Rocky Ford enterprise. (Rocky Ford, Colo.) 1887-1950, 1912-03-15
Be A Republican.

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Be A Republican.
ave demand the removal Of all corpor-
alton influences from the counsels OF the
Republican party" First plank of the
Progressive Republican platform.
The great mass OF Republican voters.
the plain people. give hearty endorsement
to this platform. A fractional few oppose
it. Who are the opposers?
The corporationists themselves. The
owners of the stocks and bonds. the offic-
ers, the social followers Of these rich
people. and some of the employees of the
corporations. All these are influenced by
selfish considerations. Indeed the wealth.
corporationist is rarely a loyal Republican.
Nor, for that matter, are they loyal
Democrats. They are loyal only to COR
poration interests.
There are very few rich corpora
tionists who far-seeing enough to real.
ize that stable government can finally
rest only upon the untrameled will Of the
people. These approve the Progressive
platform. 1t has been so in all ages. A
few real statesmen even among the priv
LEGGED classes.
The second class Of opposers are the
professional politicians. These men make
their living by manipulating caucuses,
conventions and elections. To live they
must have money. The rich corporation
1 ..k- sck he n
carries caucses and elections to suit his
patron.
A third class Of opposers Of our first
plank are the liquor interests. the saloon
keepers. and bawdy-house followers and
inmates. These furnish the great mass OF
movable voters, those who will vote .
they are hidden. and who are the stock in
trade Of the politicians. In return for their
votes. legal and illegal. these are given
protection IN their unholy traffic. In this
we see why machine politics" are SO
much more successful in large cities than
among an intelligent agricultural people
In these classes we have the main
strength Of the opposition to Progressive
Repubcanism. This makes the vicious
triangle Of politics.
Mr.. P,ous Corporationist wishes to
elect a certain man to the Senate. or
wishes to secure franchise. He summons
the professional politician. tells him what
he wants and furnishes the sinews Of
war. Mr. Politician summons his brigades
Of bar-ksepers and his cohorts Of harlots
and the trick Is done. All this is worked
to fine point in the capital city Of our
state.
There are few voters who oppose our
first plank from honest motives. These
are essentially and fundamentally con-
sentative in makeup. With them
whatever is. is right"
only know two such. One of them is
an old soldier. He fought valiantly in tho
civil war. In his opinion he settled FORE
ever the question Of human liberty on this
continent. To him Washington's words.
eternal vigilance is the price Of liberty"
should read vigilance in z9' and in 1850
was the price Of liberty. but vigilance now
is not necessary. oh no."
Another man. and the only other whom
believe to be honestly opposed to or fiis
plank. is a staid and upright business
man. He belives that wealth should rule,
That one man with = million dollars is
worth more to the state than million
men with one dollar. We Progressives
feel that our worthy president.W. H. Taft.
takes about this attitude. He has shown
this in his selection Of advisors, in his
actions except when forced by public
opinion. and in his speeches. These men
fear the people.
We Progressives believe that the great
mass Of people are more fairly informed
and safer that pampered rich with their
selfish interests. Before the French
Revolution were the years Of wrong doing
and oppression by the lords and dukes.
the special interests Of that time.
Before our own civil war was the rich
slave-holding interests Of that day. The
plain people saved our country from des-
truction then.
Today the special interests big enough
to endanger our liberty are the many vast
corporations. We demai tie elimination
Of corporation influence from the eounsels
Of party and state. This is true Republic
eanism
Be Republican. VOTER.