The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-06-15

lation. 1 have sometimes wondered
why men, particularly men of means.
men who didn't ave to work for their
living, shouldn't constitute themselves
attorneys for the people, and every
time a hearing is held before a com
mittee OF congress should not go and
ask: Gentlemen, in considering these
Things, suppose you consider the
whole country. Suppose you o
slider the citizens of the United
States?"
4 don't want a SNUG lot of experts
to sit down behind closed doors in
Washington n play Providence to
me. There lis q Providence to which
I am perfectly willing to submit. But.
as for other men setting up as Prov1-
dence over myself, I seriously object.
/ have never met a political saviour in
the flesh, and / never expect to meet
one. am reminded Of Gillet Bur-
CESS verses:
/ never saw a purple COW,
never hope to see one.
But this III tell you anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one.
That is the way ] feel about this
saving of my fellow-countrymen. I'd
ratheru see a saviour of the United
fsNAS Ih'Hss' ~ oP w IN thAt =
/ have found out, 1 have actually
found out, hat men / consult with
know more than / do-especialIy IL /
consult with enough OF them. l never
came u of a committee meeting or
a conference without seeing more Of
the question that was under discus
sion than I had seen when / went in.
And that to my mind is an image of
government. I am not willing to be
IJnnnr tho Tnnfrnna cn ~ Tim trtYcfu M
matter how providential a govern
ment presides over the process of their
control of my life.
I am one of those who absolutely
reject the trustee theory. the guard
fanship theory. / have never found a
Uan who knew how to take are Of
me. and, reasoning from that point
out, l conjecture that there isn't any
man. who knows how to take care of
all the people of the United States.
! suspect that the people of the Unietd
States understand their own interests
better than any group of men in the
confines of the country understand
them. The men who are sweating
blood to get their foothold in the
world Of endeavor understand the con
ditions Of business in the United
States very much better than the men
who have arrived and are at the top.
They know what the thing is that they
are struggling against. They know
how difficult 1t is to start a new en-
terprise. They know how far they
have to search for credit that will put
them upon an eve footing with the
men who have already buils UP in
dustry in this country. They know
that somewhere, by somebody, the de-
velopment of industry is being con-
trolled.
1 do not say this with the slightest
desire to create any prejudice against
wealth; on the contrary, I should be
ashamed of myself If 1 excited class
feeling of any kind. But l do mean to
suggest this: That the wealth of the
country has, in recent years, come
from particular sources; it has come
from those sources which have built
up monopoly. Its point of view is a
special point of view, 1t is the point
of view OF those men who do not wish
that the people should determine
their own affairs. because they do not
believe that the peoples Judgment IL
sound. They want to be commits
stoned to take care OF the United
States and of the people of the United
States, because they believe h a they,
better than anybody else, understand
the interests of the United States. l
do not challenge their character; I
challenge their point Of view. We
cannot afford to be governed as we
have been governed in h last gen.
GRAFTON, by men who occupy so mar
row, 80 prejudieed. so limited q point
of view.
The government of our country cam
not be lodged in any special class.
The policy of a great nation cannot
be tied up with any particular set of
interests. / want to say, again n
again, that my arguments do not
touch the character Of the men to
whom / am opposed. / believe that
the very wealthy men who nave got
their money by certain kinds of cor
porate enterprise have closed in their
horizon, and that they do not see n
do not understand the rank and file
Of the people. 1t Is for that reason
that I want to break up the little
coterie that has determined what the
government of the nation should do.
The list of the men who used to de-
termine what New Jersey should n
should not do did not exceed half q
dozen. and they were always the I'm
men. These very men now are, some