PUT PROGRESSIVES IN OFFICE

...Long steps have been taken in dealing with the corporation problem by the Interstate Commerce Commission, with its increased powers given by the new railroad rate bill, and by the Bureau of Corporations, which was created some six years ago...

...It is idle to urge that the tariff law recently enacted is better than other tariff laws...

...Progressives for a New Order THE Progressive movement distinctly stands for the new order of things...

...It is the purpose in the new order of things to so provide by legislation, or executive action, or judicial interpretation, that the life of the average man and woman should be a little better, a little more desirable, year by year...

...The Progressive Republicans demand that that commission be one of life and vigor...

...Put Progressives in Office Insurgency is the Hope of the Republican Party From Address By JAMES R. GARFIELD THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT is a Hght for the preservation of self-government and political liberty...

...What the people of the country demand to know is, whether the schedules of that bill are just...

...every time we get a man who owns his home, we get a man who has an estate in the permanent prosperity of the country...

...The insurgents made the real fight for downward revision of the tariff rates...

...and law is made by the government, not by special interests...

...When such officials are chosen self-government will be preserved...

...The task we have undertaken is man's work, beset with difficulties and hardships...

...There are those who call for conservation, but who, bv their acts, would drive the knife into conservation...

...Oh the other hand, the coal, the timber, the phosphate lands, and the lands that may be used for water development should never pass from the ownership of the nation...

...that its work be done well and quickly...

...The Republican party was born of the progressive spirit that impelled men to give their lives that human liberty might be restored and the nation saved...

...leaders have been, and still are, the recognized representatives of special interests...

...The way to prevent such disaster is to drive special interests out of politics and keep them out...

...It is for us, like the Progressives of '62, to carry our fight to a successful issue, and not to supinely surrender and admit that government for the people and by the people is a failure...

...It looks to the social and moral welfare of people as well as to their material comfort...

...Weak action by a public officer is often as disastrous as positive bad action...

...We should exercise over them the same kind of strict regulation that we demand under the state laws...

...but I have many instances in mind where that administration made the law the instrument for effective, progressive and aggressive work in favor of the public...

...but those lands should be leased to private individuals, or to corporations, under such regulations as will prevent monopoly and insure development without extortionate charge to the public...

...The real friends of conservation relied upon the insurgents and their progressive allies for the protection of the public domain against the assaults of special interests...

...that he shall have more of the things that are really worth while and that he shall not be dominated industrially any more than he has been dominated politically in the years gone by...

...Special Interests Oppose Conservation NATURALLY, this change of policy has met with the opposition of special and private interests, who for years have plundered the public domain...

...For my part, the choice is clear...

...It is not necessary here to discuss in detail the conservation question...

...The Hope of the Republican Party IT IS SAID by some that the progressive movement means the destruction of the Republican party...

...Like the prodigal youth, we, as a nation, have wasted our resources...

...but no one supposed that revision up could be justified, except in rare and unusual cases...

...We are now accustomed to deal with cases of personal vice and crime...

...The individual learns self-control through bitter experience...

...Now the new order of things calls upon us to consider these questions of the crimes against society...

...The conservation movement started with the idea of driving out that eld order of things and putting in its place the new order of things that recognized that public property was like all other property, and when used the public should be compensated for it...

...The Democratic Senators defeated that measure...

...The new order considers society as a whole, the average man and won-.an, more than the single individual...

...We must not be deceived by mere lip service—actions, not words, count...

...Tariff Not Yet Settled THE TARIFF is still a vital issue...

...We must likewise learn that the man who steals from the public, whether land or franchise, is as much a thief as he who steals your purse...

...The danger of the influence by the great corporations in national politics is increased because of their size, their wealth and the extent of their operations...

...As there were timid and sordid souls during the Civil War, who declared that war a failure and demanded peace at any price, so today we hear similar cries from those who place the special interests above the common good and who think more of dollars than of men...

...Everyone now, by lip, approves of conservation, but it is necessary for its reiul friends to look out for the "wolf in sheep's clothing...

...As I said a few moments ago, it is no light task, and, with the increase of all our social, industrial and commercial activities, the task becomes more difficult year by year...

...Today it is recognized as a most practical issue...

...Thus, when the record of the present Congress is carefully studied, it will be found that the progressive men in Congress, the Progressive Republicans, not the reactionaries, are those who made the greatest fights for the public welfare and for the common good...

...These forces have been, and are still, the great special interests that have interfered with, improperly influenced and often controlled public affairs for their own benefit and profit rather than for the common good...

...The Crisis JUST NOW we are in a most critical condition...

...For the first time we have adopted a rule for the fixing of tariff rates which is readily understood, namely: the difference between the cost of production at home and abroad...

...Why should we have been given that right...

...It is said that we did not promise a downward revision...

...men who are law-abiding, but men who believe that law is an instrument for good, not an instrument to check and retard the public welfare...

...The great victories it has won have been progressive victories...

...Wherever special interests dominate political action, there political liberty is destroyed, and citizens are no longer freemen...

...During the past two years the reactionaries in office have interfered with progressive policies, but, fortunately, the Progressives in office, under aggressive leaders—call them insurgents if you will,—who, backed by an ever-rising tide of public opinion, have prevented the onward march from being stopped —it has only been checked...

...There are those who so interpret law as to make it a thing for the destruction of the people's rights and yet be within the law...

...men who will work for the common good...

...The legislator who is financed by a special iyiterest is expected to, and will, repay that debt by voting away public resources and public franchises *s his master directs...

...Our public officers should owe but one allegiance—the public service...

...but we have yet to provide for effective control over interstate industrial corporations...

...The very opposite is true...

...Insurgent Senators prevented the passage of the Alaska bill in its original form, which might have turned over the untold wealth of Alaska to the specially favored few...

...The insurgents compelled a much needed change in the rules of the House of Representatives...

...It deals not only with natural resources, but as well with the vital resources of the nation...

...that, instead of merely living as we have lived, gaining, perhaps, a few more dollars, that we shall see to it that the average man and woman of the next generation shall have more happiness in his life...

...The executive who owes his pto.ee to a special interest will, whenever possible, enforce the law so as to please his master...

...The reason is this: Under the old erder of things you or I could go upon the public domain and, without let or hindrance, use or misuse, monopolize or take for our own interest any portion of the public domain...

...The Democratic party, while declaiming against special interests, has, when in power, allied itself with special interests...

...There should be no failure of public control because of these two jurisdictions...

...The public should have a right to say how its property was to be used, by whom it should be used, and under what conditions it should be used...

...It is the gospel of service, not the gospel of mere gain and greed...

...But a few years ago the advocates of conservation were called "impractical enthusiasts...

...It takes imagination to be a conservationist...

...As matters now stand, at the coming election we are to choose between two great political parties...

...Their highest aim should be to safeguard and promote the common good, the general welfare...

...and conservation does not stand in tiie way of more homes on the public domain...

...and that whenever it is found that a tariff rate should be changed that Congress immediately take the necessary action...

...We must, as good citizens, each for himself, determine which party offers the greatest promise for the doing of the things that we consider necessary for the common good...

...True, the word "downward" was not in our platform...

...men who are not allied to business interests that interfere with public interests...

...Insofar as they were, we can approve...

...Conservation means that we should have men in public ofnc» who are neither weak nor bad...

...The railroad bill was made acceptable because the insurgent Republicans compelled the adoption of provisions in favor of the public interest...

...It was impossible for our nation to exist half slave and half free...

...Fortunately, appropriations have been given for the work of a commission to investigate in detail this question of cost...

...Why has there bee.i that hue and cry against this method of dealing with these great public properties...

...Neither is perfect...

...Whatever the special interest may be, whether it be a great corporation, a labor union, a farmers' alliance, or any other sort of organization, it is entitled to fair consideration and just treatment by legislatures, courts and executives...

...we have sold our inheritance...

...This docs not mean, as is claimed by those who are in opposition to conservation, that present day development is to be stopped, but it does mean that present day development shall not be needlessly wasteful and shall not be monopolized by a few private great interests...

...Instead of destroying the Republican party, the Progressive movement today means renewed life and renewed vigor and greater opportunities for promoting the public welfare...

...We must recognize that, if we are to enjoy liberty, the real liberty, we can enjoy it only by subjecting ourselves to law...

...hence, the safeguards by the nation against such abuse must be the greater and the stronger...

...but none of such organizations are entitled to representation in tho-e offices...

...Self-Government on Trial WE HAVE undertaken the great task of self-government...

...Long steps have been taken toward the new order of things...

...It demands the highest qualities of citizenship—courage, steadfastness, honesty, justice and sacrifice...

...Of wh?.t value, then, is the promise in the Democratic platform that fair and just regulation of all public utilities shall be given...

...The government should permit its agricultural land to be taken by the home-maker...

...In the recent Democratic convention the Progressive Democrats were ignored...

...It has been said that the last administration was a lawless administration...

...that we should offer to every man an opportunity to make a home, and at no point have the advocates of conservation sought to interfere with the making of homes...

...We have begun to understand present day conditions, and the first steps have been taken to restore self-government and political liberty...

...I have yet to find an instance pointed out or proved where that administration did those things that were contrary to law...

...The spirit of our promise was a downward revision, and it is the spirit of that promise that the people are entitled to have...

...Many of it...

...It, likewise, has among its leaders some who are allied with or represent special interests...

...The conservation problem is one most vital in national affairs...

...The conservationist demands that public officers so construe the law that, while they are always within it, they, likewise, are always looking for some way in which to assist the public in obtaining what it is entitled to under the law...

...These are crimes against society which we have long tolerated without adequate punishment...

...I can see no hope for better things from the Democratic party as now controlled...

...At best, progress towards better things is slow...

...that the corporation officer who knowingly supplies typhoid water to a community, and thereby causes death, is as much a murderer as he who shoots his neighbor, that he who is a party to inducing a public officer to be unfaithful to his trust is nothing better than a common felon...

...At all times we have said that that was the highest and best use that the public domain could be put to, for every time we get a settler...

...What the people of the country now ask is whether the schedules of the existing law were made in conformity with that standard or not...

...Such political control by special interests is the death of self-government, and the establishment of plutocracy and, ultimately, the mob...

...They demand Progressive generals...

...It cares for the future of our people, without neglecting the present...

...The new order means the acceptance and fulfillment of duties to society...

...Insurgents on People's Side THE country owes a debt of gratitude to the insurgents in Congress who made the fight against the domination of special interests and who placed the common good high above party regularity...

...The judge who is elected by a special interest may be relied upon to do injustice to any Interest that comes before him in conflict with the interest that is his master...

...but, on the other hand, it also has the aggressive, progressive leaders who are the people's representatives, and who have kept alive and carried forward the old militant spirit of Republicanism...

...It is equally impossible for self-government to exist if representatives of special interests are allowed to hold or control our legislative, judicial or executive offices...

...those men are the ones who will lead in the future the fight against the domination of the special interest...

...During the period of our great industrial growth and development, forces have been steadily, persistently and insidiously at work in such fashion as to endanger both self-government and political liberty...

...Conservation is a long look ahead...

...Insofar as any schedules were adopted for the benefit of special interests, without regard to the public welfare, such action should be denounced...

...To follow such leaders does mean disaster...

...That was the basis of the public land laws...

...men who have the right kind of courage and spirit...

...During recent years the public conscience has been awakened...

...That is not the question...

...Now, how is it with the Republican party...

...In Ohio the men Wh° haVe led the Fight for the Public utilities bill, for the fairer system of taxatien, for economy and honesty in public office, were the Progressive Republicans...

...but, fortunately, we have realized the need of radical change in time to save ourselves...

...The principle underlying conservation is that all the great national resources still owned by the National Government ought not to be wasted or monopolized by special interests, but should be used for the benefit of all the people, not only of this, but of future generations...

...In Ohio the Democratic party failed to be on the people's side in the fight for the public utilities bill...

...Its great policies have had to do with the onward movement in all fields of political and industrial and social and human activities...

...Also, a people learn self-government through bitter experience...

...We have been the builders of homes from the time we were created as a nation...

...Now, to carry these progressive policies forward, we must elect public officials and representatives who honestly believe what we have asked for, and who earnestly will strive for those policies...

...The new order requires us to consider that society has obligations which we crust perform to it...

...Such men make a party a vital, living force for good...

...whether the schedules conform to the standard promised by the National Republican platform...

...Our social obligations become greater, and our individual liberty must necessarily be subjected to the good of all of us...

...Why should I have the right to take your property and use it for my own benefit without giving you due compensation, without recognizing your right in and to that property...

...For these reasons it is clear to me that the present hope of the progressive movement lies with the Republican party...

...We have undertaken a task that no other people have ever assumed, namely, that of endeavoring to teach eighty millions of people self-government...

...The Progressives now demand that there be no return to the old order...

...The soldiers of the party are Progressives...

...insofar as they were not, we should and will criticize...

...The conflict has shown that the party contains men whose stand for the public welfare gives us confidence in their ability to lead the future actions of the party...

...The failures and mistakes have been counted only when the progressive spirit has been forgotten and when the interest of the many has been subservient to the profits of the few...

...iBnSpJte £erious confl'ct within its own ranks, the party has fulfilled some of its promises...

...Conservation has for its end permanent efficiency of our people...

...We cannot aid the Progressive cause unless we choose progressive men—men who are free from control by special interests...

...Now, the way to properly safeguard these resources is for the public officials to be as vigilant and as aggressive as the representatives of private interests...

...Those men are the ones who will cause further revision...

...Great Issues Awaiting Action NOW, let me call your attention to some of the particular questions that are uppermost in national affairs...

...The real danger to the Republican party comes from the reactionary, who is controlled by special interests, and the stand-patter, who, because it is the easiest way, is willing to return to the old weak doctrine of laissez faire, that of doing nothing, of letting what he calls well enough alone...

...we have acquired evil habits...