The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1911-04-14

people, by means which are private
and selfish and worthy of all con-
domination We mean specifically
the conduct of our affairs and the
shaping of our legislation in the in
terest of special bodies of capital
and those who organize their use.
We mean the alliance for this pur-
pose of political machines with the
captains of organized industry. We
mean the exploitation of the people
by legal and political means. We
have seen our governments under
these influences cease to be repre-
sentative governments. cease to be
governments representative Of the
people, and become governments
representative of the special inter-
ests, controlled by machines, which
in their turn are not controlled by
the people,
I'VE are not attacking men, we
are attacking a system The men
are, most of them. honest. The great
majority of them believe that in ser
ing their own they are serving the
interests of the country at large.
Their conception of prosperity is
that it will best proceed and gather
under their management They are
willing, indeed they are anxious,
that the people should share in it,
but it must originate with them and
be under their experienced control.
They stand at the wrong point of
view; they seek their objects, not by
public argument, but by private
management and arrangement. by
influence, not by open political
process.
"They are serving, served and as
sisted, not only by the political or
CARNATIONS which put men into Of
flee and into our legislatures, but
also by our present methods of legis-
lation Legislation, as we nowadays
conduct it, is not conducted in the
open 1t is not threshed out in open
debate upon the floors of our assem-
blies. 1t is on the contrary, framed,
digested and concluded in commit
tee rooms 1t is in committee rooms
that legislation not desired by the
interests dies. 1t is in committee
rooms that legislation desired by the
interests is framed and brought
forth There is not enough debate of
it in open house, in most cases to
proposals made. Clauses lie quietly
undiscovered in our statutes which
contain the whole gist and purpose
of the act; qualifying phrases which
escape the public attention and cas-
ual definitions which do not attract
attention, classification so technical
as not to be generally understood
and which everyone most intimately
concerned is careful not to explain
or expound, contain the whole pur-
pose ot the law. Only after it has
been enacted and has been come to
adjudication in the courts is its
scheme as whole divulged The
beneficiaries are then safe behind
their bulwarks
"Of course the chief triumph of
committee work, of covert phrase
and unexplained classification is the
tariff law. Ever since the passage of
the outrageous Payne-Alrich tariff
law our people have been discover
ing the concealed meanings and pur-
poses which lay hidden in it, They
are discovering item by item now
deeply and deliberately they We're
deceived and cheated. This did not
happen by accident; it came about
by design by elaborated, secret de-
sign Questions put upon the floor
in the House and Senate were not
frankly or truly answered and an
elaborate piece of legislation was
foisted on the country which could
not possibly have passed if it had
been comprehended by the whole
country.
But there are other ambushes.
Take for example, the entirely legi-
innate extensions made of the idea
of private property for the benefit
of modern corporations and trusts,
A modern joint stock corporation
cannot in any proper sense be said
to base its rights and powers upon
the principles of private property, Its
powers are wholly derived from leg
| islation. 1t possesses them for the
| convenience of business at the suf-
ferance of the public Its stock is
widely owned, passes from hand to
| hand, brings multitudes of men into
| its shifting partnerships and con
meets it with the interests and the
| investments of whole communities.
| 1t is a segment of the public; bears
no analogy to a partnership or to
| the process by which private proper
| ty is safeguarded and managed, and
should not be suffered to afford any
covert whatever to those who are
managing it. Its management is OF
public and general concern, is in
very proper sense everybody's bust
ness.
Hence our objects as party. |
take these objects to be to open al
| the processes of politics-open
them wide to public view; to make
| them accessible to every force that
moves, every opinion that prevails