Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 June 1910 — PINGHOT ASSAILS TARIFF AS GRAFT [ARTICLE]

PINGHOT ASSAILS TARIFF AS GRAFT

Says Special Privilege Robs Con- _ gress of N ation’s Faith* - SQUARE DEAL IS DEMANDED Former Forester Tells St. Paul Roosevelt Club That Both Political Parties Are Equally Subject to Evil Rule. ' '" ~ . I . St. Paul, Minn., June 13.—Gifford Pinchot, speaking before the Roosevelt club here, scored congress and the leaders of both political parties and characterized the present government of the United States as a government by and for the special interests. ■ - : He demanded the absolute divorce of “the interests” and politics. Here are some of the pointed things Mr. Pinchot said in the course of his speech: “A representative of the people who wears the collar of the special interests has touched bottom. He can sink no farther.” Demand Square Deal. “The people of the United States demand a new deal and a square deaL” "The motto in every primary—in every election- should be this: ‘No watch dogs of the interests need apply”" “The alliance between business and politics is the most dangerous thing In our political life. It is the snake we must kill” “The special interests must get out of politics or the American people will put them out of business.” Faith in Congress Lost. “Because the special interests are in politics we as a nation have lost confidence in dongress.” “The people of the United States believe that, as a whole, the senate and house no longer represent the voters by whom they were elected, but the special interests by which they are controlled.” “Differences of purpose and belief between political parties today are vastly less than the differences within the parties;”

“It is a greater thing to be a good | citizen than a good Republican or a good Democrat.” “The protest against politics for • revenue only is as strong in one party as in the other, for the servants of the interests are plentiful in both.” j Attacks Tariff Law. In discussing the tariff Mr. Pinchot declared that congress had directly j violated the will of the people and , thereoy shown its alliance with the “interests.” He made special men tion of the coal and steel and wool 1 interests. He declared that conservation had captured the nation and that its! progress during the past twelve months had been amazing. "Efforts to obscure or belittle the issue have only served to make it larger and clearer in the public estimation,” said Mr. Pinchot “The conservation . movement cannot be checked by the baseless charge that It will prevent development, or that every man who tells the plain truth is either a muck-raker or a demagogue. It has taken firm hold on our national moral sense, and when an is-1 sue does that it has won.

“All monopoly rests on the unregulated control of natural resources and ' natural advantages, and such control by the special interests is impossible I without the help of politics.” Turn£ Fire on Congress. Mr. Pinchot- then entered upon a denunciation of congress as a whole I as having lost the confidence of the I people and exclaimed: “Who is to blame because representatives of the people are so commonly led to betray their trust? We all are—we who have not taken the trouble to resent and put an end to the knavery, we knew was going on. The brand of politics served out to us by the professional politician has long been composed largely of hot meals for the interests and hot air for the people, and we have all known It “Political platforms are not sincere statements of what the leaders of a party really believe, but rather forms of words which those leaders think they can get others to believe they believe.”