The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-05-02

tions of 1910 and into legislative activ ii ity by virtue of the special session call
 ed by the President. In that 1911
 election, the people of the country ex
 pressed themselves most emphatically They made clear that they had come
 to realize that they had been duped b,
 what was once great party of free,
 dom, but had absolutely changed in al essentials, the name being the only thing left, and even that smirche6
 with duplicity and double dealing and 1 utter disregard for the great mass oi i the people.
 From the party of equality before
 the law, it degenerated into the par
 ty of inequality in defiance of the law. Instead of being the party ot
 the American people, it has become
 the party of the American peers
 who had, under the guise of Republic. anism, assumed imperial control over 1 business, public as we'll as private, and | over national legislation. Under this | control, insidiously gained at first, but later brazenly asserted, the law mak- ing branches of the government be- these great interests and only legis- | lation such as they deemed essential for their own enrichment and entrench- ment was permitted.
 Not until the closing year of the Roosevelt regime, when spirit of un- rest on the part of the people was manifesting itself in the National Con- gress, was any heed paid to the pro- tests of the people against legislation that had impoverished the many while enriching the few: that had increased the cost of living to a degree unbear- able. Realizing that something must be done to check that spirit of un- rest, the Republican party went into the campaign that ended with the cleo tion of President Taft, with a solemn promise in the platform and on the ward, admitting by that promise that the high protective tariff was respon- sible, in part at least, for the high cost of a very ordinary living.
 The Republicans promised to do lot of things for the people if they were continued in power. The people be- lieved them and returned them. Then came the great deception. The tariff was revised, but not downward as promised The revision was upward and the cost of living increased. The cry of the people was unheeded. They were told that the Payne-Aldrich tar iff was the best ever and that those who denied it were only free traders who wanted to close down the shops and send American workmen to the poor house.
 lieve the trust tariff makers. They knew that they were lying and trying to again hoodwink them. As the prices of the necessities of life went up, their indignation over the decep- tion that had been practiced upon them increased. They knew they had been betrayed. They paid the price, of retribution. It came in November, 1910, and an avalanche of indignant American votes swept the deceivers out of power in the lower house of Congress.
 A Republican majority of 40 was turned into a Democratic majority of 64 In that great revolution, the peo- had been heaped upon them, covertly and openly, and they propose to com plete the job this fall.
 Besides the satisfaction they had in turning out their betrayers, they had an abiding faith that those they elect ed in their places would prove to be friends; would prove that they meant what they said when they promised to restore a rule of the many in place of the rule of few; would prove that they meant 1t when they prom ised to enact legislation that would take the burden of Over-taxation off the backs of those who were unjustly bearing 1t and put it on the backs of those who were unjustly escaping it.
 They turned to the Democratic party in that campaign and said: we have been deceived and robbed by those who claimed to be our friends. We trusted them and they betrayed us. We do not intend to again be the victims. We are going to trust you to do as you promise. You say you are the party of the people. We know the Republican party is not. We are going to give you a chance to prove your worth. We are going to put you in power in the lower House. It is up to you in the next two years to make good. Do so and we will place you in control in the upper House and in the White House.
 That was what the great American electorate said in 1910 to the Demo- cratic party and the voters kept their word Have the Democrats kept their word and justified the confidence plac. ed in them? Let us see.
 The Democrats restored the rule of the many in the House, instead of the rule of the few, by taking the appoint ing power, so far as the standing committees of the House are concerned, from the Speaker and placing 1t in the House itself. For years, under the Republicans, this power had been ex- ercised to reward friends of the inter- ests and to punish those who were ism had flourished and legislation, no matter how much demanded by the great mass of the people, was ignored or strangled.
 At once. after disposing of the reci- procity treaty, for which the extra session was called, the Democrats took up and passed measures of paramount interest that had failed repeatedly Of passage in a Republican House.
 The election of United States Sena- tors by direct vote of the people was passed only to be held up by Repub- lican Senate.
 The bill for the publication of cam paign expenses before election as well as after and limiting the expenditures in the election of Representatives and Senators was passed by the House. The Senate joined in this move, fnf-
 Two new. States, Arizona and New
 and New