The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-04-23
ABE RUEFS STORY


the average young man of that period.
How and why my life flew so wide its
goal am now determined to trace aud
to write in detail in the hope that it
may prove of %Jlic benefit, and may
make amends for what society has lost
by my work. | shall write without eX.
tenuation to myself or to those who
) coop Grated with me. However harsh
4 may write, yet it will be without
r malice or i'll will, and with no desire to
t have others suffer as I have suffered.
, Started Reform CLUB.
, when l first entered politics ] was
8 sanguine young man of q. | had
Il graduated from the California state
. university and from its law depart
ment. With Franklin K. Lane, Fer
dinand Vassault and John H. Wigmore
Il helped to organize a club for ,ivic
, reform. | had established myself in a
modest law office up two flights of
stairs in a building at the corner of
Suffer and Montgomery. Here our lit
tie club met two and three times
week to read and discuss leading
works of political economy and POI
litical reform. We were the first
nucleus on the Pacific Coast which
took up scientifically and systematic
ally this line of work. Through Lane,
we corresponded with similar little
bodies endeavoring to awaken Ameri-
can public consciousness, one Of which
was represented by Theodore Roose.
welt, who was then moving along the
same lines in New York. and who was
obtaining public recognition as secre-
tary of the civil service commission.
To-day Franklin X. Lane holds the
position of Interstate commerce com
missioner OHM II. Wigmore is dean
, of the Northwestern university profess
!, sor of law and authority of note l am
in a prison cell. They live in honor;
: in disgrace. Their words are listened
to with respect; l speak only with the
g consent of the guards and under their
y censorship. They are high in the coun-
n ellis of men; l in the lowest degrade
s ton. They live the lives Of men,
It the life of felon.
(. First Glimpse Of Politics.
II q was scarcely eligible to vote when
2 attended my first convention. In "a
l. hours | was disguised, l discovered
he IF h. Al
voted according to the program which
was handed to them. ! saw that the
county committee was machine un
der which if 1899 out of 10000 wanted
to change they could not achieve It
4 The county committee was controlled
by the boss. The boss was controlled
, by the railroad, who paid for the nomi
nation of officials, who were III direct
&C touch with their affairs, judges, legis
=. lators supervisors, and for the adop.
ton of platforms which woull inter.
4 fere least with their special profits
4 saw that representative govern
4 ment was farce, and that the primary
:, was Culy veil behind which the boss
hid to do the work he had no wish
:, the public to see. / Realised that the
railroad had erected a stone wall be.
7 yond which 10 one could go. Filled
!. with lOathi1g as for an Augean stable
= vowed never to touch politics again
: but to devote myself exclusively to the
!, practice OF law. Yet a few years later
found me associated as a tool to Kelly
and Crimmins, the tools and mes
, sengers of the railroad.
! There were no principles involved
in any of the Kelly and Crimmins
!, campaigns. They were purely cam
: paigns for the supremacy of force
Whatever platform would secure the
most votes at the general election was
adopted. All that the delegates and
-, the county committee wanted was
!, patronage for themselves and theiI
= friends. Their fealty lasted so long
,. as this was forthcoming. What the
i, railroad wanted was protection fol-
their profits, for which the bosses
were paid. The railroads did not care
who was boss so long as they got
what they wanted.
For ten years off and on l was as
ISOLATED with Kelly and Crimmins.
!, fell into the routine of their camp,
= learned their methods. l absorbed
= their ideas. l wrote their platforms
l made their nomlRating speeches
, From time to time dissatisfied,
would quit and join the independent
reform movements that were inaugu
rated, only to learn that they were
controlled by the same big interests
to the same end and purpose. The!
were made up of soreheads who pu
up money for new machine in tn,
hope of getting from It what they fail
D. ed to get from the old.
II 81 found that the railroad and tn,
o other corporations not only controlled