The Ronan pioneer. [volume] (Ronan, Mont.) 1910-1970, 1911-10-13
Sutherland Deplores Drift To.
ward What lie Calls New.
tangled Experiments.
Il N one of the most interesting
speeches of the session Senator
George Sutherland Of Utah dealt


with the present day drift toward
newfangled experiments in govern.
ment, represented by the so called Ore
eon ideas, and administered drub-
bling to Senator Jonathan Bourne, Jr..
of that state, president of the Progress.
sive Republican league.
"Within the last few years." said the
Utah senator, 1.-The United States Of
America has become the field of opera
ton for an amiable band of insurgent
soothsayers. who have been going up
and down the land INDUCING in cabalis.
tic utterances respecting the initiative,
referendum and recall and divers and
sundry other ingenious devices for re.
alizing the millennium by the ready
and simple method of voting it out Of
Its present state of incubation. They
direct our attention to the clouds fly
ing above the far western horizon upon
which the flaming finger of the Ore
gon sun has traced in radiant and
opalescent tints glowing pathways,
shining minarets, stately temples and
castles and palaces, pinnacles of gold
and caves Of purple, and they tell us
that these are the visible signs which
mark the exact location Of the new
and improved political Jerusalem,
where the wicked Office holders cease
from troubling and the weary voters
do all the work.
"They bid us Join them in an airy
pilgrimage to this scene of pure delight
and assure us that here, high above
selfish and mundane things. is the land
flowing with milk and honey where
every bird is songster, where the cx
quisite flowers Of political purity are
in perpetual bloom, where every pros
pect pleases' and only the standpatter
is vile, where all the laws are perfect
and corruption and wickedness are for
gotten legends.
"a good many people," Senator Suth.
erland added, "arc accepting the invi-
tation without taking the precaution
to secure return tickets"
Calls Them Balloonatics.
Senator Sutherland described the nd
vocates Of these newfangled ideas also
as "balloonatics," who IRE carrying all
gas and no ballast. Senator Suther-
lands speech was aimed chiefly at the
Arizona constitution. although he also
included the New Mexico constitution
within his condemnation. I1e acknowl-
edged that 1t was not fashionable to
find fault with the political fads
which are being Unexpectedly advo-
Gated under the claim Of restoring gov.
eminent by the people.
amy one" said he, "who doubts the
wisdom of the initiative and referen-
dunn, the recall or the direct primary
is at once set down by certain self
constituted guardians of the peoples
rights as 'reactionary' or 'standpat-
ter and only those who accept the
whole programme from prologue to
epilogue are considered worthy to be
called progressive.
Somebody has defined standpat-
ter as man who has stopped and
cannot start, and progressive as one
who has started and cannot stop. II
these definitions are to be accepted as
accurate sensible people will avoid
both schools"
Country's Sanity In Danger.
Senator Sutherland declared that be-
tween the political quack who thinks
only of himself and the political zealot
who does not think at all the country
is in grave danger of having all the
stability and sanity ground out of its
institutions.
I'VE are living in strenuous days.
said Senator Sutherland. EVERY
body seems to be affected in one form
or another with the speed mania. To
do everything more quickly, to travel
faster and faster Is the growing obses-
sion of the times, and we are eagerly
looking forward to the day when we
shall fly through the mir without the
encumbrance Of gasoline tank. draw.
ing propulsive power as we go from
the electric waves which fill the uni
verse with the mysterious energy Of
their rise and fall.
Too Many New Fads.
1T Is not strange that in the uni
versal fever Of haste government itself
should be swept by this mad spirit Of
impatience, which has given rise to
the new apostle of reform. whose de
mand is that we shall abandon the
methodical habits Of the past and 60
careering after novel and untricd
things. The speed limit has been TAX
en- off, the stop, Look and Listen
signs removed. and the importunate
cry Is, Full speed ahead, get some
where else than where you are-it mat
ters not where-only in Gods name lei
1t be quickly"
Senator Sutherland declared that the
new fads in government were too
many even to count. Every self con
stituted reformer was bringing ia
vorite patch to the quilting bee, and
when the work was finally completed
our scheme Of government, he predict
Cd. would be rs bizarre as the old