presentative of
the people who wears the collar of the special interests has touched
bottom. He can sink no farther.

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. The realities of the
regular political game lie at present far beneath the surface; many of
the issues advanced are mere empty sound; while the issues really at
stake must be sought deep down in the politics of business--in politics
for revenue only. All this the people realize as they never did before,
and, what is more, they are ready to act on their knowledge.

Some of the men who are responsible for the union of business and
politics may be profoundly dishonest, but more of them are not. They
were trained in a wrong school, and they cannot forget their training.
Clay hardens by immobility--men's minds by standing pat. Both lose the
power to take new impressions. Many of the old-style leaders regard the
political truths which alone insure the progress of the Nation, and will
hereafter completely dominate it, as the mere meaningless babble of
political infants. They have grown old in the belief that money has the
right to rule, and they can never understand the point of view of the
men who recognize in the corrupt political activity of a railroad or a
trust a most dangerous kind of treason to government by the people.

When party leaders go wrong, it requires a high sense of public duty,
true courage, and a strong belief in the people for a man in politics to
take his future in his hands and stand against them.

The black shadow of party regularity as the supreme test in public
affairs has passed away from the public mind. It is a great deliverance.
The man in the street no longer asks about a measure or a policy merely
whether it is good Republican or good Democratic doctrine. Now he asks
whether it is honest, and means what it says, whether it will promote
the public interest, weaken special privilege, and help to give every