Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1912-08-08

concession yielded to keep him from
agitation and a disturbance Of our
peace. Here again the sense of uni
versal partnership must come into
play if we are to act like statesmen,
as those who serve not class, but
nation.
The working people of Amerlca-f
they must be distinguished from the
minority that constitutes the rest If
fare of course, the backbone of the
nation. No law that safeguards their
life, that improves the physical and
moral conditions under which they
live, that makes their hours of labor
rational and tolerable, that gives
them freedom to act in their own in
terest and that protects them where
they cannot protect themselves can
properly be regarded as class legisla-
ton or as anything but as a measure
taken in the interest Of the whole
people. whose partnership In right ac-
ton we are trying to establish and
make real and practical. 1t is in this
spirit that we shall act If we are gcnu-
inc spokesman Of the whole country.
Currency Laws.
AS our program is diSclosed-fOr no
man can forecast it ready made and
before counsel is taken of every one
concerned-this must be its measure
and standard, the interest of all con-
cerned. For example i'll dealing with
the complicated and difficult question
of the reform of our banking and cur
rency laws it is plain that we ought
to consult very many persons besides
the bankers, not because we distrust
the bankers, but because they do not
necessarily comprehend the business
of the country, Notwithstanding they
are Indispensable servants of it and
may do Il vast deal to make it hard or
easy. No mere bankers plan will
meet the requirements, no matter how
honestly conceived. 1t should be a
merchants and farmers plan as well,
elastic in the hands Of those who use
1t as an Indispensable part of their
daily business.
In dealing with the Philippines we
should not allow ourselves to stand
upon any mere point of pride as if, in
order to keep our countenance in the
families of nations. it were necessary
for us to make the same blunders of
selfishness that other nations have
made We are not the owners Of the
Philippine Islands. We hold them in
trust for the people who live in them.
They are theirs for the uses of their
life We are not even their partners.
1t is our duty as trustees to make
whatever arrangement of government
will be most serviceable to their free
dom and development. Here again we
are to set up the rule of Justice and of
right.
Presidential Primaries.
The rule of the people is no idle
phrase Those who believe in it-as
who does not that has caught the real
spirit of America ?-believe that there
can be no rule of right without it;
that right in politics is made up Of
the interests Of everybody, and every
body should take part in the action
that is to determine it. We have been
keen for presidential primaries and
the direct election of United States
senators because we wanted the ac-
ton of the government to be determin-
ed by persons whom the people had
actually designated as men whom they
were ready to trust and follow. We
have been anxious that all campaign
contributions and expenditures should
be disclosed to the public in fullest
detail because we regarded the influ-
ences which govern campaigns to he
as much a part of the peoples bust
ness as anything else connected with
their government. We are working
toward n very definite object, the uni
versal partnership in public affairs
upon which the purity of politics and
its aim and spirit depend.
| do not know any greater question
than that of conservation. We have
been a spendthrift nation and must
now husband what we have left. We
must do more than that. We must de-
velop as we'll as preserve our water
powers and must add great waterways
to the transportation facilities of the
nation to supplement the railways
within our borders as well as upon the
isthmus. We must revive our mer-
chant marine, too and fill the seas
again with or own fleets We must
add to our present postoffice service
parcels post rs complete as that of any
other nation. We must look to the
health of our people upon every hand
rs well as hearteu them with Justice
and opportunity. This is the cOnstruc-
tive work of government. This is the
policy that has a vision and "A hope and
that looks to serve mankind.
There are many sides to these great
matters. Conservation is easy to gem
eralize about hut hard to particularize
about wisely, Reservation is not the
whole of conservation. The develop
ment of great states must not be stay
ed Indefinitely to await policy by
which our forests and water powers
can prudentlr be made use Of Use
and development must 20 hand in
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