The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1911-01-19
The Peoples Rule"

I
| h0ma: The revolution in political
affairs of November s should not be
| misinterpretcd. The real issue was
not whether one set OF men should
| replace another set Of men, bu,
whether special interests in alliance
with profession self-seeking politi'
clans should rule this country fol
the benefit Of monopoly at the eX.
pcnse OF the great masses of the
| people, or whether we should have
"the peoples rule High prices
high tariff, high freight rates, etc.
were but evidences of the fact Of the
rule of special privilege. This issue
in the United States was raised In
the last Democratic national plat.
form, where II declared:
"The peoples rule" to be "thc
overwhelming issue which mani
tests itself in all the questions now
under discussion
Everywhere the Republicans made
this the issue with obvious SINGER
ity, they won out, as in Washington
and Wisconsin and in the progress
siye Republican districts Where
the Democrats made the doctrine of
1.-THE peoples rule" aud the abuses
Of "thc rule Of the few" the issue,
they won out, AS in Maine, New Jer-
scy, Connecticut, Colorado, and in
the numerous districts where tn"
Republicans went to defeat
The initiative and referendum,
which is the soul Of the peoples
rule, carried Maine two years ago,
aud the triumph of tn" Progressive
Democracy in Maine was lorcgonc
conclusion.
Where the Republican leaders
have been sufficiently progressive,
the people have been content to trust
them. Where they were evidently
controlled by machine politics in al
lance with business, they have suf-
frrcd a tremendous loss. Where the
Democratic leaders were in apparent
alliance with such selfish interests,
it meant defeat, rs with DahIman in
Nebraska and the Patterson ma
chine in Tennessee, which dragged
the too good-uaturod Bob Taylor to
temporary defeat,
That the real is~u" was the issue
between the peoples rule and the
rule of special privilrg" is abundant
ycvidcncrd by Pennsylvania, whore
Berry, the peoples rule candidate,
under the management of th" Key
stone committee. running ON the
pcoplc's rule program, got 3Ii,745
votes, while Grim, tn" Democratic
candidate Of the bipartisan ma
chine, got llG,SlG, votes, total of
43l ,IGl votes; while Tcucr, the rcgu-
lar Republican machine candidate.
got 3iS, 2Dg votes. If tn" Democrats
of the keystone state had put up
peoples rulo candidate and made
the campaign on the peoples rule
system, they would have carried
Pcnns ylvauia by over ~ 900 votes,
In spite Of the control Of the election
machinery by the Republican bosses.
No power on earth can stop the
of the peoples rule. 1t
the heart of Democracy,
it moves the progressive Republic
cans, whose successes have de
pended on this doctrine alone, and
who grow strong just in degree that
they show their confidence in it.
The reactionaries of the country
under the color Of conservatism will
now make haste to court the Demo-
cracy and try to win it away from
the people. The progressive Demo-
cracy should, therefore, and for this
very reason, make haste to clean
It's own house, to pledge itself anew
to establishing the rights of the peO-
pie and the rule Of the people. Only
by the system of direct legislation
and direct nomination can corrupt
machine politics, the agency through |
which special interests have sue
ceeded in ruling this country for
their own purposes, be Overthrown.