The Daily Missoulian., 1912-08-07

pions of Messrs. Murphy Taggart and
sullivan. Finally. the democratic
platform not only shows an utter
failure to understand either present
conditions or the means of making
these conditions better, but also a
reckless Willingness to try TO attract
various sections OF the electorate by
making mutually Incompatible prom
ises which there is not the slightest
intention Of redeeming, and which, if
redeemed, would result In sheer ruin.
Far-seeing patriots should turn scorn-
fully from men who seek power on,
platform which with exquisite nicely
combines silly inability To understand
the national needs and dishonest in
sincerity In promising conflicting and
impossible remedies.
If this country is really to go for
ward along the path of social and eco
nomic Justice. there must be new
party of nationwide and nom sectional
principles. party where the tltnlnr
national chiefs ana the real state lead
ers shall be In genuine accord. party
In whose counsels the people shah be
supreme. party that shall represent
IN the nation and the several states
alike the same cause. the cause Of hn-
man rights and Of governmental ef-
ficiency. At present both thu old
parties are controlled by profess ioral
nolitieians In the interests Of the priv
ieged classes and apparently each
has set up as It's idea' Of bnsnsss and
nolitical develonment n government by
fir"ctal decoot'sm ternered nv rrake-
believe poiltical ASSASSIN alton Dem
ocrat and rennb'ican a,ite. thev rap-
resent government ~ the predv many
nv professional politicians In the IT,
". .Ectg - q IA. tat. "a. -.
government. ard nlass gouarrmenf OF n
peculiarlv unwholeaome kind.
Right Of People TO Rule.
II seems to me. therefore. that the
time Is ripo, and overripe. for genu-
inc progressive movement nation wide
ana tustice-loving sprung from and
responsible TO the people themselves
and sundered by great gulf from
both Of the old party organizations
while representing all that Is best In
the hopes, beliefs, and aspirations OF
the plain people who make up the im-
mense majority of the rank and file
Of both old parties.
The first essential in the progressive
program is the right Of the people TO
rule. But few months ago our OPP
ponenfs were assuring us with insln-
tSIe CldffioT. Inut IL WIS HUSuTu Tor
use to talk about desiring that the peo-
Pile should rule. because. as a matter
OF fact. the people actually do rule
Since that time the action of the CHI
cago convention. ana To an only less
degree of the Baltimore convention.
have shown In striking fashion how
little the people do rule under our
present conditions. We should pro-
vide by national law for presidential
primaries, We should provide for the
election of United States senator's by
popular vote. We should provide for
a short ballot; nothing makes II
harder for the people to control their
public servants than to force them to
vote for so many officials that they
cannot really keep track Of any one
of them. so that each becomes indls-
tinguishabe In the crowd around him.
There must be stringent and efficient
corrupt practices acts. applying to the
primaries as well as the elections; and
there should be publicity of campaign
contributions during the campaign.
We should provide throughout this
Union for giving the people In every
state the reai right to rule themselves,
and really and not nominally to con-
troll their public servants and their
agencies for doing the public business: !:
an incident of this being giving the
people the right themselves tn do this
pubic business II they find II impos-
sible TO get what they desire through
the existing agencies. do not at
tempt to dogmatiZe as to the machin-
cry by which this end should be
achieved. In each community II must
be shaped so AZ to correspond not
merely with the needs but with the
customs and ways of thought of that
community and no community has IA
right to dictate to any other in this
matter But wherever representative
government has In actual fact become
non n-representative there the people
should secure to themselves the in
itiative. the referendum and the recall,
doing II In such fashion AZ to make
1t evident that they do not Intend to
use these instrumentalitjes wantonly
or frequently. but to hold them ready
for use In order TO correct the mis-
deeds or failures of the public serv-
ants when II has become evident that
these misdeeds and failures cannot be
corrected In ordinary and normal
fashion. The administrative officers
! should be given full power. for other
wise he cannot do well the peoples
work; and the people should be given
full power over him.
~ iiot iiicai ,i,... We snuil abandon
| iepi eseAitatNe governments. on "a
contrary, mean tnat we shall devise
inelnous by wiiich our governuent
| siaiI become reany representative. 40
use sucn measures. as the initiative,
referendum ana recall inuIserinlnateiy y
ana promlscuOusiy on all klnds ot oc-
casions would unuouDteuly cause dis
| aster; but events nave shown tnat at
present our INSTITUTIONS are not rep
fesentative-at any rate In many
states, and sometimes In the nationT--
| and that we cannot wisely afford to
let this condition OF things remain
longer uncorrected. We have permit
ted the growing up OF Il breed OF pol
itieians who. sometimes for improper
poiitieal purposes, sometimes AZ IA
means Of serving the great special in
terests of privilege which stand be-
hind them. twist so-called representa-
tive institutions into IA means OF
thwarttng instead of expressing the
deliberate and we'll thought -out judg-
ment of the people as whole. This
cannot be permitted. We choose our
representatives for two purposes In
the first place. we choose them with
the desire that as experts, they shall
study certain matters with which we,
the people as IA whole, cannot be inti-
mately acquainted. and that as re-
CARDS these matters they shall formu-
late a policy, and the actions taken
hereunder, we ourselves should have