SPEECH OF Governor Coe I. Crawford Delivered at Eureka, S. D. December 2, 1907 GOVERNOR COE I. CRAWFORD Republican Candidate For United States Senator Speech of Governor Coe I. Crawford, Delivered at Eureka, S. D., December 2, 1907. FELLOW-CITIZENS : Under our form of government, the people choose their public officers by voting 1 for them at the gen- eral elections. The right to vote for public servants is one of the most sacred rights secured to the citizen. While he has enjoyed this right to vote at the general elections, he has not had much to, say about the names printed on the ticket. Those names have been selected by conventions which too often have been con- trolled by schemers, tricky politicians, railroad lobbyists and bosses. Under the new law passed last winter and called the primary election law, each political party will decide whose names shall be printed upon its ticket by a, direct vote. That is to say, on the second Tuesday in next June each voter in the republican party will have the right to pick out from a primary ballot con- taining the names of two or more candidates belonging to his party for each office the one who is his choice, and the person who gets the highest number of votes cast in this way will be the regular candidate of his party to be voted for at the follow- ing general election in November. This is to be the method of selecting candidates in the future instead of the convention. I am a republican and have never voted any other ticket. I shall be a candidate for United States Senator at this primary election on the second Tuesday in June as a republican. Hon. A. B. Kit- tredge is a republican and he will also be a candidate for U. S. Senator. The republican voters will at the party primary elec- tion in June vote for their choice between Mr. Kittredge and myself. If he receives the highest number of the votes cast by republicans in their primaries in the whole state, I will drop out and he will be the republican candidate from that time on until after the general election in November and the election of the United States Senator by the next Legislature of South Dakota. If, on the other hand, I receive the highest number of the votes cast by the republicans at their primaries in the whole state, then 2 it will be his duty to drop out and he will no longer be the can- didate of the republican party for the position, but I will be the party candidate for that office. This is the way the voters will select their other party candidates, governor, lieutenant gov- ernor, secretary of state, auditor, and the other candidates for state offices. This vote at the republican primaries in June will be be- tween republicans to decide what candidates shall be selected and put upon their ticket to make the fight against the democrats at the general' November election following. After this primary election is over and we thus decide who our candidates against the democrats shall be, we should, of course, remain good repub- licans and support our own ticket. I have always been a re- publican and believe most devoutly in the principles of the re- publican party. It is the greatest political party the world has ever seen. It came into existence over fifty years ago for the purpose of giving their liberty to four million slaves, and of saving our great republic from being divided into two hostile nations. Its first great leader was Abraham Lincoln, the greatest friend of the common people, who ever breathed the atmosphere of freedom. It has stood for good government and honest money and has- followed a course of wise statesmanship which has se- cured for the farmer good prices for his products, for the laborer good wages, and for the business man and manufacturer all the advantages of a protected home market. The People and the Corporations The republican party today, under the leadership of our great President, Theodore Roosevelt, is true to its high purpose to be a great instrumentality for the help of the common people. We have before us the great questions between the people and the big trusts and corporations, and the President is firmly ad- hering to his determination that they shall be controlled by the law and made to obey it the same as a common every-day citizen is controlled by it and made to obey it. The President has a mighty big task on his hands. Great railroad companies, all banded together, and in league with enormous trusts, like the Standard Oil Company with its hundreds of millions of wealth, are hard to control and to keep within bounds. Sometimes' these great companies- appear to think they are greater than the government and they have their attorneys and agents and lobbyists at work everywhere, trying to control the politics of the country and prevent any laws from being passed to check their abuses. This is just why we have for several years been having a hard fight in our own republican party in South Dakota. The railroad companies had too much power in the party and pre- "? IT. vented the conventions from passing any resolutions in favor of making them pay their share of taxes, and they got control of the leaders so that a law could not be passed in the legislature to make them do what is right in paying for cattle they killed, and for the property they burned up, and compelling them to con- nect their tracks so that a car load of goods on one road could be transferred over onto another road without unloading, and compelling them to pay their share of taxes. Senator Kittredge and his personal friends- and lieutenants favored the- corporations, and the corporations- favored him and the rights of the people were overlooked. This is why we have been having a fight within our own ranks in the republican party. I have insisted that our party should not be controlled in this manner by Senator Kittredge and the railroads. It was all wrong. Here is a table which shows how the railroads got out of paying their share of taxes in this state, where they paid the smallest tax in any state in the United States. Report Inter-State Commerce Commission 1902 : Amount of Tax State Paid Per Miic North Dakota $210.00 Nebraska 204.00 Wyoming 141.00 Montana 129.00 Missouri 203.00 Nevada 193.00 Texas 110.00 Iowa 171.00 Minnesota 247 . 00 South Dakota 96 . 00 This shows that in South Dakota the railroads by getting too much power over the political party and by being favored by our leaders got out of paying more than half the taxes they had to pay in surrounding states. I opposed this as unjust and unfair to the people. The Record of Senaor Kittredge I did not come here to abuse Senator Kittredge and do not believe abuse is argument ; but I contend that the record shows that he has favored the corporations as a party leader and as a United Statess Senator and that his political friends have done the same thing. This I am prepared to prove to you. 4 In 1896 I was a candidate on the republican ticket for Con- gress along with Hon. Robert J. Gamble. Hon. A. 0. Ringsrud was candidate for Governor. Hon. J. D. Elliott was Chairman of the Republican State Central Committee and Mr. Kittredge was National Committeeman from South Dakota. We were all in favor of sound money but the populists and free silverites beaL us that year. Mr. McKinley was elected President, however, and, of course, he made a number of appointments in South Dakota, such as United States Marshal, Registers and Receivers of the Land Of- fices, Indian Agents, Surveyor General, Revenue Collector, etc. Mr. Kittredge made Mr. Gamble, Mr. Elliott, Mr. Ringsrud and myself believe 1;hat we could join with him in recommending candidates for these positions, and that when the majority agreed in favor of an applicant, he would be appointed. "We discovered afterwards that we were simply being used by him as "stool pigeons", and that he had secretly made an agreement at Washington -that he and A. C. Johnson, the General Agent of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad Company, along witli Mr. J. D. Ellott, should control all such appointments, when the rest of us did not agree. He made this agreement secretly and kept it from Gamble, Ringsrud and myself. At that time, Mr. Kittredge was the attorney for the Chi- cago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company. You see he had it fixed so that the Northwestern and Milwaukee railroads could control these appointments through him and Mr. A. C. Johnson because he and Mr. Johnson could outvote Mr. Elliott. This put the federal patronage of this state under the control of the railroads and was an act of treachery and deceit towards Gamble, Ringsrud and myself, who had just made a hard and expensive fight. This was his first move to put the republican party under the control of the railroads. He then built up a powerful polit- ical machine ring. Every branch of the party organization be- came completely subservient to his will, and he was elected United States Senator in 1903. He was the political trustee in whose hands was lodged all the political power of the Milwau- kee, the Northwestern and the Great Northern Railway Com- panies in this state. It is quite generally understood that through the influence of these great railroads, who are opposed to the Panama Canal, he secured a place upon the Canal Committee. The people soon began to feel the ruthless power of the boss in the distribution of spoils, the manipulation of caucuses and the control of conventions. At the state capital, during sessions of the legislature, lobby- ists representing corporate interests were given free rein, taken into full fellowship with the Kittredge leaders, and allowed their 5 every wish in the election of presiding officers and in the selec- tion of committees. At the state conventions the railroads trusted to the boss to protect them and he did it. Not a resolution in favor of reform was passed. Not a bill for the correction of a single corporate abuse was enacted into law. Free passes and franks were freely distributed among state, federal and judicial officers and to political rounders and heelers. Independence on the part of public officers and candi- dates was destroyed. Mrn were taught by bitter defeat that the only way to gain recognition and political preferment was to bow in abject sub- serviency to the dictation of the Kittredge-railroad machine. This machine became arrogant, ruthless, cruel. It played the game with loaded dice and sneered at opposition. If you dared oppose it, you were over-borne and crushed. Rule or ruin became its only means of holding absolute dominion over a great party. Of course, this could not last. No free and spirited people will tolerate conditions of this kind very long. They wanted public service corporations to pay their full share of the public taxes but could secure no declaration of this kind in a convention controlled by the machine. They wanted to have a voice in the selection of candidates fee- public office with- out the dictation of a party boss and the railroads, but resolu- tions favoring the giving of this power to the people were sup- pressed. During all the years from 1897 to 1906, neither Senator Kit- tredge nor any lieutenant or adherent of his was ever known to favor a single remedy or to give support or encouragement to any person proposing one. The State Committee, which should have represented the entire republican party, fairly and impartially, became a mere Kittredge-railroad cabal, whose purpose was to execute his will and that of the railroads behind him. The Chairman and Treas- urer of the State Republican Central Committee collected assess- ments from office holders amounting to thousands of dollars and spent it as they pleased and then burned up the account books. Record of the Kittredge Machine The fight on the part of the people to over-throw this ma- chine corporation tyranny of which Mr. Kittredge was the head, began in December 1903, when I declared that I would be a candidate for Governor without asking its consent. The Senator hurried home from Washington and held a council with his lien- tenants and at once turned the full force of his powerful railroad machine organization against me. The fight raged from Decem- ber until the convention in May, 1904. At that convention, in order to defeat me, it is now a generally accepted fact that Sen- ator Kittredge and the railroad companies made a secret agree- ment with Mr. Martin by which they agreed to support him for United States Senator to succeed 'Senator Gamble and to turn G mble out, in return for the support of the Black Hills- delega- tions. In order to beat me, this railroad machine did not hes- itate to play double with Senator Gamble, whom the Kittredge machine had agreed to support. By this sort of duplicity, treachery and double dealing, and by the use of patronage and passes, I was defeated. I accepted the re-suit without a word of complaint and loy- ally supported the ticket nominated. But after election, we be- gan a campaign in favor of a primary election law, an anti-pass law and other reforms to put an end to machine and boss rule in this state. Then came the plot against Senator Gamble. Senator Kittredge and a few of his lieutenants held a secret meeting in the dead hours of the night in Aberdeen and decided to retire Mr. Elliott from the office of United States Attorney and to defeat Mr. Gamble for re-election as United States Sen- ator. We went out before the people last year and beat this secret scheme and carried the state convention by a large ma- jority. Why? Because the people had grown tired of boss rule and railroad domination in the republican party. Now Mr. Kittredge wants the people to put him and the railroads back at the head again. Besides all this, Senator Kittredge and his lieutenants have not supported the President in his great measures. The record proves that they have been traitors to the good cause for which the president stands and they cannot dispute it. Look at the record and see for yourself. It shows : 1. The legislature of 1905 was controlled by Kittredge and his lieutenants. It convened immediately after Pres- ident Roosevelt presented his ringing message to Congress asking for legislation to prevent railroads from making excess- ive charges upon the people. If Kittredge was en the side of the President, why did not his friends in this legislature, which they controlled, pass some- resolution endorsing the policies of the President and encouraging him? They absolutely refused to say one word in favor of the proposition of the President. Just look a moment at this record : February 10, 1905, Mr. Lindley introduced House Joint Res- olution No. 12, endorsing President Roosevelt's efforts to secure reform in railroad rate legislation. It was put to sleep in com- mittee and never even reported. (House Journal 1905, pages 476, 480). February 28th, 1905, House Joint Resolution memorializing Congress to endorse and assist President Roosevelt in his efforts to secure an equitable adjustment of transportation charges came to the Senate and was referred to the Committee on Rules of which Senator Lawson, a friend of Senator Kittredge, -was chairman. It was killed in that committee.. (Senate Journal 1905, page 945). January 9th, 1905, Senator Rice introduced Senate Joint Resolution No. 9, memorializing Congress to pass a law enlarging the powers of the Inter-State Commerce Commission and to "keep the highways of commerce open to all upon equal terms." It was referred to a committee of which Senator Kittredge 's close friend, Senator Lawson, was chairman. It was killed in, that committee and never reported. (Senate Journal, 1905, page 119.) February 17th, 1905, Senator Cassill introduced Senate Joint Resolution No. 13, requesting the senators and representatives of South Dakota to sustain the President in his efforts to secure just and equitable transportation charges. It was referred to the Committee on Rules, of which Kit- tredge 's close friend Lawson was chairman. It was killed in that committee. (Senate Journal 1905, page 546). February 1st, 1905, Senator Shober introduced Senate- Bill No. 120, making railway companies liable for injuries to an em- ploye caused by the negligence of a co-employe while in the dis- charge of a duty to his employer. Senate Jourial, 1905, page 347. (This was similar to a law afterwards passed in Congress and approved by President Roosevelt.) It was referred to a committee in the Senate and killed in that committee. A constitutional petition signed by 8,884 citizens of South Dakota and declared legal and valid by the Attorney General of the State, asking the legislature of 1905 to enact a primary elec- tion law was referred to the Committee on Rules, of which Sen- ator Lawson, Kittredge 's close political friend,~~was chairman. A member of the railroad lobby and not a member of the legis- lature at all, wrote out a report for Lawson recommending that this petition be indefinitely postponed and it was killed. Besides this, the Kittredge newspapers all over the state under the lead of the Aberdeen News and the Sioux Falls Argus- Leader opposed the President's railroad rate measure. Senator Kittredge Against President Roosevelt 2. But we have better evidence still. Senator Kittredge never said a word in the United States Senate in favor of the railroad rate bill recommended by the President. He waited un- til everyone knew the bill would pass without his vte and then he stated he would vote for it. A very important matter in this railroad rate legislation is to know what the railroads are really worth in cash. When you know that, you have ascertained an important fact to aid in de- termining whether the charges collected for hauling passengers and freight are reasonable, or not. The companies have a right to make a reasonable profit upon the money they have put into the roads, but not an unreasonable profit. So, in order to know whether the profit they make is reasonable or unreasonable, it is necessary to ascertain the value of the roads. While the rate bill recommended by the President was pend- ing in the United States Senate, a motion was made to amend it by making provision for finding out the actual value of the rail- roads engaged in Inter-State Commerce. Senator Gamble voted in favor of this amendment, but Senator Kittredge, true to his partiality for the railroads, voted against it. President Roosevelt and his cabinet of advisers, who had thoroughly examined the whole subject, and the majority of the Panama Canal Committee in the United States Senate recom- mended that a canal with locks be built. Congressman Burton of Ohio, Chairman of the Committee on Rivers and Harbors in the House of Representatives, and the highest expert upon this subject in either branch of Congress, made a speech before the House on June 15th, 1906, in which he proved so clearly that a lock canal is safer and better than a sea level canal, and that it can be completed in eight years at a cost of less than 140 million dollars, while a sea level canal would take nearly twenty years in building and would cost 248 million dollars, that the House of Representatives decided in favor of the lock canal without a single dissenting vote. But the railroads are opposed to this canal because it would make freights cheaper for the people of this country. They found out that they could not defeat the canal outright, so they tried to do the next best thing, get the government to switch from a lock canal to a sea level canal, which would put it off twenty years and make it cost so much that they hoped the people would get sick of it. So Senator Kittredge made a long speech in opposition to the President's plan for a lock canal and tried to change the plans to a sea level canal, a thing 1 which President Eoosevelt did not want, and which the railroads did want. Another trick of the railroads to delay the building of this canal was to raise the cry of fraud in the management on the Isthmus of Panama, where it is being built, and to keep the Roosevelt administration in hot water by having a constant in- vestigation of false charges going on. Senator Kittredge was in this scheme because just before Congress adjourned in June 1906, he attempted to pass a resolution in the Canal Committee by the aid of democratic votes to continue the investigation of com- plaints against the canal management upon the Isthmus during the recess in Congress. All this was against the wish of President Roosevelt and his administration. The President wrote a letter to Congressman "Watson of Indiana which was published all over the country in the newspapers last year, in which he complained of these tac- tics to defeat the canal project as follows: "The interests banded together to oppose it (the canal) are numerous and bitter, and most of them with a peculiarly sinister basis for their op- position. This sinister opposition rarely indeed ven- tures openly to announce its antagonism to the canal as such. Sometimes it takes the form of baseless accusa- tions against the management and of a demand for an investigation under circumstances which would mean indefinite delay. Sometimes it takes the form of determined opposition to the plans which will en- able the work to be done, not merely in the best, but in the quickest possible way." This shows what President Roosevelt thinks of schemes to change the plan of the canal and embarrass the work by demands for investigations such as Mr. Kittredge proposed. What the Legislature of 1907 Accomplished In the Interest of the People 3. Again : During the ten years that Senator Kittredge was in power, not one law was passed in South Dakota regulating a railroad company or express company. Look the Session Laws of 1899, 1901, 1903 and 1905 over and see if you can find one. Now let us compare this record of railroad favoritism with the record made by the legislature of 1907 and by the present state administration: The legislature of 1907 was free from railroad domination and free from the control of Senator Kittredge and his friends. Result : It enacted in one session of sixty days the following laws in behalf of the people and affecting public service corpo- rations : Requiring railway companies to pay taxes upon terminals, buildings, and grounds situated within cities and towns; di- recting the Board of Railway Commissioners to as-certain the cash value of the railroads within the state and appropriating money for that purpose; making it unlawful to destroy com- petition by unjust discrimination; a state primary election law; prohibiting corporations from making contributions for campaign purposes; making secret lobbying for corporation and special interests a crime; giving the Board of Railway Commis- sioners power to examine the books and accounts of public ware- housemen; directing the Board of Railroad Commissioners, by. schedule, to fix maximum passenger rates at 2 l /2 cents per mile ; compelling railroads to put in connecting tracks at junction points and to make joint rates ; requiring railroads to pay double damages for unreasonable delay in making settlement for dam- ages to live stock or property destroyed by fire; making rail- way companies liable to employes for damages caused by neg- ligence of co-employes; limiting the continuous hours of service of railway operatives to 16 hours; abolishing free passes. You will find all these laws printed in the Session Laws of 1907. It promptly passed a joint resolution endorsing the policies of President Roosevelt in relation to transportation charges and unlawful trusts and combinations. But Mr. Parmley, one of Mr. Kittredge's leaders in the House, voted against it. (House Jour- nal, pages 138, 298, Senate Journal, page 375). Did anyone ever hear of Senator Kittredge or any of his friends advocating the enactment of one of these laws in the in- terest of the people? Increase of Assessment Valuation of Railroads and other Cor- porations Under the new railroad revenue law, the State Board of As- sessment increased the assessed valuation of the railroads 34 per cent; it more than doubled the assessed valuation of the ex- press companies; it materially increased the assessed valuation of the Dakota Central Telephone lines and the Western Union Telegraph Company. The vital thing in taxation is to make each class of prop- erty bear its fair proportion of the burden. The constitution of our state provides that all property shall be assessed at its true value in money. With the exception of property of public serv- ice corporations, the assessment is made by local assessors, anJ it is a well known fact that these officers, as a rule, assess prop- erty at only one-fourth or one-third of its actual value. City and county boards of equalization do not raise the ag- gregate assessment, but confine their review to individual cor- rections. The law does not permit the State Board of Equali- zation to raise- the assessment up to its full value in money, be- cause it prohibits the Board from increasing the value returned by the local assessors more than a certain named amount in the entire state. The state board is, therefore, obliged to adopt some ratio of value for all classes of property, and equalize on that basis. II It adopted as a ratio of valuation one-third of the actual value of all classes as nearly as ascertainable. It assessed railroads, telegraph, express and telephone com- panies upon the one-third basis and equalized the assessment of farm lands, town lots, live stock, goods and merchandise and personal property generally by fixing their assessed value at one- third of their actual value. Local assessors had assessed bank stocks at one-half their value, and in order to treat that kind of property as nearly as possible the same as it had treated other kinds, the State Board cut it down from one-half to forty per cent, of its full value. I submit that this was fair all round and was what President Roosevelt would call a "square deal". It raised the assessed valuation of lands in some counties but common observation will prove to any reasonable person that the;- r are not on the average over the state assessed at more than one-third of their actual value. Appropriations The appropriations made by the legislature last winter for new buildings at the Hospital for the Insane, State University, Agricultural College, Normal Schools and for the new state cap- itol building were necessary, and for every dollar paid out, the state will have its full value in a good and substantial building that was neded. Our state has been growing rapidly for ten years. The number of students in its colleges and normal schools and the inmates in its penal and charitable institutions have greatly increased and are constantly increasing. Its public buildings were out of repair and too small for its growing needs. The special appropriations for new buildings were especially rec- ommended by the Boards in control who came to usjErom the old administration and were voted for by the stalwarts. Here is the record : The Board of Regents and several heads of the educational institutions in their biennial report to Governor Elrod for the biennial period ending June 30th, 1906, made October 29th, 1906, about two months before the Legislature convened, and by per- sonal recommendations while the legislature of 1907 was in ses- sion, recommended the following special appropriations for new buildings : UNIVERSITY : Completion of upper story of East Hall and to provide hospital facilities, $7,500; furniture and equipment of East Hall, $2,500 ; New Building, law or library, $20,000. AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE: Ladies Dormitory, $50,000; SCHOOL OF MINES : Improvement of grounds-, $1,000; Jan- itor's House ,$1,500; Metallurgical laboratory, $15,000; 12 .MADISON NORMAL SCHOOL: Repairs on buildings and grounds, $1,500; Science Hall, $20,000; SPEARFISH NORMAL: Repairs, additions and improve- ments to grounds and buildings, $14,500; artesian well, $1,000; SPRINGFIELD NORMAL: Purchase of land, $4,000; elec- tric lighting plant, $3,000; gallery in auditorium, $1,000; new building at Spearfish, $50,000: New Building at Aberdeen Normal. The Board of Commissioners and the Commandant of the Soldiers' Home in their annual report, recommended the follow- ing appropriations as necessary for the erection of new buildings and repairs actually needed: New Buildings $22,000, erection of cottages and repairs, $22,000. The Board of Charities and Corrections and the Superintend- ents in charge of the various penal and charitable institutions under their care recommended special appropriations for im- provements and buildings: At the Hospital for Insane : Completion of Woman 's Hos- pital, $20,000; furnishing same, $5,000; extension of laundry, $4,000; construction of green house, $4,000; beginning new building violent men patients, $5,000; School for Deaf Mutes : Additional land, $5,000. School for the Blind : College room to accommodate 25 girls, no specific amount asked. Penitentiary: Relocation of woman's ward isolated from the male department. No specific amount named. Additional hos- pital room so as to keep cases of tuberculosis entirely separate from other patients, no specific amount named. The total amount thus asked for by the Boards and Super- intendents in charge is nearly $350,000. If this money was not needed, why did these Boards, which were a part of the Elrod administration, recommend it? The plain fact is that the institutions had been neglected and were out at the elbows and something had to be done, and these boards knew it. Before the legislature met I visited every one of these institutions personally for the purpose of investigating their needs and have no hesitation in saying that the appropria- tions mad 3 were necessary. The $200,000 authorized out of the general fund in the building of the new capitol building is a temporary loan to be repaid out of the proceeds of the sale of capitol building lands given to the state by the United States, and should the Land Commissioner succeed as well in selling these lands next year, as he did this year, that appropriation will not be used at all. 13 How the Stalwarts Voted on the Appropriations The reactionary Kittredge leaders voted for these appro- priations. Are they willing to admit that they were wrong? Browne, Foster, Parmley and Foncanon were the Kittredge lead- ers- in the House. Here is their vote on these and other appro- priations : STATE FAIR APPROPRIATION. (House Journal, pages 1785-6-9) Not one vote against it. Browne, Foster, Foncanon and Parmley voted aye. COLLEGE OF LAW BUILDING at the State University. Foster, Browne, Foncanon and Parmley voted aye. (House Jour- nal 1615-16) LADIES' DORMITORY AT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE: Only 3 votes against it. Foster, Browne, Foncanon and Parmley voted aye. (House Journal, 1617-18) SCHOOL OF MINES : House for Janitor and repair for me- tallurgical laboratory. Foster, Browne, Parmley and Foncanon voted aye. (House Journal 1619-20). NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL AT ABERDEEN: Browne, Foncanon, Foster and Parmley voted aye (House Jour- nal page 1627). NEW BUILDINGS FOR EXPERIMENTAL STATION AT HIGHMORE : Browne, Parmley, Foster and Foncanon voted aye. (House Journal 1548). NEW CAPITOL BUILDING : Not one vote against it. The Kittredge reactionaries all voted for it. (House Journal 748-9). NORMAL SCHOOL AT MADISON: Improvements, not a vote against it. Kittredge men all voted for it. (House Journal 1710-11). ADDITIONAL BUILDING FOR LIVE STOCK AND POUL- TRY EXHIBIT: Browne, Parmley and Foncanon voted aye. (House Journal 1760) . GENERAL APPROPRIATION BILL: Not a vote against it. Browne, Parmley, Foster and Foncanon voted for it. (House Journal 1687). HOSPITAL FOR FEEBLE MINDED, REDFIELD : Appro- priation for additianal land, Browne, Foncanon and Parmley voted aye. Foster was absent. (House Journal 1777-8). SPEARFISH NORMAL: Appropriation for new building. Browne, Foncanon and Parmley voted aye. Foster was absent. (House Journal 1525). 14 HOSPITAL FOR INSANE AT YANKTON. New Building, Browne, Foncanon, Fosterand Parmley voted aye. (House Jour- nal 1615). BILL AUTHORIZING 2 MILL DEFICIENCY LEVY FOR 1907 AND FOR 1908. Browne, Foncanon and Parmley voted aye. Foster was absent. (House Journal, 1513). Having voted for these appropriations the Kittredge men stultify themselves in attempting to show that they should not have been made. Levy of Taxes The next thing is the necessary levy of taxes to meet the appropriations and to defray the current expenses of running the state government. Having abolished the use of free passes, the legislature made provision for the payment of necessary rail- road fare of its officers, expended while in the performance of duty. The people of the state by a large majority had voted in favor of establishing a twine plant in the penitentiary for the purpose of furnishing the farmers of the state with cheaper binding twine and authorized the levy of an extra .levy of 1^2 mills- for that purpose. The State Board made the following levy for state taxes for 1907: For ordinary expenses ................. 2 mills For deficiency ......................... 1 mill For erection of twine plant ............. l 1 /^ mills Total levy ........................... 4*4 mills In 1905 the levy for state purposes was as follows : General ............................... 2 mills Deficiency ............................ 2 mills Additional levy ....................... *4 mill Total levy ........................... 4*4 mills In 1903 it was as follows : General ............................... 2 mills Deficiency ............................ 2 mills Bond interest and sinking .............. y 2 mill Total ............................... 4% mills So the levy made 1 for 1907 ,when it was necesssary to erect' so many new buildings, including a state capitol, and to make 15 .an extra levy for the twine plant, is not larger than it has often been in prior years. It compares very favorably with that made in surrounding .states, as the following levies for 1907 show: South Dakota 4^4 mills Wyoming 6% mills Nebraska 7 . mills North Dakota 5 l-10mills Minnesota 3% mills Iowa 3 9-10mills Declaration of Principles Now, my fellow citizens, it is for you to decide whether you want to return Mr. Kittredge and the old railroad-machine back into power again. Last year you took the power away from them and took it into your own hands. You can hold it and pro- tect yourselves against machine and corporation abuse, or you can give it up and allow the railroad machine to take possession of the party and control legislation for selfish purposes. You will do one or the other; there is no middle ground. As a can- didate for the United States Senate, I stand upon the following platform : 1. The policies and measures advocated by President Roose- velt. 2. The early completion of the Panama Canal according to the type and plans adopted by the administration, and a com- prehensive and permanent improvement of the Mississippi River and its navigable tributaries, including the Missouri River through this state, so that the same may be effective checks upon excessive railway rates. 3. A revision of tariff schedules by placing lumber, coal and iron upon the free list; and in cases where the manufacture of an article is controlled by a trust and competition in its pro- duction at home has been destroyed, I am in favor of reducing the tariff upon it to a point that will permit foreign competition. 4. The ascertainment of the actual value of railroads en- gaged in interstate commerce, the limitation of issues of stocks and bonds to bona fide transactions, a uniform system of book- keeping and accounts, and the regulation of rates, under the supervision of the government. 5. Extension of federal control over all corporations en- gaged in interstate commerce, without impairing the power of each state to regulate trade beginning and ending within its borders. 6. A federal tax upon inheritances and incomes. U V vl U L. I U Ft nil 16 7. A law making it a crime to lobby in secret for special and corporate interests with members of the national congress. 8. A federal law to protect depositors in national banks and creating postal savings banks. 9. A law providing for greater elasticity in the currency so that it may be temporarily increased and withdrawn without in- jury to trade. Should I succeed and become a member of the senate, my services there will be given wholly and without the slightest em- barrassment or compromise to the people. 611 294