Evening star., 1936-05-29
Text of Borah Address Urging Break With Monopoly
RIM OF GOvERNME Mt.

than you have any idea" Let us
not be so sure we can not win. Pub
lie opinion can do anything In this
country. And public opinion, like the
great Mississippi, may have Its source
among the pebbles.
In 1856, In a speech in Chicago,
Abraham Lincoln declared: "Our Gov
ernment rests In public opinion. Who
ever can change public opinion on any
subject. can change the Government"
We can all contribute our part,
however small, to forming public
opinion. At the time this declaration
was made, the slave power was In
control of the Government from the
boot black on the steps Of the Capitol
to the Supreme Court Of the United
States. Eight years later public
opinion had changed the whole situa-
ton and the same slave power was on
the brink Of ruin.
There was time when the Repubh-
can Party was the most aggressive,
progressive political organization In the
history Of party politics. But the in
sidious, deadening coils Of monopolistic
and corporate interests drained away
its energy, its courage, hindering and
embarrassing every effort within the
party to meet the pressing problems
Of social justice until today 1t is fight
ing for its very life.
Public Opinion will
Eventually Right Wrong.
Public opinion can, and will, right
these wrongs. It may not be today or
tomorrow, but 1t Is as inevitable as
truth and justice. 1t is my hope that
we will within few days take a de-
cisive step to separate the party from
this body Of death and reinaugurate,
as Lincoln said in the same speech,
THE good old central ideas and ideals
of the Republic" No one need tell
me that this great wrong may not be
made to bend the public will. A great
political party, united and determined,
can direct the public will to consum-
mate victory.
The pre-convention Republican cam
paign may, or may not, have de-
termined the strength Of the respective
candidates for the Presidency so far as
I am individually concerned, that is.
and has been at all times, secondary
proposition. But 1t has revealed be-
yond doubt that millions of men and
women who have heretofore believed
In, and supported. the party have
registered their votes elsewhere, and,
at this time, propose to cast them else
where. The combined vote, or show
ing, of all the candidates discloses but
a remnant of that strength, which the
party has in previous campaigns dis
played. The voters will tell you, and
they do tell you, wherever you go
throughout the Country. to an extent
they no longer accept, or believe in,
the political views or the economic
theories Of the dominating influences
Of the party. The registration books.
even in hitherto Republican strong
holds. confirm these private state
rnents. The supreme question Is: How
to repossess their confidence and to
secure their support?
Not Going Back" Greets
Suggestion of Others Faults.
Talk to the farmer, to the inde-
pendent business man. to labor and to
the people generally, and Saey will
tell you; We are not satisfied with
this or that, but we are not going
back. You may speak Of balanced
budget and they will approve. You
may speak of waste, of taxes, and
debts, and the manner In which relief
is being administered, and to all these
things they may seriously object. But
they will tell you: We are not going
back.
An effort is being made to convince
the people that to vote for the Re-
publican party does not mean we are
going back But that depends! II the
men who have dominated the party in
recent years and who are seeking to
dominate it still continue to control
the party, it Is challenge to the
common sense of the voters of the
country to tell them We are not going
back in case We are given power. We
will go back They do not know any
where else to go.
Why is this fight being made by
Mr.. Hilles, Mr. Roraback, Mr.. Schorr
and Mr.. Brown, and the powerful
financial and corporate interests be-
hind them, except for the very pur-
pose of going back? That Is their
great objective Has any one a right
to assume that they have changed
their political views or policies? On
the contrary we know that they have
not. And If they have not, is there a
single principle, or tenet, to be found
in their whole political creed to which
the average man or woman can pin
his or her faith, or rest a single hope
for the future? The Republican party
has met more than one crisis in its
history. It has held more than one
convention of tremendous moment.
But it has never met crisis nor held
a convention Of greater moment than
the one which will convene in q few
days at Cleveland.
Personal Fortunes in
Convention Unimportant.
So far as I am personally concerned,
do, no action 1t may take. which will
leave its impress upon me one hour
after 1t shall have finally closed its
doors. I have sought to make this
plain from the beginning. But, be-
lieving as I do, that the suffering of
millions of American people during
recent years is to be attributed in
major part to the remorseless exac-
tions of monopoly, believing as I do
it is this which is imperiling our whole
vast fabric of free Government, its
Constitution, and its courts, and the
liberty of the people, the attitude of
the party on this question, as evi-
denced by its platform and its candi-
date, must transcend all matters of a
personal nature.
I have watched the growth of
monopoly and called attention to its
effect for many, many years. The
evidence is now all about US. We