The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1912-07-18

Last March Governor WOOD
drow Wilson delivered an ad-
- dress before the Davenport,
Il" Iowa, Commercial Club, which
attracted widespread attention
and since his nomination we
have been asked to print his re-
marks concerning corporation
control, the tariff, the Panama
canal and foreign trade. At p"
the time the speech was made
the Davenport Times had a
stenographer report it, and they =
recently published it, and we re-
print that part of his address
which covers the subjects y
named. 1t is well worth read
y ing, especially in view of the y
fact that Gov. Wilson has since y
been nominated as the demo- +
*.cratic candidate for president.
After the usual Introductory re-
marks, in which he expressed his
pleasure in appearing before the
Davenport Commercial club, Mr..
Wilson continued by saying:
And how things have been hap
pening. You know that until the
census of 1890 it was always posi-
BILE to draw frontier somewhere
between Us and the Rocky Noun
tains. Of course there was what
has been POLITICALLY called the Golden
Dream of 40, when gold seekers
went to the coast, and the region on
the other side of the Rockies filled
up very much sooner than the inter-
spaces between US and them. But
until 1890 is was always possible to
find line that could be drawn on
the map which was the front of the
settlements that were creeping west
ward toward the Rocky mountains.
But when the census of 1890 was
taken; and the census office tried to
draw it's map, it could not draw a
frontier anywhere in this country.
The extremes of movement had gone
around the so-called desert places
which irrigation had not yet begun
to redeem. There were spaces
which were not settled, but there was
not really a frontier. And ever since
then we have entered upon a new
epoch in our lives; an epoch when
instead of beginning everything we
have got to finish things.
We had done business with a free
Hland, and if man could not thrive
4n a community where competition
was hot, he only had to move west
to find cheap land, and scratch the
surface of the earth and begin to
prosper, without any genius or in
tuition of any kind. But just as soon
as all the choice places began to be
taken up then the cauldon began to
have its circles inward, and the life
began to get little hotter, little
closer; the mere beginning of tasks
became little more complex; and it
was necessary to come back and
finish things that we had only touch
ed as we happened to move on. And
ever since then we have been COM
ing into the maturity of our tasks;
and how fast we have been coming
Ever since then-for the last couple
of decades for example-until now
we have reached time when Amer
lea is not the nation we have been
dealing with in the past; when she
has got So many problems of reor-
ganiZatiOn which are necessary in
order to make her fit for the new
things which she has to accomplish.
And in the meantime see what we
do. We create problems almost out
of hand.
For example, we said to the rail-
roads: eve can not go on crossing
this enormous continent with OK
teams. We have got to have rail-
roads, means of locomotion, if we
are going to take care of our popu-
lation and release our energies. We
will give you anything you want if
you will only come out here with
your money and build railroads. We
will give you every alternate section
of land. We will let you choose your
sections. We will let you choose
those sections which any man who
can forecast the future can see will
be the center of population. We are
willing to let you determine where
the population will co. So we got
our railroads in the habit of deter
mining the development of the ma
ton. They determined where cities
should grow up and where they
should not grow up; where cities
should be centered with respect to
transportation, and where they
should be sidetracked with regard to
transportation
Isn't that part of the problem right
now in an organization like this, to
see that there are not any sidetracks
for Davenport; that there are not
any such determinations in trans
portation as will put you at dis
advantage as compared with other
cities?
But it is very recently that we
have had the means, through inter-
state commerce, to rectify the things
which we permitted the railroads to
do. And we cannot criticise that,
for it was necessary to encourage
and expedite the building of rail-
ways; but, nevertheless, it created
a gigantic problem-this putting of
our economic development. in the
hands of the railroads. And can you
wonder that since then they have
opened so many states? They made
them to begin with; and if l make
a thing I am naturally under the I'M
preston that l own it.
The railroads said: Nov be good
boys or we will pass you BY" We
will discriminate against you in
rates. We have got you in the palm
of our hands and you will be good or
you will be left" Why some of the