Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1912-09-26
FERRIS MADE TOUR.
Spoke at Alma, ST. Louis BreCken.
ridge and RiVefdale Monday.

God Almighty intended the treas
urers of the earth for all of his child
rem and expected them to get the
wealth" declared Woodbridge n.
Ferris, Democratic candidate for gov
ernor at the Realty Opera House
last Monday night before over five
hundred people and he based nearly
his entire address upon this theme.
The meeting at the opera house
was the conclusion of days tour
, through the north half of Gratiot
county by the candidate. He spoke
at meetings at Breckenridge, River
dale and ST. Louis during the day
With the meeting at night, Mr.. Fer
ris reached over two thousand people
Monday During the day he was ac-
companied" by Hon W. A. Bahlke,
Phillip w. Creaset, V. p. Cash, ].
d. Helman and ID. L. Johnson, In
every instance, the speaker received
fine reception. In the evening here
in the city, the Alma Military Band
played several selections on the street
in front of the opera house and be-
fore the stage was occupied by the
Democratic leaders and Mr.. Ferris,
the band gave two selections from
there. Mr.. Ferris was introduced in
a few words by ID. l.. Johnson.
Declaring that he had forced the
primary law, such as it is, upon the
Republicans eight years ago, Mr.. Fer
J 4, ,@1,
very few preliminaries. Warner
fought me, ridiculed the primary but
at the last hour of the campaign said
he would sign a primary bill if the
people wanted it. You got just as
little as the political bosses would
give. 1t is poor primary law You
can't wipe it off the statute books
because it is democratic measure
and has come to stay. 1t is a real
bit Of Democracy" These were a
few Of the remarks on the primary
made by Mr.. Ferris and he concluded
by making his stand for better law.
After giving general survey OF
the prosperous condition OF the coun-
try, telling of the fine crops and de
claring that there was no panic IN
sight, Mr.. Ferris sought to show the
cause of the great political unrest
as emphasized by the millions that
are drawing away from the Republi-
can party and following Roosevelt
He went into an elaborate descrip-
tion Of the home OF his childhood
ana told OF his fathers struggle tc
/, obtain necessities OF life for those liv-
ing in the log cabin of his boyhood
He described the simplicity of the
home, its happiness despite the
, hardships and how prosperity came
through the families pulling together
Then, Il want you to notice the
change he said At that time land
was purchased for S1.25 per acre
so that the millions OF acres at the
disposal OF the people were compar-
atively easy To get. In contrast to-
day, Mr.. Ferris pointed out, one pei
cent OF the population own over one
half of the nations wealth, while the
ninety-nine per cent own the rest
In forty years, at the present in
crease of population, there will be
: one hundred and eighty millions OF
' people in the country yet the store
house OF wealth will not be increased
Double your population and where
will your opportunities be?' dram
atically asked Mr. Ferris Following
: along this line of thought, he show
ed that city population had increased
, forty per cent from 1900 to 1910 while
the rural population increased eleven
J per cent Mchigan's urban popula-
ton increased thirty-nine per cent
and the rural three per cent during
the same period of years. "The boys
and girls from the farms have gone
TO the cities TO become hired men
and hired women" was the way the
: speaker characterized It,
Going further into the cause for the
J political unrest, Mr. Ferris found the
trouble in the great per centage of
tenants. Forty-one per cent of farm
| occupants are tenants. Large farms
of three or four thousand acres are
becoming common. This tendency
toward tenancy and the owning of
the lands by few, the speaker de-
plored, saying, Never can there be
great and abiding people without
great homes and lots of them" Fol
lowing this thought, with the thought
of their existing potter's field in
a republic, the fact was brought out
that in New York City one out of
every ten is buried in the potter's
field.
The blame for such existing con-
ditions Mr.. Ferris laid at the door