The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1911-03-07
POWER Of
SPECIAL INTERESTS
CLIFFORD rI\tIiO1 SANS VOTERS
SHOULD REGISTER PRO
FOUND INDICATION


] ASSpfldlcu i'ItSS SDtt4dis
Akron. Ohio. March Clifford
| Pinchot. former chief of the forestry
service. was the principal speaker
at a banquet given here last night
by the Progressive Republicans OF
! Ohio Mr. Pinehot said in part:
From the point of view of mater
ial civilization the most important
event of recent years is the CONVEX
sion of this nation to the conserva-
ton idea. The American people are
fully persuaded today that 50 far as
the natural resources are concerned
our prosperity now and hereafter de
ponds on looking ahead. Having ac-
Quired, at least in part, the habit oil
foresight in this one great field, we
are beginning to carry it into the
field of politics, and to demand that
the machinery of government shall
in the future be more responsive to
the popular will than it has been in
the past
The sign and promise of all this is
| the political unrest of the present
day AS | have had occasion to say
| more than once the fundamental fact
today in politics is the profound in
dignation of the voters against the
political poi II of the special inter
ests As citizens we are beginning to
see that if we are to govern our
selves in the future with less dicta-
ton from the special interests than
We have had in the past, the machin-
cry of government must be so adj
justed as to make it easier for the
popular will to produce results. 1t
must be made easier for the people
to secure continuously the honest
enforcement of their will than it is
for the business and political bosses
to secure continuously the defeat of
the popular will in their own inter
est We cannot always work along |
under a political organization such |
that unbearable abuses are the only |
stimulants strong enough to make |
the people demand and get their |
rights Good government in spurts |
is not good enough What we need is
machinery under which the hardest |
work will always have to be done by |
the men who are trying to defeat the |
popular will, and not by the men
who are trying to get it enforced,
The man who always votes
straight ticket has destroyed his own
political effectiveness. He has sim
ply counted himself out. The vote of
the always regular republican sim
ply cancels the vote of the always
In, off bp ftys, ]
are paired, and neither has an IN
fiUence on the final result
The hide-bound regular must
swallow what is set before MIN.
Down it must go, though it choke
him Dislikes and misgiyings alike
rive way at the crack of th2 party |
w1ip. Therefore he has nothing TO
say as to platforms or candidates.
The men the political leaders never
fear to lose are the men these same
leaders need make no effort to re-
tain. When party platforms are
drawn up, no changes need be made
to meet the rock-ribbed regulars |
views, for he will vote the ticket |
anyhow. When candidates are nomi- |
mated, no concessions to his prefer
ence are required, for he will vote
the ticket anyhow. When elections
are held, the rubber stamp voter on
the one side is offset by the rubber
stamp voter on the other side and
the issue is decided by the men who
vote their convictions where they
find them. The men who count are
the men with independence enough
to weigh platforms, judge candidates
and act on what they find.
The man who boasts of his un-
shaken regularity is boasting of his
unshakable inefficiency. He is proud
that he does not count The men
who will not follow the leaders when
they go wrong are the men who
keep the leaders right. The men who
will not follow the party when it
goes wrong are the men who keep
the party right.
As a nation we are passing out OF
the political leading-strings of the
special interests into the full devel-
opment of political maturity. The
sign of our advance from childhood
into manhood is the progressive
movement