Imperial Valley press., 1912-10-30
NATURAL ENEMIES OF LABOR;
REAL ENEMIES OF THE SOUTH
AN OPEN LETTER BY HARRY STILLWEI.I. EDW ARDS
IAuthor of "The Mnrbeau Cousins" EtcI

conuuct tne government in their own
| interests.
l charge the Democratic leaders Of
the South with the loss of its power
with the slander of it's manhood and
with the delay of it's prosperity for the
advancement of their personal inter
ests. They have sacrificed their own
people on the painted altar of expedi-
ency in time of peace
How long, fellow countrymen. in the
| name of that God of justice invoked 50
earnestly by those who won for YOU
your splendid inheritance, will you
stand for the slander of your manhood
ana slaughter of your chance in life ?
| LOOK about you. Here is the stored
! up wealth of centuries to come, here
are your coal and iron, your wonderful
| water powers, your boundless forest
and fields; here is gold easier won than
| aug In California or Alaska; here is
better than the fountain of youth. a
| land nursed by tempered winds and
the life giving smiles of the venerable
sun; here are coasts that all men would
! seek, blessed by the wandering sum
mer of the sea; here is, indeed, Gods
country. This is your Inheritance! Is
| II yours to develop, eXpend and enjoy?
Oh no! 1t is in the hands of self
appointed guardians, members of the
greatest trust that ever cowed com
monwealth or clogged the wheels of
progress. 1t is yours in name only
unless you have the determination 70
assume control.
Look about you and consider those
| who must follow you. The son, Shall
| he ha balI
of the village? to the clerkship in the
town and city? if he has a pro-
fession, to the scant opportunities Of
your limited development? Is he not
entitled to a mans chance? Should he
not be blessed with the opportunities
or capital? Should he not build great
mills and factories, extend your rail
roads, develop your powers, manufar-
ture your forests and market yonr
products? Must he stand idly by while
ms best years creep away and see the
swift onward march of civilization
| bless and brighten all other sections
while the clouds hover over his head?
Must he seek his opportunity ALWAYS
as an exile? Thirty thousand exiled
southerners are in New York alone.
driven away by political trustblight
reduced to the limited opportunities oe
a southern woman? Is she not en-
titled to the best there is of life, wheth-
er she labors in the industrial world
or presides at the freside? Look back
| fellow countrymen, you who are 40. SO
or 90 years of age, along the path
you have Travelled. DO you wish your
children to encounter the same hard .
ships that met you? The only life
worth living is the life of labor, but
| labor may be had under such condi-
tions as will make life not worth liv-
ing. When the labor of strong in
telligent, healthy young man in the
South, man well born, carefully nur-
tured and college trained, is worth but
81 or $1.5O per day in your towns and
villages and three times that in the
North and West, there is somethin q
wrong with the system under which
you live. When your sons and daugh-
terS must go to sections less blessed
by nature to expand and succeed
something is wrong at home. When
! your colleges lack funds and your
banks cannot control capital; when
| you must sacrifice to sell, something is
wrong. What is this something? We
| shall tell you:
! You go to the polls not to vote but
to lay down proxy. Your voice is
net heard in the councils of the ma
| tioh. The necessities of your life as
| citizen find expression neither at the
Lolls nor in the halls of legislation.
| The proxies are gathered up and a
vote cast for you. You want protec-
| tion? Your vote goes for free trade.
| You want sound money? Your vote
| is registered for silver or a debased
currency. You want a broad, progress
! Sive policy for the country your grand
| fathers won to freedom; men for your
armies, ships for your seas, and guns
| to back your flag? Your vote goes
| for restriction. You want river and
harbor improvements, irrigation and
| inland waterways? Your vote is cast
gainst them. You want the golden
| tide of wealth to flow in and help
| you turn to blessings the reserves at
your door? Your vote goes for VIII at
is equivalent to confiscation. You want
the great canal at Panama to open
your mines and ports and make your
railroads prosperous? Your proxies are
cast against it. You offer yourselves
and your sections as factors in the
enormous commercial development Of
America, but in your name, with your
| consent you are so placed that your
competitors for business can point to
you as unprogressive, unsafe and un-
sound.
And they ask you bluntIy, these
money kings, when you go to them
for financial aid and investment, How
WI fol
can't control your own votes?"
And but for you this country would
be the worlds debtor,
The people who claim the right to
lead you this year as they have always
done, if you have submitted to Demo
cratic leadership, offer you a platform
to vote on that calls for freedom ol
speech and conscience, and their every
spokesman today, whether of the plat
form or the press, challenges your right
to think or speak for yourself; a plat
form that denounces trusts, while they
invoke in your control the greatest
trust known to America; that de-
nounces Capitalization of power, while
they seize and exercise your power;
that placards it abroad that the peo-
pie shall rule, while they tell you that
your vote must be cast by their dicta
tion. In short, that you can only rule
through them Oppose them and watch
the result.
The southern tier of states is with
out power or influence in either the
political or business world. Both the
Democratic and the Republican parties
are powerless to accomplish anything
Of permanent good. In Democratic
conventions you are taken for granted
Platforms are made and ratified with
out regard to the needs of your state
and your business interests. Furnish
ing three-fourths of the votes neces-
sary to nominate a president, you are
told by the representatives of the other
fourth that no man in the South j.
worthy of trust or possessed of ability
tn HEAD