Issue of the Hour

Republican editor Edward Rosewater had played a central role in the party's organization, but broke ranks with Thurston's Republican cohorts and he resigned from the state committee and campaigned in 1894 for cleaning up politics from railroad influence.

ISSUE OF THE HOUR

Earnest Appeal to the High Moral Sense of Nebraska Voters.

Shall Railroad Mangers Control the State Government?

Saturday evening Mr. E. Rosewater delivered a political address at Fremont upon the subject: "republicanism versus Boodlerism." Love's Opera house, the largest auditorium in the city, was crowded. The audience was composed of representative men of all parties—democrats, populists, prohibitionists and all kinds of republicans. There was also a fair sprinkling of ladies present. It was a representative meeting of representative people, who listened to the speaker with most respectful attention, according him generous applause at frequent intervals.

Hon. Samuel Maxwell, formerly chief justice of the supreme court of Nebraska, in introducing the speaker, said:

"The gentlemen who will address you this evening has been a citizen of this state for more than twenty-five years, and has labored earnestly and continuously for the prosperity and upbuilding not only of Omaha, but the entire state; a man who from the first has advocated government of the people, by the people, for the people, and insisted that the government of the state shall be conducted on business principles, and that boodling and boodlers shall be excluded; a man who is fearless in the performance of what he believes to be right. I introduce Hon. Edward Rosewater, editor of The Omaha Bee."

Mr. Rosewater advanced to the front of the stage, and was received with cheers by many enthusiastic admirers. He spoke as follows:

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, and Fellow Citizens: The large gathering which confronts me here tonight, and the prolonged greeting which I have received at your hands, are abundant proof that the people of Fremont and the citizens of Nebraska are talking a deep interest in the issues that are pending before us in the present campaign. The issues enunciated as a text for me tonight are, "Republicanism, or Railroadism." I propose to address myself first to republicans, to republicans who are stanch and conscientious advocates, and who believe in the fundamental doctrines and principles of the founders of the party. I propose to address myself especially to young republicans, and the young men who are about to cast their ballots this fall, perhaps for the first time, or who, at any rate, are not contaminated by the pernicious influences that have sapped the very vitals of republican institutions and prevent the people from exercising a free, untrammeled choice of our public officials and representatives in the interest of good government. I shall appeal to republicans who believe in the right of every man to cast his ballot as his conscience dictates, and are opposed to any despotism that enthralls the people and deprives them of the right of self-government for which the revolutionary fathers struggled and staked their lives and fortunes, and for which the soldiers who went to war from 1861-'65 fought, and for which today, when they are roused and become conscious of the issues, they will again strike a blow for liberty by resisting the corporate power that seeks to dominate this commonwealth.

Now to begin with, what is a republic? According to Webster, it is a government by the people, through representatives elected by their choice, acting in that behalf.

Are the people of Nebraska so governed? That is the question that confronts us today. Now what were the doctrines and the cardinal principles of the republican party, enunciated by its founders and by successive national conventions?

SHALL CORPORATIONS RULE?

This arraignment was directed against the invasion of Kansas by slave-holding hordes of ruffians, and the attempt to convert Kansas and Nebraska into slave territories, was just forty years ago, when they were carved out as territories, and with the creation of Nebraska into a territory a struggle began and ended with universal freedom on American soil. Shall it be said of Nebraska, shall it be said of you today, that the principles and objects for which the pioneers of this state had to fight, and for which the republican party was the champion, shall be repudiated and discarded and the government of this state surrendered to the railroad corporations, which manipulate your conventions and foist upon the people candidates who are absolutely under their control? I do not believe that Nebraska has become so recreant to the early lesson taught by her pioneers. (Applause.)

Now, the republican platform of 1868 was framed by the convention that nominated Ulysses S. Grant for president, and was this: "We denounce all forms of repudiation as a national crime, and the national honor requires the payment of the public indebtness in the uttermost good faith to all creditors at home and abroad, not only according to the letter, but the spirit of the laws under which it was contracted.

"This convention declares itself in sympathy with all oppressed people who are struggling for their rights.

"That we recognize the great principles laid down in the immortal Declaration of Independence as the true foundation of democratic government, and we hail with gladness every effort toward making these principles a living reality on every inch of American soil."

I desire you particularly to note this declaration relating to the credit of the nation, because, as we get along further, it will be made evident to you that the gentleman who has been placed upon the republican ticket as a candidate for governor is committed entirely to a different policy, judging by his legislative record.

"The republican platform of 1876, in the centennial anniversary of American independence, declares: "When, in the economy of providence, this land was purged of human slavery, and when the strength of government of the people, by the people and for the people, was to be demonstrated, the republican party came into power. Its deeds have passed into history and we look back to them with pride. Incited by their memory to high aims for the good of our country and mankind, and looking to the future with unfaltering courage, hope and purpose, we the representatives of the party in national convention assembled, make the following declaration of principles."

PEOPLE ROSE IN REVLOT.

Well, it would be a long story to recite all the railroad raids upon conventions and legislatures within the past twenty years, but you will remember that in 1890, just prior to the nomination of Mr. Richards for governor, there had been a conference of leading republicans held in the city of Lincoln, protesting against the course being pursued, and endeavoring, if possible, to bring the party to a realization of its danger. Just at that time the populist party was about to be organized. Remember that in 1889 Mr. Morrill, the republican candidate for university regent, received 93,317 votes in this state and the very next year Mr. Richards received only 68,878, or a falling off of 24,439 votes in one year. Now, what does that signify? It signifies that there was a deep-seated discontent all along the line in the republican party, and that a large number of voters, principally farmers, and many of them old soldiers just as loyal and brave as any of the veterans of the union armies, had detached themselves from the party that had saved the union because they wanted to save the state, and wanted to transmit to their children and children's children the free institutions which the founders of the republic and the saviors of the republican bad established and saved for them. (Applause.)

In 1890 these resolutions were adopted:

Resolved, That we reiterate and cordially endorse the fundamental principles of the republican party as enunciated by successive national republican conventions from 1856 to 1888, and we believe the republican party capable of dealing with every vital issue that concerns the welfare of the American people whenever the rank and file of the party are untrammeled in the exercise of their political rights.

Resolved, That we view with alarm the intense discontent among the republicans of the state, chiefly due to the pernicious and demoralizing interference of corporations and their attempts to control all departments of our state government—legislative, executive, judicial—and we earnestly appeal to all republicans who desire to preserve our institutions to rally to the rescue of our state from corporate domination by actively participating in the primary elections and nominating conventions.

Resolved, That while we desire to accord to railroad corporations their rights and privileges as common carriers, we demand that they shall go out of politics and stop interference with our conventions and legislatures.

Resolved, That railroad passes distributed in this state for political purposes are a species of bribery pernicious in their influence, and tending to undermine public morals, subversive to a free and unbought expression of the will of the people in their conventions, legislatures and juries and we hereby demand the prohibition of passes and free transportation in any form under severe penalties.

Resolved, That Nebraska has for years been subject to exorbitant transportation rates, discriminating against her products thus retarding her development, and we condemn the State Board of Transportation for failing to exercise the authority vested in them, and by refusing to afford to the people the relief they were pledged to give. We therefore demand that the legislature shall enact a maximum tariff bill covering the transportation of our products and principal imports.

After the conference, by which these resolutions had been promulgated, a committee waited upon the republican state committee, of which Mr. Richards was at that time the chairman. We received a very courteous hearing, and the party ordered its convention held early, at our suggestion, in order to forestall the threatened defection of republicans into the populist ranks. The convention of 1890 adopted a platform very nearly similar to this declaration and moreover, they refused to renominate John Steen, land commissioner, and Mr. Cowdrey secretary of state, and came within an ace of dumping out Tom Benton for auditor, although those state officers had only had one term, and were, under custom, entitled to a renomination. They were dumped overboard because the republican party wanted to respond to public sentiment, and endeavored at that time to rebuke the failure of the Board of Railroad Commissioners to carry out the mandate of the law. During that same summer Governor Thayer issued a proclamation calling the legislature together in extra session, and providing that they should pass the maximum rate law and abolish the State Board of Transportation. That showed which way the wind was blowing. It showed that the republican rank and file of the state demand some action; but after all that was promised and pledged in our platform nothing came of it.

Well, I want to say right here that I am willing at any time to accommodate that gentleman to a debate. I am willing to discuss with him in a presence of the people of your city on the policy of The Omaha Bee and my conduct toward any republican that I have opposed or the paper as seen fit to oppose within those fifteen years, and, if he can show me that I have not had very good reasons, commendable, moral reasons, and high moral grounds for taking the position that I did. I will agree to apologize to him. I will even apologize to Richards for saying so much for him. (Laughter and applause.) I cannot go any further into this matter. I now propose to discuss the relations of the railroads to the people, and if the gentlemen wants to ask me any questions when I get through, I will be very much pleased to answer them. (Reading) "Railroads in Politics. The question might be asked. How is it possible that in a republic where the people are the source of all power and where all officers are directly or indirectly selected by the people to carry out their wishes and to administer the government in their interests, a coterie of men bent on pecuniary gain would not be permitted to subvert those principles of common law and public economy which from time immemorial have been the recognized anchors of the liberty of the Anglo-Saxon race.

"The statement that under a free government it is possible for a few to suppress the many might almost sound absurd to a monarchist, and yet it is true that for the past twenty-five years the public affairs of this country have been unduly controlled by a few hundred railroad mangers.

"To perpetuate without molestation their unjust practices and prevent any approach to an assertion of the principle of state control of railroad transportation railroad managers have secured wherever possible, the co-operation of public officials and in fact of every semi-public and private agency capable of affecting public opinion. Their great wealth and power have made it possible for them to influence to a greater or less extent every department of the national and state governments."