Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-06-18


lives that as whole are pleasant.
rather soft and who are free from all
possibility of the pressure Of actual
want. 1t has been matter of concern
| to me To see how bitter and irration
al has beer the opposition To us
| among a very large proportion of
| these men who are to be found in the
| most noted clubs, in the centers of
| big business and in the places espe-
oially rescrted 10 by those whose chief
desires are for ease and pleasure, We
| have with MS a small percentage of
| the heads of great corporations and of
| great corporation lawyers. including,
| l believe, almost every man of either
| class sufficiently high minded and
| farsighted to see that in the long run
| privilege spells destruction. not only
| to the class hramed by it but to the
| class possessing it We welcome the
| presence of these men
| Every honest man whatever his for
| tune. should be our ally. The great
majority of capitalists. however. and
of the big corporation lawyers so in
| timately connected with them, are ma
| turallv hostile to us. Their hostility
| did not surprise me. The men who
| are iltSl Dtt6llIlCu DN lIlNiitSbs ull-
| less they are exceptionally disinterest-
| ed and farsighted, cannot be expected
TO feel friendly towards those who as
| sail privilege. But associated with
| them are many men whose selfish in
| terest in privilege is far less obvious.
We who in this contest are fight
| ing for the rights of the plain peo-
| pie. we who are fighting for the right
of the people to rule themselves need
offer no better proof of the fact that
| we are fighting for all citizens, no
matter what their politics, than that
which is afforded by the action of
| that portion of the press which is
controlled by privilege, by the great
special interests in business. Newspa
| pers of this type are found in every
part of the country, in San Francisco,
| in Cincinnati, in Chicago and St.
Louis. in Boston and Philadelphia.
| But they are strongest in New York.
Some of these newspapers are nomin-
ally Democratic, some nominally Re-
publican, some nominally Independent.
But in reality they are true only TO
the real or faneied interests of the
great capitalist class by certain of
whose members they are controlled.
Sometimes the interests of this cap
italist class are identical with those
of the country as a whole and in that
case these papers serve the interests
of the commonwealth. Sometimes the
interests of the capitalist class are
against the interests of the people as
a whole and in that case these papers
are hostile to the interests of the
commonwealth. But neither their act
ing favorahly to nor their acting adj
versely TO the interests of the COM
monwealth is anything more than an
incident 10 their support of the inter-
ests to which they are bound. The
great and far-reachiHg evil of their
action is that they choke and foul the
only channels of Information open To
SO many honest and well-meaning cit
liens. The most prominent represen-
tatives of these papers in New York
and Massachusetts, supported Mr.. Par
ker against me in 1894. MIR. Parker
was a Democrat. but he WAS entirely
satisfactory TO these masters and for
the time being they ardently did all
they could to overthrow the Repub-
liesan party and to elect a Democratic
president But when / began to be
seriously talked about for the Repub-
lican nomination, this year. these pa
pers. one and all, turned Republican
10 the extent of becoming my furious
opponents and the furious champions
of Mr.. Taft
There is an element Of pure comedy
in reading in these papers continual
lamentations about the likelihood Of
my candidacy breaking up the Re
publican party They themselves ala
all they could to beat the Republican
party when they thought they couid
elect Mr. Parker. Now these papers
would eagerly champion the RepuoH-
can party il they could keep Mr.. Tait
as its nominee for President In the
past they have not concealed their
contempt for Mr.. Taft and none OF
them regard him in any way as
leader.
Friends. here at Chicago at this time
YOU have a great task before you. /
wish YOU to realize deep in your hearts
that you are not merely facing a crisis
in the history of a party. You are
facing a crisis in the history of ma
ton, and what you do will have an APP
preciable effect throughout the world
at large, Here in America, we the
people have continent on when TO
work out our destiny, and our faltn IS
great that our men and women are III
to face the mighty days. No where
else in all the world is there such
chance for the triumph on gigantic
scale of the great cause of Democratic
and popular government. If we fail
the failure will be lamented, ana our
heads will be bowed with shame: Tor
not only shall we fail for ourselves,
but our failure will wreck the fond de-
sires Of all throughout the world VINO
look toward us with the fond hope
that here in this great republic 1t shall
be proved that from ocean to ocean
the people can rule themselves, ana
thus ruling can gain liberty for anc
do justice both to themselves ana to
others. We who stand for the cause
OF the uplift of humanity and the bet
terment of mankind arc pledged 70
eternal war against wrong whether by
the few or by the many, by plutocracY
or by a mob We believe that this
country will not be a permanently