The oasis. [volume], September 17, 1910, Image 8

About The oasis. [volume] (Arizola, Ariz.) 1893-1920

Image provided by: Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records; Phoenix, AZ

                
Saturday, Sept. 17, 1910
THE TIME AND THE CHANGE.
continued from page 6)
mod few more decisions such as
sihose -declaring invalid an income
-ctax. -remitting the Standard Oil
4ine, and annulling regulation of
freights and fares within states,
the necessary three fourths of the
states will be lined up for a new
convention. A constitution framed
in the preheat temper of.' the
people would sweep away an
appointive judiciary, and substi
lute courts elected by popular
majorities and subject td recall. If
those ends are reached the privil
eged classes, those who have based
upon ttie protection given them by
trict construction of constitutional
'forms their continual and insidious
encroachments upon the rights of
the people will have only them
selves to 'blame. But it is inevi
4able,'for the ideals of a clas9 never
trise higher than will permit the
chains -fastened upon them by the
cupidity of their individual mem
bert. Plunder of the people has
been too much the aim of the capi
talistic classes and their represen
tatives in government they have
eveo diverted and debauched sound
'doeliines such as that of protection
4o tome industry and now the
people are arising in their wrath to
fix tkinge eo all that will be stop
4ed, whether it be in misapplica
tion of the doctrine of protection
or in misappropriation of the great
matural resources of the country.
Of course those who are making
4L stand against the approach of the
mew order of things bewail "the
deduction of representative gov
ernment;" but the cry will not suf
i.fice. If representative government
had been what it claims truly
representative of the will and in
terests of the people there might
the some force and weight in a pro
'test against its modification: for it
will not be destroyed, it will be ex
panded in one way and restricted
an .another; it will be expanded so
the pec pie will have full, true and
responsive representation in the
-government, and it will be restrict
ed so -the money kings will not
4omstiate at the council board of
Uhe .republic, nor in the conduct of
state governments.
As presented at the beginning of
this article the founders of the gov
ernment left entrenched within its
-organization the very power of
which the throne they rejected was
;but the visible exponent the
;power of wealth and its inherent
'disposition to concentration, arrog
ance and injustice. Claiming to
-establish ua government of the peo
ple, by the people and for the
people" they gave the latter a voice
dn selection of a part of one branch
an the gQvernment, and left all the
irest open to manipulation by the
ipowerof concentrated wealth. The
cSrst form under which the latter
seized and dominated the govern
ment was that of the slave power.
Before a generation had passed the
aroused conscience of the people
protested against the iniquity of
slavery. But entrenched behind
the provisions of the Con
stitution and its control of the ex
ecutive, judiciary and senate that
iniquitous power flaunted its su
percilious arrogance in the faces of
the people, and made of the Con
stitution which protected it a fetich
to be worshipped. Driven from
control of the government in 1860
by popular edict the slave power
then fought destruction of the re
public' Arising in their wrath the
people crushed that arrogant, in:
iquitous power.
Another generation has passed,
and in another form the power of
concentrated wealth has become
dominant and arrogant. It con
trols executives, courts, legislatures
and congresses. Against all at
tempts at regulation it pleads con
stitutional protection, and it has
erected its aristrocratic life tenured
courts into a fetich to be worship
ped. But the people are deter
mined that concentrated wealth
shall submit to regulation so its
operation shall be administered to
the common good. They are not
going to crush it as they did the
slave power, but they will regulate
it. To that end they will modify
their government so it will be re
presentative truly of their wants
and needs and wishes. That is
why there is sweeping over the
country the great popular demand
for the initiative, referendum, re
call, direct primary elections, etc.
It i3 a demand which cannot be
be laid except by acceding to the
wishes of the people and granting
them.
"Times change and men fre
quently change with them; but
principles never: they are eternal,
immutable, unalterable and un
changeable." Among those eternal,
immutable, unalterable and un
changeable principles is that of "a
government of the people, by the
people and for the people." Re
presentative government has failed
in its intention. The people are
now arising and will change or
modify it so it will meet the wants
and need3 of the time. And the
United States is now in the midst
of a silent, peaceful, yet irresistible
revolution which will work won
drous change.
THE RESULT IN ARIZONA.
At this writing it' is apparent
plainly that the republicans in
Arizona have met with defeat over
whelming in the election of dele
gates to the constitutional conven
tion. They have elected not more
than one dozen of the fifty-two
delegates in the convention pro
vided by the enabling act. All
the returns are not definitely ascer
tained, but the count appears to be
that the republicans elected five
delegates in Pima county, two in
Coconino, one in Santa Cruz, one
in Navajo (upon a fusion ticket),
one in Gila, one in Yavapai, and it
is thought that final returns may
show election of another republican
in Gila rounty. In Cochise, Mari
copa, and elsewhere in Arizona the
defeat of the republican candidates
is overwhelming. They failed "to
get a look in anywhere."
There is but little use in crying
over spilt milk, nor does it do any
good to recount how or why or
wherein the result might have been
different. But yet there is always
an irresistible disposition to do so,
and The Oasis will yield to that
disposition right now. The result
is the assinine disposition of the
republicans of Arizona to split
upon every opportunity. When the
territorial committee met at Pres
cott in July it was agreed that it
would not be policy to commit the
party to any line of policy but to
leave the organization to its own
devices in the various counties.
The committee saw the rising tide
of public .sentiment in favor of
progressive principles, and left the
party free to mount and rid it to
success wherever necessary. In
Santa Cruz county the tide was
mounted successfully, and it car
ried the candidate to victory. In
Maricopa county the party man
agement deliberately drove advo
cates of popular government into
the arms of democracy, which had
framed its sails to catch the popu
lar breeze, with the result that the
party ticket was snowed under. In
Cochise county there was a half
hearted effort to make a declara
tion for progre8sivene88, but the
men who opposed it in the conven
tion went right out and talked
from the hustings against it. In
Pima county the republicans were
successful, in spite of the party
stand against progressive prin
ciples, for the candidates tempered
matters by talking in their favor,
and they were aided by a convic
tion that the sudden conversion to
those same principles of the lead
ing democratic candidate for the
constitutional convention was too
recent and too radical to be really
tincere. But had the republican
organizations throughout the terri
tory had the sand to get upon the
popular government band wagon
and ride, the tale would have been
different entirely. Of course it re
quired a radical and remarkable
change of front, but a political tac
tician who cannot change front in
case of such a necessity, is no better
as a leader than would be a mili
tary tactician under a stress of a
similar necessity. History recalls
that under the command of Mc
Clelian tha Army of the Potomac
retreated after every battle. Under
Grant it changed front and went
at it again. What the republican
party of Arisona needs is a leader
ship like Grant was a military
leader.
Another fatal error was the atti
tude of the party with regard to
the provision in the enabling act
which requires the constitution
adopted to be presented to the
scrutiny of the President and Con
gress. That provision was put
into the enabling'fact because it
belonged there, and was a retur
simply to the way of framing such
enactments from the very begin
ning of the government until ad
mission -of the states of Idaho,
Utah, Wyoming and the Dakota.
The democrats of Arizona resentel
it as an alleged "humiliation,"
Which it was not, as Tub Oasm
regarded and said frequently. But
the Republicans made a worse mis
take in holding that provision as
a club against popular government.
The cry was sent out that if the
popular system of government
were engrafted into the constitu
tion' Congress would surely reject
the instrument. Hundred of re
publicans resented the attitude of
their -party, and voted the demo
cratic ticket as a rebuke. In Santa
Cruz county the party would not
listen to the assertion, and none of
the party literature making the
claim was circulated. The execu
tive committeeman refused to cir
culate it. The outco me of the elec
tion shows whether he was right.
The party candidate is elected here
by a good, safe majority.
Now The Oasis does not believe
that the President and Congress
will' reject any kind of a constitu
tion that Arizona may frame and
send to Washington. It does be
lieve that admission may be de
layed. Possibly the conservative
senators may neglect to act upon
the resolution of approval, and let
the state into the fold in that way.
Unless the consitutional convention
is very speedy in its work and gets
the constitution up to the people
in the shortest time possible
that instrument cannot get to
Congress for action before ad
journment on March 4th next.
If the unexpected should hap
pen and the constitution should
reach the President so he could
transmit it to Congress before ad
journment, Congress would have
to reject it very quickly or adjourn
without rejection or approval. In
that cae the President must pro
claim the state. But, as asserted,
it seems hardly probable that the
course to be followed can be cov
ered so quickly. Then the consti
tution will go to the President after
March 4th, he will approve it and
transmit it to the next Congress,
which meets in December, 1911.
The House may be depended upon
to approve it right away. But the
Senate will be slow and deliberate.
It will not reject the constitution,
but it may not act at all. In fact
it is here predicted that it will not
act. Then, when adjournment is
had March 4th, 1913, the president
will have to proclaim the state.
There is the course more apt to be
followed. Of course had Arizona
elected a republican constitutional
convention, it goes without saywig,
that the Senate would have acted
a little less deliberately, and let in
the new state in time to voti; r
president in 1912.
WYLIE TRANSFER, BAGGAGE & STORAGE
CO. T J. WLIB, MANAGER.
Prompt, Careful and with Dinpatch.
Your Business and will Deliver your in rf"
at Your Place of Business. Transfer J
Baggage from one train to the ouitr.
Charges reasonable.
RAILROAD AVE. NOGALES, ARIZ. FHO M