Willmar tribune., 1920-02-25

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I am an individualist and yet have Of
ten been called a socialist. Why? Be-
cause believe in the government doing
certain things that it can do better than
individuals can do them. Those who do
not want the government to do thing,
always apply the word socialist" to
one who advocates government owner
ship or operation. For instance, sup
pose town allows a private corpora
tion to own the water system. If you
propose that the city take over the wa
ter works. the owners of the franchise
will not meet your argument; they Will
call you a socialist. Yet I think the
record shows that at least sixteen cities
out of seventeen in the United States
now own their own water works. One
hundred years ago only about one out of
sixteen owned it's water works: In CEN
tury's time the progress has been SO
rapid that now it is the exception when
a city will permit a corporation to furn-'
ish the city with water. The city of
Lincoln has owned it's water system for
more than thirty years. Omaha has op-
Grated her water system for seven years
and in that time has reduced the rate
to consumers over fifty per cent
The nation recently adopted what is
called the Postal Savings Bank. When
is was proposed, 1t was met with the
charge that 1t was socia1ist1c The Ma
t1onal Bankers Association, meeting in
California in 190S passed a resolution
denouncing the Postal Savings Bank and
also the guarantee Of bank deposits I
followed the discussion, and recall a
Republican senator, Senator Carter of
Montana, read before the senate litera-
ture that was sent out to local bankers
with instructions to have it printed In
the local newspapers as editorial mat
ter, the banker being cautioned to tear
off the directions before giving out the
printed matter. They attempted to build
up sentiment against 1t on the ground
that it was socialistic. Well, we have
it, and it will not go back. In the same
manner, when an effort was made to Sc
cure the parcel post, it too was called
socialistic. The federal government took
over the railroads, the telegraph lines
and the telephone lines temporarily dur
ing the war; this was called socialistic.
I have dWelt upon this to warn you
that you cannot reform an abuse with
out being criticised by the people who
profit by the abuse that you are trying
to overthrow.
Private Monopoly
Allow me to lay before you what I re-
gard as fundamental proposition, name
ly, that PRIVATE MONOPOLY IS
defensible means that it cannot be de-
Tended, and anything that cannot be de-
Tended cannot be tolerated by a free
people. God never made a human being
good enough to act as the head Of a pri-
vate monopoly. When you understand
the principle involved, you will find that
| am not announcing a new doctrine. We
! have judges; we respect them; but there
| is not a civilized country in the world
that will allow a judge to sit in case
where he has a pecuniary interest Yet
we select judges because Of our conf
dence in their character and probity. We
have good citizens in this country and
yet we do not allow a man to sit upon
a jury and be one of twelve to decide
his own case. Why? Because we know
that there is an unconscious bias in
everyone in favor of himself. We do not
trust him on a jury even if there are
eleven other men to overcome his in
terest. If a judge is not allowed to try
a case when he has pecuniary interest
| in it, how can one defend private mon
opoly in which an interested man at the
head of the monopoly daily decides with
out appeal questions where his interest
is side and the peoples interest
on the other side?
That is the principle that underlies a
private monopoly. I believe it is a
| sound proposition, a proposition that
cannot be overthrown by argument that
| WHEREVER A MONOPOLY is NEG
EssARY, IT MUST BE A GOVERN
! MENT MONOPOLY, ADMINISTERED
FOR ALL THE PEOPLE, AND NOT A
| PRIVATE MONOPOLY ADMINISTER
ED FOR THE BENEFIT OF A FEW
| OF THE PEOPLE. If that principle is
sound, then, my friends, it is one of the
most important matters you have to
| deal with in this convention. The con-
| bo cto he
counties and the cities to take over and
| operate any industry they please, includ-
| ing stockyards, slaughter houses, grain
| elevators, warehouses and insurance
| such cooperative enterprises to be self
| supporting. No one but the people can
decide what is good for the people.
| Free Speech and Press
| The times require that we make a dis
elimination regarding freedom of speech
| and freedom of the press. We should
protect every individual in the exercise
| OF freedom Of speech and freedom OF
| press in the discussion of the acts of
| any official, in the criticism of any pub
| lie servant, and in the advocacy of any
| change he may desire made in form or
| methods or details of government SO
LONG AS THIS TO BE SECURED BY
CONSTITUTIONAL MEANS. There the
| line should be drawn. Any man who
|
| freedom OF the press to advocate the
| overthrow of this government by force
| or violence should be sent to the peni.
tentiary or out Of the country. Those
who ADVISE force should be put in the
same class with those who EMPLOY
| force. The man who advises another
| to use the torch or bomb is no bette,
| than the man who uses them. This dis
tlnction should be very clearly drawn
so that we may sacredly protect tn,
rights that are necessary to popula
government, as free speech and a fre,
press are, and exclude the abuses tha
have no place in government like ours
Recall of Judges
I believe in the recall of judges an,
other elective officers i. If anyone say
that the people should not have tn
right to recall a judge, my answer i
that whenever you desire to put a NAL
above the people, you should put hin
out of Office. A judge is the servant O
the people just as every other official is
Judges are not only public servants, bu
they are human beings and liable to err
They are even liable to be unconsciousl
influenced by bias. The five suprem
court justices on the electoral commits