Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-02-13
CONDEMNS
|. SPECIAL PRIVILEGE
abolition Essential to Success
of Progressives, He Tells
Diners.

The abolition of special privilege
was discussed by three speakers at
the Progressive dinner in Montclair
asst night It's relation to the high
lost of living was shown. and George
/. Record in the principal address of
The evening condemned it as the one
trouble in civilization.
The dinner was the first annual
Lincoln Day affas., and opened the
Progressive campaign in Montclair
There were more than 200 men and
women diners. Mr. Osborne acted
Is POSTMASTER. and introduced as
speakers Amos r. Pinchot, George L.
Record, former Senator Everett Colby
and former Assemblyman James S.
Blauvelt.
Mr.. Record saw failure for the
party unless it can find some way to
equitably distribute wealth, lessen the
zcost of living and break down and
prevent the future growth of enor-
mous fortunes. The abolition of privi-
lege, he declared, was the shortest
way to this end
Real Property Assessment
8 Our country has it's shortcomings. ;"
said Amos Pinchot, "but one thing
Islands out more prominent than the
rest. and that is the hard time the
average man has to get along. His
life is generally a bitter struggle to
obtain crude necessities in order to
live. The first thing to do is to
straighten out the trust question, so
Il "a ,f IIxr;,,a
land the next step is to have the
Legislature empower municipalities
Ito assess real property taxes on land,
instead of both land and buildings.
I'VE should celebrate Lincoln S
birthday by dedicating our party to
the principles that ennobled the great
martyrs life"
Mr.. Osborne said he would be glad
% see Wilson so completely control
The Democratic party for progressive
principles that there would be no
license for another progressive party;
put, he declared, that was pipe
Cream He knew that special privi-
ege is determined to- control the
Democratic party, Just as it con-
#trolled the Republican.
Five Big Privileges.
THE trouble with our Industrial
s system all over the, world is privi-
lege." said Mr.. Record. There has
never been any trouble in civilization
except privilege, and all progress has
been made, not by the amelioration
Of the effects of privilege, but by the
abolition of privilege.
No regulating of trusts can sue
coed in accomplishing this result.
Regulation of railroads had not pre-
vented the piling up of millions of
watered securities upon which divt-
dends must be paid forever out of
excessive freight rates. And the
people are burdened with freight
rates sufficiently heavy to meet the
dividend requirements of this enor
. nous volume of watered securities.
There are five privileges in Amer
ica-five ways in which the public is
robbed, five ways in which people get
something for nothing. They include
the land, the tariff and other Indirect
forms of taxation, our patent laws,
our financial laws and the private
ownership Of public utilities All
these problems have got to be at
tackled with the definite object Of the
abolition of privilege.
Gold should be the standard. We
have got to make patents more avail
able by making them subject to use
by anybody upon payment of mod
crate royalty fixed by the government
and divided between the psltentee and
the government. We have got to free
commerce and destroy privilege by
taking over and operating all public
utilities, the railroads, telephone and
telegraph by the nation, and local
public utilities by the local munich
palities. We have got to destroy the
centralized control of finance by es-
tablishing competitive banking and
taking the government o of the
BUSINESS of issuing money