The Greeley tribune., 1911-09-28
| MEMBER COLORADO EDITORIAL ASSOCIATION
THE MAYORS SPEECH

THE MAYORS SPEECh
The guest of honor at the county
fair on Friday had some interesting
things to say To the people OF Weld
county about government. He told
his ideas of the functions of an adj
ninistratiye body elected by the
people to do for the people, ana ms
words were pregnant with profound
thought.
He believed in competition. he
said, but he also believed that when
competition was >tifled it was the
business of the officers elected by
the people to assert themselves ana
to protect the masses from the dras-
tic doses that have been administer
ed insistently, persistently and mer-
cilessly by the trusts festered by the
republican regime of the last decade
or two. The question of living, he
said, was paramount and he brought
the matter down to brass tacks by
letting in a little light on the potato
trust and the cost of sugar. He
fearlessly said that if a ton OF sugar
beets brought the farmer $5 and
made $15 worth Of sugar there was
something wrong sOnewhere-that
someone was reaping large profit
without adequate return. And he
said that If the city of Denver had
turned the auditorium of Denver
into q potato market the potato
trust might have had hard shedding.
These remarks, he said, might be
construed as socialistic in tendency,
but he would stand by them.
The mayor is not alone in his
- A.
statements might be sOcialistic they
were true and that there was food
for thought IN the conditions expos
ed. He voiced the sentiment of most
Of the people in Weld county, demo-
Gratis. republicans or socialists. What
is true Of potatoes and sugar beets
is true of many other commodities
that the people here are forced to
pay tribute on, but which do not at.
feet them SO materially because they
are the products of other sections.
In foreign countries. the admins
trative officials elected by the people
occasionally take q hand in con.
structive government. They are not
content to simply act as bookkeepers
for the people nor are the people
content to have them merely in this
capacity. They are given power to
attend to the larger and more i'm.
pOrtant business Of the people. On
preston of the all powerful trusts
is fought by a worthy foe instead of
being confined to the impotent and
scattered complaints of few suf.
ferers who have the temerity to as
sert themselves.
The government has shown itself
either imrNntRnf nr
dealing with the problems that are
now confronting the people in the
matter of existence. They have told
the trusts that their methods are
vicious. but have imposed no penal
ty- Like q fond mother. the high.
est court in the land has said to her
spoiled children naughty. naugh-
ty' but has failed to correct the ma
licious brats.
The words of Mayor Speer are
fraught with deep meaning for not
only Weld county but theentire state
and nation. The hide bound. easily
fooled voters o, Weld county who
have truckled to Guggenheim and
his iik are learning their lesson
hard, but now that it is affecting
their pockets and the glitter of emp
" words Is wearing OFF they are
gradually awakening. Many OF
them doubtless again will cast their
ballots in the same old way at the
next election. while deep down In
their hearts they know that it is uI
to them to correct the abuses that
they have suffered and which the
masses are bleeding from ever,
minute.
whether Mayor Speer is a demo
crat, republican, socialist or wha
the Honorable Thomas NJ. Patterson
once senator and ever agitator call,
nom, iie certainly said somethiu,
worthy OF consideration for the peo
PIE Of Weld county.