of the political party to
which they belonged. 1t may we'll be
doubted whether the political move
.13ent now known everywhere as pro-
| gressive republican.sm could have been
! successfully inaugurated Il 1t had not
been for the long and desperate strug-
gle to secure for the people the right TO
! participate directly in the choice o.
I candidates and to contro, the policy OF
/ political parties in states like Wtscon-
sin and Iowa. In Wisconsin young
man. born upon farm near the CAPT.
| tai OF the state, educated in the public
schools and in the state university
trained il the profession Of the law
gifted as an orator. with a natural ap-
.ituds for the public service. and. above
all. endowed with a courageous hear.
and genius for labor and research
awoke to the fact that the whole politi-
! cal life OF the state had become mere
agency Of great business corporations
many Of them non-residents, and that
( no man, however qualified to serve the
community, had any chance to do sc
without an alliance with the political
machine which they controlled. The
situation was intolerable TO this eager
student of popular institutions. 1t ap-
/ peared 10 him to forecast the end, i.
not Of our form OF government. at least
Of its spirit and substance When Rob
ert NJ. La Toilette locked up his law
! office. announced his candidacy for
governor of Wisconsin. and took the
stump to state his views to the people
the old politicians INDUCED in derisive
laughter and hardly took the trouble &c
find out what he was saying or doing al
the county fairs. He was not nominal
ed. but he walked up Wisconsin. and
announced his purpose to renew his as
sauit on the political rulers Of the state
Nearly everybody said that it was q
hopeless fight. The men whose contro
he challenged were multi milIionaires
while he himself was without money
or influential connections OF any sort