Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1917-03-20

can be seen from the result at tne
polls last fall. Desperation seizes
them. If this situation is not reme
died, or rather arrested it will cost
the country billions of dollars, bring
suffering to hundreds of thousands
and lead to grave political disturb
ance We who once rode upon free
passes may revolt. Speaking from
personal experience, l never feel so
degraded, so malicious, so vengeful,
as when [ have to pay out my good, hard
earned money for a railroad ticket,
and there are hosts of others in the
same predicament. Study the French
revolution to get the proper grasp
of this. Just as, after the French
revolution, final responsibility was
seen to rest upon the philosophy
taught by men who died long before
the Bastile fell, so in this case, the
guilt, if such it be, must rest in part
upon all the men who for the past
twenty-five years have taught the
damnable heresy that railroads were
semi-public property. aided and as
sisted by public money and with spe-
cial powers conferred upon them by
law, and as such, without the right to
discriminate between men, between
those who were friendly and those who
were not, in other words, that the
small shipper should receive the same
carload rates as the larger one and
thus not be at a disadvantage in do
ing business. This was unfair to the
rich, compelling them to compete on
an even basis, so far as the railroads
were concerned, with the small strug-
Cling operators, who otherwise might
more easily have been forced into
bankruptcy and their property into the
hands of those who were receiving
special favors.
1t is time for the country to realize
that in undermining property rights
of the rich, of the capitalistic class,
it opens the fioodgates for a regime
of anarchy. And whether the present
crisis, which is merely Symptomatic
of the deep seated disease, is overcome
or not, the condition will never be i'm
proved until there is a definite and le-
gal understanding in this country as
to the rights which railroads may ex-
ercise over their own property, grant
ing rebates and passes, if they so de-
sire.
tant 1t would please me greatly if it
were here before we started home
ward this spring, but it is too deeply
rooted to be thus torn up bodily, and
as ] have previously contended, be-
| fore we can bring back to us this
| blessed era, we must first abolish the
primary election law, or so emascu-
late it as to nullify its evils, and
again place in the hands of true pa
! triots the power to name all candi-
dates for office, especially for state Of
fees.
This deep-seated evil, this cancerous
growth on the body polite, is spread
| ing its roots wider and wider, and has
even dared to assail the liquor inter
ests. aiming to deprive the poor, down
trodden liquor dealers, of property
rights without compensation. A wick
/ ed progressive named Evjue, persists
/ in demanding that the rabble, the COM
mon voters, shall be given an oppor-
tunity of banishing from our state a
great philanthropic institution that
has brought such joy and happiness to
so many homes, that has so elevated
mankind. that has made thousands OF
!
and self-denying, that has been re-
sponsible for the erection of so many
splendid public buildings in our state,
work houses, asylums, jails and pr1s-
ons. that has furnished the newspapers
with so many items of interest for the
front pages. that has turned into the
public treasures billions of dollars,
which otherwise would have been frit-
tered away in the purchase of bread
meat, clothes. furniture, fuel, shoes
and such frivolous luxuries.
Ii is awful to think of these atroci-
ties that have permitted to come to
life since we went out of power. The
more one studies these questions, the
more convinced is he that the right OF
suffrage. unrestricted suffrage, is a
most dangerous instrument to place in
the hands of the common people
Again referring to the French revolu-
tiOn for a precedent, do you remem-
Der how the rabble cried for bread
and how the good queen, knowing that
bread alone was not a properly bal
anced ration, inquired why they die
not eat cake. The rahble had never
thought of that So it is. the rabble
! never thinks, nor should it be permit
ted to think. that is, politically. We
have men we'll fitted for this. men like
. . myself. men of broad vision, tried anC
, proven patriots and statesmen, whC
will willingly assume this heavy bur
l den. Periodically yours.
COL. H. o. TAIR.