Fergus County Democrat., 1916-10-05
FERGUS COUNTY DEMOCRAT

herited that idea; not the idea of gov
ernment by the people, but of gov
ernment for the people and control
of the people by those who govern
! it.
ut was a foregone conclusion that
parties which held such principles
could not live in America. The only
reason they existed for short time
was that they did rally to their sup
port some of the fine, planning, eli,
terprising minds of the country, and
that so long as those men had the
conscience Of public service, great
things were conceived and great
things were done; but just as soon
rs they put in possession of the gov
ernment men who were attorneys OF
special interests, the decadence of the
party inevitably ensued.
"The republican party as now con-
stituted and led, believes in govern
ment by the attorneys of special in
terests. They are perfectly willing
that the attorneys of the people should
appear before them and plead for the
rights of the people, but they are not
willing that the counsels which deter
mine action shall be participated in by
the advices of the people.
Zone of the things that they are
mostly constantly talking about is the
protective tariff and there was a time
when a very wide taking of counsel
fentered into the formation of our tar
iiffs, but not toward the end. Then
a small group OF selected counsellors
also determined what the items of
the tariff should be. The only per-
sons heard were the attorneys for the
special interests and the attorneys of
the people could batter at the doors
las they pleased and never get hear
ing.
THE end Of such party was fore.
doomed and now the party that be.
lieved in the people and tries to do
things for the people has been in pow
er for four years. And what has hap.
pened? 1t has redeemed some Of the
promises falsely made by the attor.
neys OF the special interests. and 1t
has done something more interesting
than that. You remember that four
years ago there was great body Of
spirited republicans who said:
This thing is becoming a fraud and
a sham. We have been taking care
of some people, but we have not been
taking care Of the great body Of the
people. We have not thought about
their morals; we have not thought
about their health; we have not
thought about their rights as human
beings, and we insist that you put the
policy of this party in our hands or
we will 90 off and form party of our
own.
"And thereupon the great progress.
sive party sprung up-great, not be-
cause it turned out to be more numer
GUS than the party from which it
has seeded, though 1t did that, but
because it had the real blood Of hu.
man sympathy in It's veins and was
ready to work for mankind and forget
the interests Of narrow party. l
want to pay tribute to the purposes
and intentions OF the men who formed
that group in our politics.
but the interesting thing is that,
inasmuch as they did not get the op-
portunity, we took advantage Of our
opportunity to do the things that they
wanted to do. And want you young
fellows to understand the reason for
that. There are standpatters in the
democratic party. There are men sit
ting down hard on the breeching strap
There are men who are trying to
hold back and to serve what they be-
lieve to be conservatism, though it is
really reaction. But the interesting
thing about the democratic party is
that those men are in a small min.
ority in it's ranks, whereas in the par.
ty Of the opposition, they are in a
majority and are in control.
"The interesting thing for all poll
ticians to remember is that the pro
gressive voters of this country, all put
together outnumber either party.
venture to say they outnumber both
parties together. This country is pro
gressive, and il you Youngsters are
going to be in the running you will
throw in your fortunes with the party
of which the progressiyes have the
control.
II am progressive. do not spell
1t with capital 'P' but | think my
pace is just as fast as those who
| do it. 1t does not interfere with the
running and l am very much aston
ished to see the company that some