Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-05-02

OF the country called Tor. 1t was bu1lt
upon understandings arrived at out
side of the rooms where testimony
was given and debate was held.
I am not even now suggesting cor
rupt influence. That is not my point.
Corruption is a very difficult thing to
manage In its literal sense. The pay
ment of money Is very easily detected
and men of this kind who control these
interests by secret arrangement would
not consent to receive dollar in
money. They are following their own
principles-that is to say, the princi-
Piles which they think and act upon
and they think that they are perfect
ly honorable and incorruptable men;
but they believe one thing that I do
not believe and that 1t is evident the
people of the country do not believe:
they believe that the prosperity of
the country depends upon the arrange
ments which certain party leaders
make with certain business leaders.
They believe that but the proposition
has merely to be stated to the jury to
be rejected. The prosperity of this
country depends upon the interests of
all of US and cannot be brought about
by arrangement between any groups
Of persons. Take any question you
like out to the country-let it be
threshed out in public debate-and
you will have made these methods
impossible.
This is what sometimes happens:
They promise you a particular piece
of legislation. AS soon as the legis-
lature meets, bill embodying that
legislation is introduced. 1t is refer
red to committee. You never hear
Of 1t again. What happened? No
body knows what happened.
I am not initiating that corruption
creeps in; do not know what creeps
in. That point is that we not only
do not know, but It is intimated, II we
get inquisitive, that 1t is none Of our
business. My reply is that it is our
business, and It is the business Of ev-
cry man in the state; we have a right
to know all the particulars Of the bills
history. There Is not any legitimate
privacy about matters Of government.
Government must, II 1t Is to be pure
and correct in its processes, be abso-
lutely public in everything that affects
1t. cannot imagine public man
with conscience having secret that
he would keep from the people about
their own affairs. r-f ~
I know how some Of these gentle
men reason. They say that the in
fluences to which they are yielding are
perfectly legitimate influences, but
that If they were disclosed they would
not be understood. Well, I am very
sorry, but nothing is legitimate that
cannot be understood. II you can
not explain it properly. then there is
something about 1t that cannot be ex-
planned at all. T know from the cir
cumstances Of the case, not what is
happening, but that something pri-
vate Is happening, and that every time
one of these bills gets into commit
tee, something private stops 1t, and 1t
never comes out again unless forced
out by the agitation of the press or
the courage and revolt Of brave men in
the legislature. I have known brave
men Of that sort. could name some
splendid examples Of men who, as rep
resentatives Of the people, demanded
to be told by the chairman Of the COM
mittee why the bill was not reported,
and who, when they could not find out
from him, investigated and found out
for themselves and brought the bill
out by threatening to tell the reason
on the floor Of the house.
Those are private processes. Those
are processes which stand between the
people and the things that are prom
ised them, and I say that until you
drive all of those things into the
open, you are not connected with
your government; you are not repre-
sented; you are not participants in your
government. Such a scheme of gov
ernment by private understanding de-
prives you Of representation, deprives
the people Of representative institu-
tions. 1t has got to be put into the
heads Of legislators that public busi-
ness is public business. I hold the
opinion that there can be no conf
dences as against the people with re-
spect to their government, and that
it is the duty of every public officer
to explain to his fellow citizens when
ever he gets q chance-explain ex-
actly what Is going on inside his own
office.
There is no air so wholesome as the
air of utter publicity.
There are other tracts Of modern
life where jungles have grown up that
must be cut down. Take, for ex-
ample, the entirely illegitimate extern
sions made of the idea Of private prop
erty for the benefit of modern corpor-
dtlOnS anu lTuStS. "A HlOueTn JOlul
stock corporation cannot in any prop
er sense be said to base its rights and
powers upon the principles Of private
property. Its powers are wholly de-
rived from legislation. It possesses
them for the convenience of business
at the sufferance Of the public. Its
stock is widely owned, passes from
hand to hand, brings multitudes Of
men into its shifting partnerships,
and connects it with the interests and
the investments Of whole communi-
ties. 1t is a segment Of the public;
bears no analogy to partnership or
to the processes by which private
property is safeguarded and managed,
and should not be suffered to afford
any covert whatever to those who are
managing it. It's management Is Of
public and general concern, it is in a
very proper sense everybody's busi-
ness. The business Of many OF those
corporations which we call public
service corporations, and which are
indispensable to our daily lives and
-. ,,,;tt 70 ond 1ioht