East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1912-08-06
PLATFORM WILL BE CON-
TRACT" WITH PEOPLE
CONTINUED from page one.)

! OF tafltt-making. One Of the princi-
pal difficulties with the old method
has been that It was impossible for
the public generally, and especially
for those members Of congress not
directly connected with the commit
tees handling a tariff bill, to secure
anything like adequate and impartial
Information on the particular subjects
under consideration. The reports of
such a tariff commission would at
once correct this evil and furnish to
the general public full, complete, and
d'sinterested information on every
subject treated in a tariff bill With
such reports II would no longer be
possible to construct tariff bill in
secret or to jam 1t through either
house OF congress without the fullest
and most Illuminating discussion. The
path of the tariff Joker" would be
rendered infinitely difficult.
Alaska.
"Ala ka should be developed at
once, but in the interest of the act
ual settler. In Alaska the government
has an opportunity of starting in
what is almost a fresh field to work
out various problems by actual ex-
pertinent. The government should at
once construct, own, and operate the
railways in Alaska. The government
should keep the fee of all the coal
| fields and allow them to be operated
by lessees with the condition in the
lease that non-use shall operate as
forfeit Telegraph lines should be
operated as the railways are. More
over. II would be we'll In Alaska to
| try a system of land taxation which
will. so far as possible remove all
| the burdens from those who actually
use the land, whether for building or
| for agricultural purposes, and VIII
operate against any man who holds
the land for speculation, or derives
an income from 1t based, not on his
own eXertions, but on the increase in
value due to activities not his own.
There is very real need that this ma
tion shall seriously prepare itself for
the task of remedying social inJus-
tice and meeting social problems by
well-considered governmental effort;
and the best preparation for such wise
action is to test by actual experiment
under favorable conditions the devices
which we have reason to believe will
work well, but which it is difficult to
apply in old settled communities with
out preliminary experiment.
Conclusion.
"Now, friends. this is my confession
of faith. l have made it rather long
because / wish you to know just what
my deepest convictions are on the
great questions of today, so that If
YOU choose to make me your stand
ard-bearer in the fight you shall
make your choice understanding eX-
actly how l feel-and If, after hear
ing me. you think you ought to choose
some one else. / shall Loyalty abide
by your choice. The convictions to
which | have come have not been ar
rived at as the result of study in the
closet or the library. but from the
knowledge l have gained through
hard experience during the many
; years in which, under many and
varied conditions, l have striven and
toiled with men. | believe in larger
use of the governmental power to help
remedy Industrial wrongs, because ii
has been borne in on me by actual
experience that without the exercise
of such power many of the wrongs
will go unremedied. l believe in a
larger opportunity for the people
themselves directly to participate in
government and to control their gov
ernmental agencies, because long ex-
perience has taught me that without
such control many of their agents
will represent them badly. BY actual
experience in office / have found that,
as a rule, could secure the triumph
of the causes in which l most be-
iieved, not from the politicians and
the men who claim an exceptional
right to speak in business and gov
ernment. but by going over Their
heads and appealing directly to the
people themselves. l am not under
the slightest delusion as to any power
that during my political career l have
at any time possessed. Whatever OF
power | at any time had, l obtained
from the people.
Fight Worth Making.
"Surely there never was fight bet
ter worth making than the one ir
which we are engaged. 1t little mat
ters what befalls any one of us "ho
for the time being stand in the fore
front of the battle. / hope we sha.l
win, and | believe that If we can wake
the people to what the fight really
means we shall win. But, win or
lose we shall not falter. Whatever