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GEORGE CAMPBELL 
 
 ■ON- 
 
 PROGRESSIVE 
 GOVERNMENT 
 
 REDUCED TO 
 
 QUESTIONS and ANSWERS 
 
 Ik 
 
 Dedicated to the 
 
 THINKING MEN and WOMEN 
 
 OF AMERICA 
 
 Copyright 1911 
 
 By GEORGE CAMPBELL 
 
 Coffeyville, Kansas 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 FANCHER PRINTING CO. 
 
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 WHY ARE THERE SO MANY SUICIDES IN 
 AMERICA, ESPECIALLY AMONG THE YOUNG 
 MEN AND YOUNG WOMEN, AGGREGATING IN 
 THE LAST YEAR FIVE THOUSAND EIGHT HUN- 
 DRED FORTY PERSONS, AS COMPILED FROM 
 THE STATISTICS? 
 
 There are several causes that contribute to this 
 self destruction of human life, but perhaps the one 
 overshadowing cause is poverty. In America, the indi- 
 vidual that takes his or her life, as a rule is educated. 
 He sees other people enjoying the comforts of life, 
 which education and refinement makes necessary to 
 his very existence, and he cannot procure them, and 
 there seems to be no future prospect of bettering his 
 condition or being able to establish a home with com- 
 fortable surroundings; the past to him is an unpleas- 
 ant memory, and the future gives him no hope of 
 reward; he becomes discouraged and disheartened 
 and comes to the conclusion that life is not worth the 
 living, and ends his existence by taking his own life. 
 
 With the general diffusion of knowledge among the 
 people, as is the case in the United States, there comes 
 a higher standard of living and additional wants are 
 created that must be supplied, in order to secure happi- 
 ness and contentment to the people; and changes are 
 necessary in government to meet these conditions, and 
 the adjustments of our government to these changes 
 made necessary by our advancing civilization, calls for 
 a high standard of statesmanship on the part of the 
 lawmakers and law enforcers of our land. 
 
 Man in a savage state, has but few wants and these 
 are easily supplied and he is contented; but as he be- 
 comes more civilized and enlightened, his wants are 
 multiplied many fold ; and if his environments are such 
 that he cannot supply them, he becomes morose, dis- 
 couraged and disheartened, for he deems himself en- 
 
PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 titled to enjoy these additional comforts, which he sees 
 others enjoy no more worthy than himself, and if he 
 is deprived of them, he sinks gradually into despond- 
 ency and gloom without hope for the future, and his 
 career often terminates in suicide or crime, as a relief 
 from his troubles. He feels that all the avenues to a 
 higher life have been closed against him, and that his 
 struggles to better his condition are unavailing, and 
 that he is an outcast from society without hope, home 
 or friends; a stranger as it were, in the land of his 
 birth; and such are the fruits of poverty to an edu- 
 cated person. 
 
 WHY CANNOT THE INDUSTRIOUS YOUNG 
 MAN OR YOUNG WOMAN SECURE THESE ADDI- 
 TIONAL COMFORTS OF LIFE, INCIDENT TO AN 
 ADVANCING CIVILIZATION, WITH A REASON- 
 ABLE AMOUNT OF EFFORT ON HIS OR HER 
 PART; FOR AS A MATTER OF FACT, DOES NOT 
 THE WEALTH OF A COUNTRY KEEP PACE 
 WITH THE ADVANCING CIVILIZATION, AND 
 ENLIGHTENMENT OF THE PEOPLE? 
 
 It is true, the wealth of a nation generally keeps 
 pace with the progress of the people," and if conditions 
 were right and equitable, these additional wants of the 
 people, made necessary by an advancing civilization, 
 could easily be supplied; but unfortunately, for the 
 people, while great progress has been made upon all 
 industrial lines and new scientific principles and meth- 
 ods have been devised and applied to all industrial pur- 
 suits to a degree, that has revolutionized the business 
 of the world in the last quarter of a century, yet, very 
 little or no progress has been made in the science of 
 government, the most important of all sciences to the 
 general public, and we have in the main, the same 
 
BY OIvORGE CAMPBELL 
 
 governmental policies and methods now, that prevailed 
 in Rome, more than two thousand years ago; and as 
 these methods and policies of government destroyed 
 the Roman empire in all her splendor, and brought on 
 the night of the dark age, so the present American 
 methods and policies, if persisted in, will bring a blight 
 to our civilization, which will be followed by another 
 night of a dark age, just as true as "Like causes bring 
 like effects." 
 
 The original idea of the functions of government, 
 was that of merely police duty, and there was at first, 
 only a criminal code, under which the officers of the 
 law, were to preserve peace and order among the peo- 
 ple and prevent one individual from disturbing the 
 peace of another; and, if one individual in violation 
 of this code, killed, wounded, assaulted or beat another, 
 except in self-defense, he was severely punished or put 
 to death, according to the heinousness of the crime. 
 
 At this early period in the evolution of government, 
 there were no property rights to adjust between indi- 
 viduals, as all property was held in common; but it 
 was found to be to the best interests of society, to 
 recognize the property right of the individual, to the 
 extent of what he produced, and this was finally done, 
 and the recognition of this right, gave a great stimu- 
 lus to individual exertion, and the law had to be ex- 
 tended in a manner to protect these newly acquired 
 property rights ; and a civil code of laws were formu- 
 lated and adopted, that enabled the individuals to ad- 
 judicate their disputes over property interests, by a 
 properly organized court ; and with this change in the 
 jurisprudence of the country, in the adoption of both 
 a criminal and civil code, the procedure has come down 
 to us through the centuries with but few changes, and 
 little study has been given to fundamental law since 
 this formative period, with a view to improving the 
 science of government, so as to meet the wants of th% 
 
PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 people, made necessary by changing conditions, in the 
 business affairs of the world; and while the govern- 
 ment of the United States is more progressive than 
 many of the European governments, it is wholly inade- 
 quate to meet present conditions, in the onward pro- 
 gress of the people; and the policies and methods as 
 they now exist, operate in a large degree against the 
 masses of the people, and millionaires by the exercise 
 of special privileges to tax the people, are multiplying 
 at a rate never before known in the history of the 
 world; and the small independent dealers of the past, 
 are daily becoming fewer, as they are driven out of 
 business by the powers of the trusts, and are forced 
 to become employes of corporations, 'and work for a 
 salary; and the natural man is thus rapidly becoming 
 the servant of the artificial person, created by law, and 
 known as a "corporation." Is it a wonder, that suicides 
 and divorces multiply in a land where these conditions 
 exists? 
 
 The wage system in some respects, is worse than 
 was chattel slavery prior to the war of the Rebellion. 
 I have a distinct recollection that the slave owner took 
 a certain pride in the number and quality of his slaves ; 
 and as a rule, he wanted them well fed and well cared 
 for; and if one became sick, the best medical services 
 were ordered, for the money value of the slave was of 
 interest to the owner, if nothing else, and he did not 
 want them to die or remain sick if it were possible to 
 avoid it ; and besides, there was as a rule, a sympathetic 
 feeling between master and slave, that insured to the 
 slave, kind treatment, which disappeared under the 
 wage system. 
 
 Under present conditions, in the congested factory 
 centers, the white and the colored employes, work 
 under overseers the same as did the colored slave prior 
 to the war of the Rebellion, and each works for a wage, 
 not sufficient in many instances, to sustain the worker 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 
 
 in a manner suited to American citizenship; and in 
 case the worker becomes sick and cannot work, his em- 
 ployer fills his place with some other person, and the 
 incident of the sickness of the wage earner is dismissed 
 from the mind of his employer, as he has no interest 
 in him, further than his labor; and the unfortunate 
 worker in many instances, is not able to provide the 
 necessary medicine and medical service, and is often 
 neglected, and sometimes dies from mere neglect ; but 
 his late employer is not concerned, as there is no money 
 interests involved, and he does not care, for wage ser- 
 vants are numerous, and are becoming more plentiful 
 day by day, as the great middle class of the people fail 
 in business, and take their places among the wage 
 servants, and work for a corporation, for the wages 
 necessary to sustain life and maintain a home, if he 
 is fortunate enough to possess one. 
 
 BUT, DO NOT THE YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN 
 OF AMERICA, GET BETTER WAGES NOW THAN 
 EVER BEFORE KNOWN IN THE HISTORY OF 
 THE WORLD? 
 
 Possibly so, but this does not appear from the evi- 
 dence taken in the strike of the girls of New York 
 City, in the shirtwaist factory. The strike was inaugur- 
 ated by reason of low wages, and unsanitary and dan- 
 gerous conditions prevailing in the factory; and that 
 the strike was justifiable is proven by the fact, that 
 the factory was recently destroyed by fire, and about 
 125 of the girls perished in the flames. 
 
 I have before me, a statement of one of the factory 
 girls, seventeen years old, as to how she lived. She 
 paid for lodging, six cents per night, in a dormitory of 
 a charitably supported home for girls; she ate no 
 
PROGRKSSIYK GOVKRXMKNT 
 
 breakfast, could not afford it, and her lunch at noon 
 consisted of coffee and rolls, for which she paid ten 
 cents, and for dinner, she had coffee and rolls, and 
 paid ten cents, and her laundry cost her twenty-one 
 cents per week, aggregating the total expenses per 
 week of $2.03; and % her weekly earnings averaged 
 $2. 62 1/* leaving only 59 V2 cents per week, with which 
 to clothe herself, pay street car fare, and purchase the 
 necessary medicine in case of sickness. How could she 
 do it? Will not such destitution lead to suicide and 
 crime? 
 
 Through the influence and assistance of Miss Bel- 
 nap, Mrs. Gould, Vanderbilt and others, these girls won 
 their strike, and much credit is due these women, and 
 it proves that wealthy people are often kindhearted, 
 and will assist the poor in a righteous cause, with their 
 means and influence, that justice may be done. 
 
 But whether labor is being well paid or otherwise, 
 is not our purpose to discuss here, for that is not the 
 question. We are confronted with the fact, that our 
 people are fast becoming a nation of wage earners, de- 
 pendent upon corporations for wages as the only means 
 of support, and for the maintenance of a home, if 
 they are fortunate enough to have one ; and the great 
 middle class of our citizens are disappearing and the 
 young men and women are being crowded into tene- 
 ment houses, in congested industrial centers, surround- 
 ed by the most squalid poverty, with the door of hope 
 apparently barred against them, and the system is thus 
 crushing out that strong, independent American man- 
 hood and womanhood, the hope of the nation, and on 
 which its perpetuity must depend ; and as the struggle 
 for existence continues and becomes more intense, man- 
 hood and womanhood will sink lower in like ratio, and 
 it is time for the American people to arise and do their 
 duty by changing conditions, so as to preserve the 
 young men and women of America from further de- 
 terioration. 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 
 
 "Princes and lords may perish and may fade, 
 A breath can make them as a breath hath made ; 
 But a bold peasantry, a country's pride, 
 When once destroyed, can never be supplied." 
 "Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 
 Where wealth accumulates, and men decay." 
 
 That the wealth is accumulating in the hands of the 
 few, at a rate never before known in all history, and 
 that the high type of American manhood and woman- 
 hood, is decaying in a like ratio, no one will question. 
 The buying of the votes in Adams county, Ohio, where 
 the records in the investigation show, that a majority 
 of the voters of the county, sold their votes for money ; 
 and in some precincts, nearly all the voters had thus 
 sold their votes to politicians, so there were hardly men 
 enough left, that were not disfranchised to fill the 
 offices; and in the investigation of the election of 
 Senator Lorimer of Illinois, it was proven, that sena- 
 tors and members of the lower house of the 
 Illinois legislature, were purchased for money, to 
 vote for Lorimer for the United States Senate, and all 
 these circumstances prove too clearly, the decline of 
 American manhood ; and these are but samples, show- 
 ing the decay of American manhood, as wealth accumu- 
 lates in the hands of the few and is used to corrupt the 
 voters, and thereby undermine the very foundation of 
 civil government. 
 
 The history of Adams county, Ohio, and the pur- 
 chase of votes of the house and senate, in the interest 
 of corporation measures, is to a greater or less degree, 
 the history of many other counties, and many other 
 commonwealths throughout the length and breadth of 
 the nation, and the history of the Lorimer election to 
 the United States senate is the history of the election 
 of many other senators to that same body, and under 
 such conditions it is but natural, that the senate of the 
 United States should attempt to whitewash the election 
 
10 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 of Senator Lorimer, and should welcome him to a seat 
 in that body. 
 
 The Adams county disgrace, in the exercise of the 
 elective franchise, and the Lorimer purchase of votes, 
 in the Senate and House of the Illinois Legislature, 
 would never have been known to the general public, 
 had not the participants fallen out among themselves 
 in the division of the spoil; but let us hope these de- 
 velopments will not stop here, but that all those who 
 are guilty of similar corruptions, in the elective fran- 
 chise, will fall out, or, that they may have the man- 
 hood to come forward and expose these crimes, in the 
 interest of good government, for the corruption of the 
 ballot in the hands of the common voter, or in the 
 hands of the Legislators of the state or nation, is a 
 blow at liberty itself, and if persisted in and not 
 checked, must result in the overthrow of this republic. 
 
 BUT HOW CAN THIS CORRUPTION OF THE 
 BALLOT, AS MANIFESTED IN THE ADAMS 
 COUNTY, OHIO, CASE, AND IN THE LORIMER 
 ELECTION TO THE UNITED STATES SENATE, 
 AND THE BRIBERY OF THE HOUSE AND SEN- 
 ATE OF THE OHIO LEGISLATURE, IN THE 
 SUPPORT OF CORPORATION MEASURES, BE 
 CHECKED? 
 
 I will admit this is a difficult proposition, yet, I 
 think it can be accomplished, but it may require time. 
 As conducive to this end, I would favor a compulsory 
 educational law, for the education of the children, 
 similar to the Kansas Statute, and make it apply to 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 11 
 
 every state in the Union. If a parent neglects the edu- 
 cation of his child, the state should have sufficient in- 
 terest in the child to see that it is properly educated, 
 that it may have an equal chance to make its way in 
 the world, so far as education is concerned with the 
 other children, born under more favorable circum- 
 stances. 
 
 If the parent is too poor to feed, clothe and furnish 
 books for his children, the state should do it; as is 
 the case in Kansas, and if compulsory education is es- 
 tablished, throughout the nation, the coming genera- 
 tion will be better educated and will cast a more intel- 
 ligent ballot, and we hope a more honest one, and the 
 text-books used in our schools, ought to be changed so 
 as to impress the youth, with the power and sacredness 
 of the ballot, and how it should be used, and the care 
 that should be exercised in casting it aright; and all 
 officers, so far as practicable, ought to be elective even 
 the United States senators and judges of the federal 
 courts ; and there should be a provision of law, for the 
 recall of all officers that are derelict in duty, and the 
 initiative and referendum should be embodied in form 
 of law, for the protection of the people, as was the case 
 in Rome, prior to the time of Caesar. 
 
 If we concede that by reason of the lack of intelli- 
 gence on the part of the voter, or by reason of his dis- 
 honesty, a large number of voters can be purchased, 
 and that this is an objection to a further increase in the 
 elective franchise, we will have to also admit that it is 
 a more difficult matter, and will require more money 
 to purchase the mass of the voters in an election, than 
 to purchase the necessary members of the Legislature 
 or, the power that appoints judges, where such pur- 
 chase is possible, and all the arguments are therefore 
 in favor of enlarging the elective franchise to include 
 these officials. 
 
 There is no good reason for exempting the Federal 
 
12 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 Judges from being elected by the people, nor from the 
 recall measure ; for there is no other branch of govern- 
 ment so imperious and dominating as is the Judiciary. 
 Some of these judges will not allow their decisions to 
 be criticised, under the penalty of being imprisoned for 
 contempt of court, and will not allow the accused per- 
 son a trial by jury. Surely judges should be elective 
 and subject to recall. 
 
 When we consider the importance of the elective 
 franchise, it would seem, that only those should vote, 
 who possess the necessary educational qualifications; 
 for a ballot should be intelligently cast, for certain poli- 
 cies, that in the judgment of the voter, are for the best 
 interests of the people, and a person who can neither 
 read nor write, or understand the policies of the party 
 with which he is affiliated, is at a great disadvantage, 
 as he cannot comprehend the importance and sacred- 
 ness of the ballot, and it might be well to consider 
 whether or not, an aducational qualification should 
 be imposed. 
 
 There is no excuse, however, for an American being 
 unable to read and write, and I speak advisily upon 
 this proposition, for the writer of this pamphlet, 
 learned to read and write, after he was fourteen years 
 old, and worked in a sawmill in the day time and 
 studied four hours each night, under an instructor, 
 that he paid from his own earnings, and if he can do 
 this, others can. 
 
 As contributing to the use of an intelligent ballot, 
 I would enfranchise women to the same extent as men. 
 As a rule, the women are more conscientious and hon- 
 est than men ; and the statistics show that men put in 
 responsible positions, about one out of every one hun- 
 dred thirty-five go wrong; while women placed in re- 
 sponsible position, only one out of every 1,050 go wrong 
 and why not let them vote ; for we need their honesty 
 and high character in our elections ; and in the western 
 
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 ei iinadHvo ho^oho Aa 
 
14 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 by which a person could get title to a home, under the 
 Desert Land act, or Timber Claim act ; but most of the 
 available land suitable for homestead, is now 
 taken, or given by the government to corporations, to 
 aid in the construction of railways, etc., and at present, 
 while the people have these homestead laws, the cor- 
 porations have in the main, all the available land. 
 
 The several railway companies, that constructed 
 railways from the Missouri river to the Pacific coast, 
 each received a right-of-way 400 feet wide, free of 
 cost ; and in addition thereto, large donations of land, 
 equalling 12,800 acres for every mile of railway con- 
 constructed. These grants, extended twenty miles on 
 each side of the railways and included every alternate 
 section ; and the railway companies were given the 
 privilege where the lands had been taken, and were 
 owned by others, or, where the grants overlapped, to go 
 outside and locate indemnity land, to the amount of 
 their original grants from the government. 
 
 When these western lands were ceded to the United 
 States, by France and Mexico, there was a provision in 
 the cession, that the government should recognize the 
 grants that had been made by Spain, Mexico and 
 France, to individuals and corporations ; and as a re- 
 sult, these railways were constructed through many of 
 these tracts of land, held under these foreign grants to 
 individuals and corporations; and the railway com- 
 panies were thus permitted to go outside and take 
 indemnity lands, that would equal the 12,800 acres to 
 the mile ; and in locating these lands, they selected the 
 valuable coal lands of the United States, worth hun- 
 dreds of millions of dollars; and the title to these 
 indemnity lands, selected by these railway companies, 
 was approved by the Secretary of the Interior, and thus 
 the title to a vast acreage of coal lands, which should 
 have been kept for the people, passed to the railway 
 companies, and it is estimated that by reason of these 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 15 
 
 coal and other lands, donated by the government to 
 these railway corporations, that these companies re- 
 ceived $90,000 for every mile of railway constructed; 
 and the tract of land given to these railway companies 
 as shown by the official figures, would amount in area, 
 to more than nine such states as the state of Ohio. 
 
 But the donations did not stop here, for in July, 
 1862, Congress enacted a law, granting to each of 
 these railway companies, a subsidy, consisting of six 
 per cent, currency bonds, and apportioned as follows : 
 For every mile of railway constructed between the Mis- 
 souri river and the foot hills of the Rocky mountains, 
 the railway companies were each to receive and did 
 receive, $16,000, and through the Rocky mountains for 
 a distance of 150 miles, the railway companies received 
 $48,000 per mile; and from the Rocky mountains to 
 the Sierra Nevada mountains the government paid 
 $32,000 to the mile, and through the Sierra Nevada 
 mountains, $48,000 to the mile, and for the construc- 
 tion of the California branches, $32,000 to the mile, 
 and on these bonds, the government paid the interest 
 as it became due and payable, and relieved the railway 
 companies from this burden, and the government paid 
 on these bonds in interest, more than $300,000,000, and 
 never received upon this vast sum, one cent of interest 
 from the railway companies. 
 
 These bonds have been in a measure, compromised, 
 and payment made in transportation and otherwise 
 by the railways to the government, but no interest was 
 ever paid the government, on the vast sums of money 
 advanced in payment of the interest upon the bonds. 
 If we take the value of all the lands donated to the 
 railway companies of the United States, and the value 
 of the coal lands located by them as indemnity lands, 
 and the money advanced as interest by the government, 
 and all private and municipal donations, we have a 
 total subsidy granted to railway corporations, equalling 
 more than four billion dollars. 
 
16 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 Leland Stanford of California, it is said, admitted 
 that his net portion of these donations by the govern- 
 ment to the railway companies, with which he was con- 
 nected, amounted to more than $35,000,000, and he was 
 at that time, United States Senator from California, 
 and this would indicate that the policy of Congress, in 
 giving away the people's property to corporations, in 
 which Congressmen and Senators hold an interest, has 
 been in practice for a long time, and still prevails to 
 a greater or less extent among Senators and Members 
 of the House, as proven by the fact, that Hines, the 
 millionaire lumberman, it is said, raised $100,000 to 
 assist in the election of Lorimer to the United States 
 Senate. 
 
 Leland Stanford, endowed a university in Califor- 
 nia, with a part of his money, and is entitled to some 
 credit for this, but we have not been informed, that his 
 associates put any portion of their ill gotten gains to 
 so good a use. 
 
 These railway companies, in addition to these gov- 
 ernment grants of land and bonds, induced counties 
 and cities, through which their lines of road extended, 
 to vote bonds and take stock in these enterprises, and 
 these companies laid out towns along their lines of rail- 
 way and sold lots and vast sums of money were realized 
 in this manner; and many ranchers were induced to 
 invest large sums of money in these roads as they felt 
 an interest in their construction, and it has been esti- 
 mated by competent persons and published in the press, 
 and the statement has not been denied by the com- 
 panies, that the amount received from all sources, would 
 build and equip these roads three times over. 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 17 
 
 DID NOT THE RAILWAY COMPANIES, SELL 
 THESE VAST TRACTS OF LAND, DONATED BY 
 THE GOVERNMENT, TO INDIVIDUALS FOR 
 HOMES; AND DID NOT THESE ROADS PROVE 
 OF SERVICE, IN INDUCING THE PEOPLE TO 
 SETTLE UPON THEM? 
 
 This was an argument, used at the time of the do- 
 nations, to justify the grants; but the railway com- 
 panies, instead of selling these lands, in small tracts to 
 homeseekers, sold them in large tracts for stock ranch- 
 es, and the settlers were not permitted to locate on even 
 government land, within these grants; and other set- 
 tlers who had located upon these government lands, 
 within these grants, prior to the building of the rail- 
 ways, were driven from their homes, and many of them 
 were shot, and the Mussel Slough massacre, growing 
 out of the dispute over the title to these lands, is yet 
 fresh in the minds of the people. 
 
 When these grants were made by the government, 
 to the several railway companies, every alternate sec- 
 tion for twenty miles on each side of the roads, were 
 retained by the government; therefore, the company 
 owned every alternate section in a forty mile strip- 
 extending from the Missouri river to the Pacific coast, 
 on each line of railway, and it was argued, that these 
 sections retained by the government, within these 
 grants, should be sold at double minimum price; that 
 is, $2.50 per acre instead of the minimum price of $1.25 
 per acre; and it was said, that the government in 
 charging this price, would collect a sufficient sum from 
 the people, who settled upon these government lands 
 for homesteads to reimburse the government for the 
 
18 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 amount donated in land, to the railway companies ; and 
 it was further argued, that while this would double the 
 burden of the home-seekers, in compelling them to pay 
 a double minimum price for these lands, that the build- 
 ing of roads, would benefit the settler, in a sum, to 
 more than equal the advanced price ; but when the set- 
 tlers undertook to locate upon these government lands, 
 included within these grants, at even this advanced 
 price, they were not permitted to do so ; and as before 
 stated, those that had, prior to the building of the roads, 
 settled upon government land, withnn these grants, 
 were driven from their homes by armed men, and in 
 many cases, the settlers were slain, and our govern- 
 ment allowed these atrocities to continue, after they 
 were brought to its notice, for high 'officials, seem to 
 have been interested, and these stock ranches were 
 fenced, and the government land included with the 
 railway land, and settlers were not permitted to enter 
 these enclosures, and if they did, they were shot, as an 
 example to others. These facts are contained in gov- 
 ernment reports and are blots upon the fair name of 
 our nation ; but fortunately, our government is now 
 undergoing a change in sentiment, and policies toward 
 the people, and a higher type of statesmanship is de- 
 veloping in both houses of Congress, and better men 
 are being appointed to the heads of the various depart- 
 ments of government, and a progressive sentiment is 
 being created in both branches of Congress, that indi- 
 cates that the welfare of the natural man is to be taken 
 into consideration, in future legislation, at least, to the 
 same extent as is the interest of the corporation. 
 
 WHY SHOULD THE YOUNG MAN OR WOMAN 
 ESTABLISH A HOME, AND WHY SHOULD THE 
 GOVERNMENT ASSIST IN SO DOING? 
 
 The establishment and maintenance of a home, 
 
BY GEORGK CAMPBELL 19 
 
 should be and doubtless is, the hope of every intelligent 
 young man and woman ; for the home is the anchor of 
 good society, and the basis on which all stable govern- 
 ment must forever rest; and hence, the hope of the 
 nation centers in the home ; and our government should 
 devise ways and means by which a comforable home 
 can be established, maintained and owned by every de- 
 serving citizen; but under the present wage system, 
 such is often impossible, and many of our brightest 
 young men and women, capable of maintaining exem- 
 plary homes, if conditions were favorable, fear to at- 
 tempt to establish them, knowing they are wholly de- 
 pendent upon wages, received from corporations, to 
 maintain themselves and a home, if one should be es- 
 tablished, and in case of discharge, by reason of de- 
 pression in business, or some other cause, and the ina- 
 bility of the individual to secure employment elsewhere, 
 the basis of the home is shattered, and the structure 
 falls; and many times, there are helpless children to 
 be cared for at public expense, and the contemplation 
 of these conditions that may arise, discourages the mar- 
 riage relation, and operates against the establishment 
 of the home. 
 
 In dealing with the question of home, we will have 
 to take into consideration, the two great classes of our 
 people, the farmers and the small business men, who 
 represent the great middle class ; and the wage earn- 
 ers, who represent the dependent class, of our citizens. 
 
 It is a well established fact that the young men and 
 women of the country, are now drifting to the towns, 
 in great numbers; and becoming wage earners; and 
 an investigation shows, it is not because rural life is 
 unattractive and undesirable, but the young men and 
 women reaching their majority, are not able to pur- 
 chase farms, or establish themselves in business, and 
 the young man is not able to buy teams and machinery 
 necessary for renting farms, and must work for the 
 farmer for wages, or go to town and take employment. 
 
20 PROGRESSIVE C.OVKRXMENT 
 
 On inquiry, he finds there are shorter hours of 
 labor in the city and better wages, than on the farm; 
 and of the two alternatives, he chooses the wage ser- 
 vice in the city, and join the great army of wage earn- 
 ers, which is being constantly augmented from these 
 sources. 
 
 Now, if the governemnt would fix conditions so it 
 would be possible, for young men and young women 
 to marry and establish homes of their own in the rural 
 districts, and make it possible for them to own homes, 
 they would not drift to cities in such vast numbers, 
 and we would retain the great middle class of our citi- 
 zens, which are so necessary to the stability of the 
 government itself. 
 
 According to the census, our government could, for 
 less than one-half what has been given to corporations, 
 purchase a home of eighty acres for each adult man, 
 residing in the rural district and not owning a home. 
 Of course, the young man in order to avail himself of 
 the law, framed according to these suggestions, would 
 have to marry, and the title to the homestead, should 
 vest equally in the man and woman, who thus estab- 
 lishes the home. 
 
 HOW COULD THE GOVERNMENT GET THE 
 LAND, TO SUPPLY THESE PEOPLE WITH 
 HOMES, INASMUCH AS THE LAND IS NOW 
 OWNED LARGELY BY INDIVIDUALS AND COR- 
 PORATIONS? 
 
 Where the land could not be purchased, at a rea- 
 sonable price, the government could acquire title by 
 the exercise of the right of eminent domain, a power, 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 21 
 
 which inheres in all governments, and it could be exer- 
 cised in such a manner, as to injure none. The gov- 
 ernment takes the census every ten years ; and suppose 
 the census of 1910 is taken, and we find that if we take 
 from the rural population, the men who ought to main- 
 tain homes, and divide the lands equally among them, 
 there would be eighty acres for each adult male, that 
 should maintain a home. 
 
 We will now suppose, that Jones has 160 acres of 
 land, and thus has double the portion to which he is 
 entitled; and we will further suppose, that Doe is a 
 young man, just married and wants a home for himself 
 and family. Doe applies to the Clerk of the District 
 Court, for a commission of three appraisers, to ascer- 
 tain the value of the eighty acres of surplus land, that 
 is owned by Jones, and the Clerk appoints the com- 
 mission, and the commissioners enter upon the Jones 
 farm, and state to Jones that under the law, he is en- 
 titled to but eighty acres, and that at that time, he is 
 exercising ownership over 160 acres, or twice the 
 amount he is entitlede to own under the late census, 
 and that his surplus land is desired for a homestead by 
 another person and will have to be taken. Jones is 
 required to take his choice of the eighty acre tracts, 
 and after doing so, the appraisers ascertain the value 
 of the remaining eighty, and sets the same over to Doe 
 and his wife, and the value of the land as ascertained 
 by the appraisers is paid by the government into court, 
 for the benefit of Jones, who thus receives the full 
 value of his land, and Doe is provided with a home, 
 and no one is injured. If Jones is not satisfied, with 
 the awards of the commissioners, he can appeal to the 
 District Court, and obtain judgment for whatever the 
 land is worth, and no wrong is committed. 
 
 After the title to the homestead is thus perfected, 
 the government should advance a sufficient amount of 
 money, to build the house and make other improve- 
 
22 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 merits necessary to make home comfortable; and the 
 homestead thus acquired, should not be encumbered by 
 mortgage or other lien, except the government lien, for 
 the purchase price of the property, and this should be 
 paid back to the government in installments, equalling 
 a small rental value for the property each year, and 
 there should be no interest charged ; or, if the govern- 
 ment saw fit, and wanted to be as generous to the 
 natural man as it has been to corporations, it could 
 make the homeless a donation outright, of his home 
 as it did when there were government lands to home- 
 stead, and the home thus acquired, should be for the 
 family and should descend to the children or legal heirs ; 
 and a provision of this nature, and that the title to all 
 lands must rest upon use and occupancy, would not only 
 keep the rural people from drifting to the cities, but 
 would cause many from the city to go to the country, 
 and would eventually result, in dividing the land into 
 smaller tracts, which would be of great benefit to the 
 country at large, for many of the farms are too large, 
 and by reason of this, are not properly cultivated ; but 
 under the plans here suggested, the land would be 
 better tilled, and the aggregate production largely in- 
 creased. 
 
 The census of course, is taken every ten years, and 
 under the system here suggested, the size of the farms 
 would be adjusted to the census every ten years, and 
 would be gradually diminished in acreage; and by 
 the adoption of this system, we would preserve the 
 great middle class of our people, and thereby insure 
 the future stability of the government and the home. 
 
 This policy was pursued in Rome, until the Roman 
 farm was reduced to seven acres, and the greatest pros- 
 perity prevailed during the entire time this law was 
 in force. During this period, Rome conquered the 
 world, for every Roman was a land owner and was 
 independent, and the system developed a strong in- 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 23 
 
 dividual manhood without a parallel in history; but 
 when this law was repealed and the lands aggregated 
 in large tracts, and the masses of the people became 
 employes of the rich, and later, slaves to the aristoc- 
 racy, the Roman spirit died, the Empire crumbled into 
 decay, and the light of her civilization went out in the 
 night of a dark age that overshadowed the world. 
 
 When we take into consideration the amount that 
 has been given by the government to corporations, it 
 does look as though it was about time to make the 
 natural person some donation, or at least some recog- 
 nition of his natural rights to live upon the earth, 
 without paying some person or corporation for the 
 privilege, and if the provisions outlined herein, with 
 reference to the homestead were carried out, this 
 would only cost the government if these homes were 
 given to the people, a sum equal to about one-half what 
 has been given by the government to corporations, and 
 it would seem that the natural person ought to receive 
 as much consideration at the hands of the government, 
 as the corporation, and the recognition of the natural 
 person, as entitled to a home, at the hands of his gov- 
 ernment is a policy that has been tried in the United 
 States a generation ago, and worked well, and the 
 older people can remember that period, and the song 
 was on everybody's lips; 
 
 "Come along, haste along, make no delay, 
 
 Come from every nation, come from every way; 
 
 Our land is broad enough, don't be alarmed, 
 
 For Uncle Sam is rich enough, to buy us all a farm." 
 
 Our government made the Louisiana and several 
 other purchases of large tracts of land, and offered 
 inducements to people to come and settle and make 
 homes upon these lands, and they came not by the hun- 
 dreds, but by the millions, and helped to create the 
 United States, a nation without a parallel in the 
 world's history. 
 
24 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 The government now has some lands in the western 
 states that would make desirable homes, but those that 
 need them are not financially able to settle upon these 
 lands, and they should be assisted by the government 
 in so doing. 
 
 There are also desirable lands for homes in Alaska 
 and are as fertile and as good as those of Canada on 
 the east of these possessions, yet Canada is offering 
 inducements to Americans to settle Canadian lands, 
 and our people are going at a rapid rate, 40,000 within 
 the last year, while few, if any Americans are settling 
 in Alaska, with a view to establishing permanent 
 homes. 
 
 Our government should assist the people to settle 
 these lands, give them free transportation to their new 
 homes, and loan them a sufficient amount of money 
 without interest, to improve these lands, procure 
 farm implement and machinery. The government 
 has loaned to the railway companies, without 
 interest, and why not to natural persons that 
 want to build homes, and the government should 
 also build railways to give them a market for 
 their products, and with such a policy, these desert 
 lands of the West and the Alaskan wilds will soon 
 blossom into prosperous and contented communities, 
 that will greatly add to the wealth of the nation, and 
 all the people will be benefited ; a similar policy is now 
 in effect in New Zealand, Australia and several other 
 portions of the globe and has always inured to the 
 benefit of the government and the entire people, and 
 should receive careful consideration before being 
 rejected. 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 25 
 
 WE CAN SEE HOW THE RURAL PEOPLE 
 CAN OBTAIN HOMES UNDER THE POLICY 
 HERE OUTLINED, BUT HOW CAN THE WAGE 
 EARNERS OF THE CITY OBTAIN HOMES, WITH- 
 OUT GOING TO THE COUNTRY? 
 
 There is a large amount of land consisting of lots in 
 every city, that is held for speculation, that would be 
 desirable for resident purposes, and located around the 
 cities, is plenty of land that could be divided into one 
 and two-acre tracts, which would make desirable homes 
 for the people of the city, and the title to these prop- 
 erties could be acquired through the exercise of emi- 
 nent domain as outlined for the rural districts, and 
 these lands should be paid for by the government, and 
 money advanced to erect the necessary buildings and 
 improvements, on the same terms and conditions as 
 those that prevail in the rural district, but the wage 
 earner being dependent upon his wages to sustain the 
 home, the local city government owes the duty to the 
 laborer of furnishing him employment, when he can- 
 not procure it elsewhere, that his ability to provide 
 himself and his family a home with the necessaries of 
 life may always be assured. 
 
 In a state of nature, every person has access to the 
 soil, and can make his own living, but by reason of the 
 civil law, which prevails in all the civilized nations, he 
 is cut off from the soil, and the law recognized a prop- 
 erty right in the individual person or corporation, often 
 a non-resident; and the laborer cannot go upon this 
 land without consent of the owner, and the government 
 thus deprives him of having access to the soil, which 
 would enable him to supply his wants, and therefore, 
 
26 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 the govern -merit, as a matter of right and as a matter 
 of equity, should furnish the laborer employment in 
 times of depression, that he may maintain himself and 
 family, if he has one. 
 
 IS THERE ANY PRECEDENT FOR THIS 
 MODE OF ESTABLISHING A HOME ON GOV- 
 ERNMENT LANDS? 
 
 Yes, after the Boer war, England loaned to the peo- 
 ple of the Transval country, money at three per cent 
 per annum, to buy land and build houses; and many 
 millions of dollars were loaned in this manner by Eng- 
 land to her Boer subjects. 
 
 The governmjent of New Zealand also advances 
 money to buy land and build houses for its citizens, 
 and otherwise improve the property ; and Australia 
 does the same; and their subjects can pay the money 
 back in small payments, equalling a low rental value 
 for the property. 
 
 The city of Aukland, in New Zeland, furnishes the 
 citizens with land in small tracts for homes, and ad- 
 vances money to build houses and otherwise improve 
 the property, and every house that is built in this man- 
 ner, adds so much to the wealth of the country, and the 
 government of New Zealand, is benefited to that extent, 
 and the citizen acquires a home, and in times of depres- 
 sion in business, the local and colonial government 
 furnishes employment to the people, that they may 
 always have the means of support. 
 
 The city of Glasgow, Scotland, a few years ago, 
 exercised the right of eminent domain, and took the 
 property from the landlords in the great tenement 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 27 
 
 districts of the city, where the people were compelled 
 to live in mere shacks, and pay an enormous rental 
 for this privilege. 
 
 The government, after acquiring title to the land, 
 tore down the shacks, and erected modern brick build- 
 ings, with electric light, hot and cold water baths, and 
 employed janitors to keep everything in condition. 
 These buildings were rented to the wage earners at a 
 rental merely sufficient to pay the expenses of keeping 
 the property in repair, and six per cent on the capital 
 invested; and these tenants are paying a rental for 
 the property, much less than they paid for the shacks 
 they previously occupied; and the death rate in this 
 portion of the city, which was very great, especially 
 among children, has diminished more than forty per 
 cent, and the city provides work for the wage earners, 
 when they cannot otherwise procure employment, 
 which enables the laborer to always pay his rentals 
 and provide for his family. These facts are furnished 
 by the lord mayor of the city of Glasgow. 
 
 The City of Ulm, Germany, is another that could be 
 cited that has made rapid progress in municipal gov- 
 ernment, The city has taken over to itself the land ad- 
 jacent the city and sells it in small tracts to the citi- 
 zens for homes. 
 
 The city builds the houses and otherwise improves 
 the land so as to make comfortable homes, and fur- 
 nishes employment to the citizen at wages that will 
 enable him to maintain his family and pay for his 
 home. 
 
 The payments for the homestead, average about 10 
 per cent, per annum, on the actual cost, and this enables 
 the citizen to obtain title to his homestead in about ten 
 years. 
 
 Mr. Waggoner says, there are great numbers of 
 people acquiring homes under these conditions, that 
 
28 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 could not procure them otherwise ; and the city is fast 
 becoming known as the city of homes, owned by the 
 people ; and the city's ownership of its public utilities 
 and several factories has added greatly to the income 
 of the city, and the city as a municipality, owns and 
 operates these properties in the interest of the people. 
 
 Of course, this is municipal or collective ownership, 
 but it is not such a bad proposition after all, and 
 municipal ownership must prevail to a greater or less 
 extent in adjusting conditions between labor and capi- 
 tal, and the services now rendered to cities by public 
 service corporations, must in the near future cease; 
 and these services must be rendered by the city, as a 
 municipal corporation, to its citizens thus allowing 
 the people the profits, in the exercise of these local gov- 
 ernment functions, instead of corporations. 
 
 All cities are not financially able to provide homes 
 and employment for their people, and some cities are 
 indisposed to do so, and in order that all the people 
 may secure equal benefits from the government policies 
 herein suggested, it is proper for the general govern- 
 ment of the United States to work in conjunction with 
 the states and the local city government in inaugurat- 
 ing such a policy, in the interest of the people. 
 
 A corporation, is an association of individual per- 
 sons, under a charter, in a co-operative sense, to dis- 
 charge certain public services to the people; and it 
 seems a little peculiar that the people in a collective 
 sense have not been educated up to the standard, where 
 they could see it to their interests, to discharge these 
 duties for themselves. We need to teach in our public 
 schools the principles of co-operation, and that, if co- 
 operation is a good thing for a few persons, that con- 
 stitute a corporation, it is a good thing for the many 
 persons, constituting a city, and that a city as a munici- 
 pality, has much greater power, in a co-operative sense, 
 than the few individuals that form the corporation. 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 29 
 
 The people must learn, that any service, that is 
 necessary to the citizens of a city, that will justify a 
 few persons, in getting together and forming a public 
 service corporation, will justify the municipality in 
 creating a department to discharge the service, for the 
 benefit of the people; and save all the profits to the 
 municipality, that would otherwise, go into the pocket 
 of the public service corporation. 
 
 Why should a city grant a franchise to a corpora- 
 tion to furnish the people with water, light, heat, gas, 
 transportation or any other service, when the city can 
 render these services to the people much cheaper, and 
 a better service than is rendered by a public service 
 corporation ? 
 
 Some municipalities are slowly realizing this fact, 
 and are taking over to the city, street railways, tele- 
 phones, waterworks, electric light plants, gas plants 
 and other public service plants, and in each instance, 
 so far as we are informed, the service is much better 
 and cheaper to the people when operated by the city 
 than when rendered by a public service corporation, 
 which must always have large dividends and often de- 
 clared on watered stocks, and high salaries for their 
 corporation officials. 
 
 The City of Coffeyville, has a population of about 
 18,000 persons, and the city owns its electric light 
 plant, and waterworks plant, and the people have a 
 good service and at a price much less than that charged 
 by the public service corporations to the people of other 
 cities, having a population about the same as our own. 
 
 The two plants that the City of Coffeyville own 
 and operate, have proven a valuable asset to the city, 
 for after paying all operating expenses, including re- 
 pairs, from the gross receipts, these two plants annual- 
 ly net the city over $35,000, which stands to the credit 
 of the city, and why is not this profit as good to the 
 city as to the public service corporation, and is it not 
 
30 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 a good business proposition for the cities to operate 
 the public service plants? 
 
 There is a public service corporation at the present 
 time, furnishing gas to the City of Coffeyville and its 
 consumers, and the city is required to pay 5c per 
 thousand cubic feet for gas, for its waterworks and 
 electric light plants, and 20c per thousand cubic feet 
 for domestic use. In the last six months however, the 
 city has put down five wells, and it is furnishing gas 
 for its plants, for less than four-tenths of a cent per 
 thousand cubic feet, and the profit upon the city gas, 
 at four-tenths of a cent per thousand cubic feet, is 
 sufficient to pay all the expenses of the city in sinking 
 the wells, paying royalties on leases, piping the gas 
 and making connections with the city plants; and 
 the four-tenths of a cent per thousand cubic feet for 
 the gas developed by the city, is sufficient in four years, 
 to reimburse the city for all the money expended in- 
 cluding interest on the investment. In other words, 
 the city will own the gas wells, the pipe lines, connec- 
 tions and everything of this nature and have them all 
 paid for in four years, calculating the gas at four- 
 tenths of a cent per one thousand cubic feet, and after 
 the four years expires, the cost of the gas to the city 
 will be reduced to about two mills, for every one thous- 
 and cubic feet; and if the City of Coffeyville would 
 sink wells enough to supply the inhabitants of the city 
 with gas for all purposes, including manufacturing 
 purposes, and charge 12!/^c per thousand cubic feet 
 for domestic use, and 5c per thousand cubic feet for 
 factory purposes; the profits to the city over the cost 
 of production of the gas, and the profits upon the elec- 
 tric light plant and waterworks plant, would pay the 
 entire running expenses of the City of Coffeyville, and 
 relieve the people from all taxes for this purpose, and 
 would leave a surplus in the city treasury each year of 
 over $15,000; and as a business proposition, why 
 should not the city own its own gas plant, and save 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 31 
 
 these vast profits to the citizens of Coffeyville, instead 
 of allowing them to go to a public service corporation. 
 The City of Coffeyville had an option on 1,300 acres 
 of gas land to the southwest of the city about five miles 
 distant, until after the spring (1911) election, and the 
 royalty asked was $10.00 per month on each gas well, 
 from which the city used the gas. The people voted at 
 the election in favor of the gas company, and since that 
 time, a well has been drilled by other parties in this ter- 
 ritory, and the well is a good producer and discharges 
 gas to the amount of about 16,000,000 cubic feet per 
 day. The selling price of this gas in the city for domes- 
 tic purposes, as fixed by the gas company, is twenty 
 cents per thousand cubic feet, and at this price the daily 
 discharge of gas from this well, amounts to $3,200, and 
 in the year $1,168,000, and the cost of sinking the well 
 and piping the gas to the city, is a little less than 
 $23,000 and the average life of a gas well in this terri- 
 tory is about fifteen years. Is it a wonder millionaires 
 multiply, when the people are so blind to their general 
 welfare, and the interests of the city? 
 
 The question as to whether the city should own its 
 gas plant, or should buy its domestic gas from the gas 
 company was squarely submitted to the people of Cof- 
 feyville at the 1911 election, and they voted in favor 
 of buying the gas from the public service corporation, 
 and pay for domestic purposes, 20c per thousand cubic 
 feet, leaving the price for factory gas to be determined 
 between the gas company and the factories. 
 
 The campaign upon this question, was remarkable 
 in many respects, and was carried on principally by 
 circulars, and these circulars with the result of the cam- 
 paign, will appear as an appendix to this pamphlet that 
 the people may understand the methods employed by 
 corporations in conducting elections, and it will serve 
 to show the people the power they will have to meet, 
 in their efforts to control corporations, whose policy 
 
32 • PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 seems to be to use whatever money that may be neces- 
 sary to accomplish their ends, and charge to the ex- 
 pense account of the company, and then raise the price 
 of their service or the product to the people, until reim- 
 bursed fully for the sums expended. 
 
 ARE NOT CORPORATIONS NECESSARY IN 
 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COUNTRY, AND HOW 
 COULD THE PEOPLE DISPENSE WITH THEIR 
 SERVICES? 
 
 I will say in answering this question from the 
 standpoint of the people, that as a general proposition, 
 the government ought to do for the individual what he 
 cannot do for himself. 
 
 For instance, I can raise 1,000 bushels of wheat, 
 and can do this as an individual, but I cannot build a 
 railroad over which my wheat may be hauled to sea- 
 board, where it will command the greater price, for I 
 have not the means to construct such an enterprise, but 
 the government has, and should build the road and 
 operate it, and not delegate this power to a corpora- 
 tion, whose sole object in accepting a franchise to build 
 the road, is not to render a public service, but to make 
 money ; and many of these corporations are exercising 
 a power to tax the people, that the government itself, 
 would hardly dare exercise, and no government, how- 
 ever oppressive, has ever been known to falsify its 
 records, to cover up its profits, as corporations have 
 been known to do. 
 
 In 1897, the railway freight rates in Kansas were 
 so high that many farmers were burning corn for fuel, 
 and the governor of Kansas, in conjunction with the 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 33 
 
 governors of several other states, appointed commis- 
 sioners to try to get a reduction in freight rates, and 
 the governor of Kansas, appointed five persons, upon 
 this commission, two from the senate and three from 
 the House to meet like commissioners appointed from 
 Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and 
 some other states and these commissioners were to 
 meet with the railway officials and Interstate Com- 
 merce Commission at Austin, Texas, to procure if pos- 
 sible, a reduction in freight rates to tide water, so that 
 the products from these interior states, could be shipped 
 through gulf ports, instead of being hauled by rail, 
 half way across the continent, in order to reach tide 
 water. 
 
 The writer at that time, was a member of the Kan- 
 sas Senate, and was appointed one of the commissioners 
 from Kansas, to meet with the other commissioners 
 from the several states, and the joint commission con- 
 vened at Austin, Texas, in April, 1397, and organized 
 under the name of the Gulf and Interstate Transporta- 
 tion Commission, and the writer was elected chairman 
 of the interstate organization, which position he still 
 holds. 
 
 It was intimated to the commission, that the rail- 
 way companies were not making money, and were run- 
 ning in debt, and could make no reduction in rates, and 
 the commission had to prepare to meet this issue, and 
 as chairman of this commission, I went to the chief 
 bookkeeper of one of the great railway corporations, 
 that had a line of road extending into the gulf ports, 
 and the party I went to see, I had rendered a service 
 several years prior, which he said he would always re- 
 member, and I told him I wanted information, as to 
 how the railway companies managed to cover up their 
 profits. 
 
 At first he refused to give me the information, but 
 on being assured that his name would never be made 
 
34 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 public, or connected in any manner with this informa- 
 tion, he opened his books and showed me their samples 
 of "Frenzied Finance," and it seemed strange that such 
 things can be done, and the guilty parties keep outside 
 of the penitentiary. 
 
 This railway company, in whose service my friend 
 was employed, was one of the government subsidized 
 roads, receiving 12,800 acres for every mile of road, 
 and about $200,000,000 in government bonds, on their 
 9,000 or more miles of railway. In addition to these 
 subsidies, stock ranchers subscribed for large blocks 
 of stock in this road, and bonds were voted by cities 
 and counties, and exchanged for railroad stocks, until 
 the municipalities and stockmen had subscribed for 
 about $150,000,000 of the stocks cf this railway com- 
 pany; and the company in building its road, found 
 there was not land enough included within its forty 
 mile grant, to equal 12,800 acres to each mile; and it 
 went outside of the forty rrnle strip, and located coal 
 lands, worth many millions of dollars. Many of these 
 coal mines are now open, and some of the veins prove 
 to be nineteen feet in thickness, and of superior quali- 
 ty, and their value cannot at this time be accurately 
 estimated. 
 
 When the wealth of these coal mines were made 
 known to the company, the officers organized them- 
 selves into a coal company, for the purpose of covering 
 up profits, and the railway company bought its coal 
 from the coal company (themselves) at an enormous 
 price, and by this mode, much of their profits were con- 
 cealed. 
 
 The officials of the railway company also organized 
 themselves into a rolling stock company, and took pos- 
 session of the rolling stock of the railway company; 
 and the railway company leased from the rolling stock 
 company (themselves) the necessary cars to operate 
 their road, and paid enormous rentals therefor, and 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 35 
 
 this enabled the company to cover up much more of its 
 profits from the view of the general public ; and other 
 companies were organized from these officials, but I 
 do not call them to mind, but one I think, was to oil 
 the rolling stock, for which a fancy price was paid in 
 order to cover up the profits of the company. 
 
 After this road had been operated for several years, 
 the stockmen of the West, who had purchased stock in 
 the road, wanted to see some dividends coming their 
 way, and the municipalities that had voted bonds and 
 took stock in the enterprise, wanted dividends and be- 
 gan to threaten the company with litigation. 
 
 The company's mode of keeping the books, showed 
 a deficit each year in the treasury of the company ; but 
 this did not satisfy the stockmen, nor the counties and 
 cities that had taken stock in the road, and it was evi- 
 dent to the company that these parties would have to 
 be paid dividends, or "be squeezed out," and it was 
 thought best to squeeze them out ; and the railway com- 
 pany gave one of its memberes a first mortgage bond 
 on the road, covering the whole system, and the inter- 
 est upon this bond soon defaulted, and foreclosure pro- 
 ceedings were had in the United States Court, and all 
 these cities, counties and the stockmen had their inter- 
 ests foreclosed, and the stock they held in the railway 
 company became valueless and they were "squeezed 
 out" and could cause no more trouble. 
 
 It seems quite evident from reports, that what this 
 corporation did in the way of bookkeeping, is practiced 
 to a greater or less extent by other corporations ; and 
 for this reason a gulf is gradually opening between the 
 people and preditory wealth, as represented by these 
 great corporations, and as these injustices are prac- 
 ticed upon the people, and the persons responsible there- 
 for, remain outside the prison walls, so long will the 
 gulf between capital and labor widen, until there comes 
 a final contest between the natural man and corpora- 
 
36 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 tions for the control of the government, and for a more 
 equitable distribution of wealth. 
 
 All corporations of great wealth we are glad to say, 
 do not seem to resort to this covering up process as 
 outlined herein, and while their profits may be exorbi- 
 tant, they seem willing that the general public should 
 know the facts, and in proof of this, we have the testi- 
 mony before us of John D. Rockefeller, recently given 
 by him in New York City, in an investigation of the 
 affairs of the Standard Oil Company and their alleged 
 discriminations. He stated frankly under oath, that 
 on an investment of $67,000,000, the profit of the com- 
 pany in eight years, above operating expenses, was 
 $891,000,000 ; that $300,000,000 of this sum had been 
 loaned at interest, and the remaining $591,000,000 had 
 been paid to the stockholders in dividends, during the 
 eight years, showing the profits of this company, an- 
 nually for the last eight years, to have equaled 165 per 
 cent. Now, as a matter of business and of right, would 
 it not have been better if the government, state or na- 
 tion, or jointly, had developed these oil and gas proper- 
 ties, and saved these enormous profits to the people, in- 
 stead of allowing a few person who comprise the cor- 
 poration, to absorb these enormous sums at the expense 
 of the general public? And I repeat, that any line of 
 business that will pay a few persons to incorporate to 
 engage in, will pay the government as a municipality, as 
 a state, or as a nation, to engage in; and the people 
 should be educated along the lines of co-operation, for 
 public ownership is co-operation, through govern- 
 mental agencies, each person having his proportionate 
 interest in the property operated. 
 
 The government paid for building the several Pa- 
 cific railways from the Missouri river to the Pacific 
 coast, more than three times their actual cost, as es- 
 timated by experts in the railway service, and it seems 
 strange that the government would build these roads, 
 at this enormous expense and allow the railway com- 
 
BY CxEORGE CAMPBELL 37 
 
 panies to own and control them instead of the govern- 
 ment. Why should not the government have built these 
 roads on government account, and owned and operated 
 them like some of the European nations do, and saved 
 to the government two-thirds of the expense, and be- 
 sides, it would have saved the empire of land, that was 
 donated by the government, to aid in their construc- 
 tion, which land ought to have been conserved for the 
 people. 
 
 Is it the lack of wisdom on the part of the law 
 makers, that the government of the United States, 
 should in every possible way, favor corporations, to 
 the detriment of the natural person, or is it due to the 
 assumed fact that many of the congressmen and sena- 
 tors have been given large interests in these proposed 
 enterprises, that are carried forward by government 
 subsidies, but in the name and under the ownership of 
 a corporation, composed largely of United States Sena- 
 tors. Is it a wonder that Senators become wealthy 
 and that the Senate of the United States is now desig- 
 nated "The American House of Lords," by reason of 
 the wealth of its members? 
 
 Corporations have recently secured power sites in 
 Alaska and in many of the new states of the West, 
 worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and it is said 
 and published in the newspapers, that many Senators 
 and members of the Lower House of Congress, hold 
 great blocks of stock in many of these enterprises, and 
 the government has recently spent large sums of money 
 in constructing irrigating ditches, by which water has 
 been supplied, to many millions of acres of arid lands 
 of the West, and these lands by reason of the water, 
 have been made productive and of great value, and they 
 are exceedingly fertile and only needed water to make 
 them productive, and this, the government supplied, 
 and now it appears, that this land which is selling at 
 from $100.00 to $300,000 per acre is nearly all owned 
 
38 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 by corporations, with Senators and members of the 
 Lower House holding large interests. 
 
 In addition to acquiring these irrigated lands of 
 great value, it now appears that corporations are ac- 
 quiring many millions of acres of timber land, lying 
 in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Washington, Mon- 
 tana, Oregon and several other states, and the people 
 have received nothing in return for these properties, 
 and it seems from the expose in the election of Senator 
 Lorimer, that the lumbermen are seeking to acquire 
 further donations of timber, and with this in view, 
 have taken a great interest in Lorimer's election, at 
 least to the extent of $100,000 as appears from the 
 testimony taken in the investigation. 
 
 WHILE WE HAVE TO ADMIT, THAT THERE 
 IS GRAFT IN AND OUT OF CONGRESS, IS THERE 
 NOT LESS GRAFT AT THE PRESENT TIME, IN 
 PUBLIC AFFAIRS THAN THERE HAS BEEN FOR 
 MANY YEARS? 
 
 I think the efforts that are being made by the 
 Progressives in both houses of Congress, is having an 
 effect to check graft ; but when we take into considera- 
 tion, the Morgan-Guggenheim Alaskan syndicate, and 
 how near it came to getting the Alaskan coal fields, the 
 richest in the world, and for nothing comparatively 
 speaking, it would seem that graft has not been entire- 
 ly eliminated. 
 
 The government is now offered a royalty of 50 
 cents per ton for the Alaskan coal, and this royalty 
 would net the government over $20,000 an acre for this 
 land ; and on all the coal lands thus far discovered in 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 39 
 
 Alaska, this royalty would net the government 
 $17,000,000,000 and the actual value of the coal that 
 this syndicate came so near acquiring amounts to over 
 $61,000,000,000 and equals in value about one-half the 
 entire property of the United States, as shown by the 
 census. The coal vein in many places, is sixty feet in 
 thickness, and seems to be the storehouse of the fuel 
 for the coming ages. 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt is certainly entitled to much credit 
 in convening the governors of the several states, while 
 he was President in a conservation congress, to take 
 the initiative to conserve the natural resources and 
 wealth of the United States, for the people ; instead of 
 allowing these properties to be absorbed by corpora- 
 tion syndicates to the detriment of the people. 
 
 Mr. Pinchot, Glavis, Garfield and others, who made 
 the gallant and successful fight for the people, to con- 
 serve the Alaskan coal fields, are entitled to the ever- 
 lasting gratitude of the people of the United States. 
 These men lost their government position by reason 
 of their fight for the people against Ballenger (the 
 Secretary of the Interior) and other high officials of 
 the nation, who wanted the syndicate to have these 
 lands. Just what Ballenger's interest was, if any, in 
 this syndicate is not disclosed by the evidence. 
 
 When the Morgan-Guggenheim syndicate had lo- 
 cated the coal lands in Alaska, and had made arrange- 
 ments to procure title to the Cunningham claims and 
 some others, the syndicate then began the agitation of 
 a railway with land grants, and bonds to aid in the 
 construction ; and were preparing to move upon Con- 
 gress for this purpose, and the public press began the 
 education of the people on this line similar to the initia- 
 tive taken prior to the building of the several Pacific 
 railways, from the Missouri river to the Pacific coast ; 
 and when the proposed lines of the New Alaskan rail- 
 roads were examined by experts, it was found that the 
 
40 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 proposed grants of land to these lines of railway, 
 would have enabled the syndicate, if successful, to get 
 title to the greater part, if not all of the land that con- 
 tained the Sixty-one billion dollars worth of coal, in 
 addition to the proposed bond issue; but their scheme 
 for the present at least, is blocked by Pinchot, Glavis, 
 Garfield and others, who the American people should 
 not forget in the future years. 
 
 Think what this scheme meant to the government 
 of the United States, and the people; the issuing of 
 bonds, sufficient to more than build the proposed road 
 in Alaska, and the giving of these bonds to the Morgan- 
 Guggenheim syndicate, and in addition thereto, grant 
 them a tract of land nearly half as large as the German 
 empire, and coal to the amount of about one-half the 
 value of all the personal and real property of the United 
 States. Is it a wonder, that millionaires multiply under 
 such practices; and they call these methods by which 
 the general public is looted ''business methods," and 
 the frauds and corruption resorted to in accomplishing 
 their ends, are pointed out as ''shrewd" business meth- 
 ods. Is it a wonder that J. Pierpont Morgan under 
 such a system, could own and control one-ninth of the 
 entire property of the United States? 
 
 The Wall Street Journal, in commenting upon the 
 facts that the banks of the country are forming a trust, 
 and will soon be merged under one management, in re- 
 ferring to J. P. Morgan, says : 
 
 "The Morgan influence covers institutions and en- 
 terprises having assets and capitalization of twelve bil- 
 lion dollars, equal to one-ninth of the entire wealth of 
 the United States. The railways controlled and financed 
 by the house of Morgan, represent one-third the gross 
 earnings of all the railroads of the United States, and 
 the banking power of the banks and trust companies 
 controlled by the house of Morgan is 10.7 per cent of 
 the entire banking power, of all the banks and trust 
 companies of the United States." 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 41 
 
 The same Journal in a recent article, about the 
 amalgamation of the interests of the great financial 
 concerns of the country, says: 
 
 "So close has become the alliance and amalgamation 
 of the leading financial institutions in Wall Street, 
 during the last three months, that almost absolute con- 
 trol of the country's financial affairs is now centralized 
 in the hands of a very few men, with J. P. Morgan at 
 their head, and all are working in concert to this great 
 end." 
 
 The following names are then given: Baker, Still- 
 man, Rockefeller, Frick and Vanderbilt, with Morgan 
 at the head of this great financial merger. Then in 
 referring to the power of this concern, the Journal 
 says: 
 
 "This financial institution could reduce credit to 
 such a degree as to cause extreme money stringency, 
 and great commercial disaster. 
 
 "It could tie up the cash holdings of New York 
 banks, by demanding certification of checks for enor- 
 mous sums of money. 
 
 "It could deplete the bank reserves in New York 
 by causing shipments of cash to different parts of the 
 country. 
 
 "It could make the money rate of interest what it 
 chooses, from 2 to 100 per cent, on call loans. 
 
 "It could cripple the financial operations of the gov- 
 ernment to an alarming degree. 
 
 "It could dictate the financial operation of the great 
 railway systems of the United States, and all the indus- 
 trial concerns of the nation. 
 
 "It could bring on a panic, that would wreck the 
 interests of the entire country." 
 
 And then referring to the banks, the same authority 
 says: "Morgan's, gobbling up of the trust companies 
 and banks, has little more than begun, according to the 
 financial authorities in Wall Street ; and Morgan's ab- 
 sorption of one great money house after another, meets 
 
42 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 with no opposition from the Rockefeller interests, 
 which leads to the rumor, that there is an understand- 
 ing, that may eventually lead to the national city bank. 
 (Rockefeller's) participating in this money merger 
 combination trust." With such a combination affected, 
 the business of the country will be under its control, 
 unless the people arise and change the system that 
 makes such mergers possible. 
 
 IF A MONEY TRUST IS FORMED IN THE 
 UNITED STATES, AND OPERATED UNDER ONE 
 HEAD, AS PROPOSED IN THE MORGAN MERG- 
 ER; WHAT WILL BE THE EFFECT UPON THE 
 PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, AND THE 
 BUSINESS INTERESTS? 
 
 The money trust, is the most formidable of all 
 trusts, and when administered under one head, it be- 
 comes a menace to the business of the country, and the 
 people in general; for it can wreck the industries at 
 will, by refusing to make loans and forcing payment 
 of their outstanding loans, and by these means, con- 
 tracting the money volume of the nation to a degree, 
 th?t makes the available money insufficient to meet the 
 requirements of business. 
 
 The issuance of money, is a government function, 
 and should not be delegated to banks; and from the 
 wording of the constitution of the United States, it is 
 clear that the framers of that instrument, intended 
 the government to exercise the power to issue money, 
 in the interest of the people. 
 
 Article one, section eight, and division four of the 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 43 
 
 Constitution of the United States, clearly delegates this 
 power to Congress, for it says, that Congress has the 
 power "to coin money, regulate the value thereof and 
 of foreign coins, and fix the standard of weights and 
 measures" 
 
 Then under section ten of the same article, there is 
 a prohibition against the state, from exercising the 
 power to coin money. It says: "No state shall enter 
 into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant let- 
 ters of mark or reprisal; coin money; emit bills of 
 credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a 
 tender in the payment of debts; pass any bill of at- 
 tainder ; expost facto laws, or laws impairing the obli- 
 gation of a contract, or grant any title of nobility. ,, 
 
 In these two sections, it is made very clear, that a 
 state cannot coin money, or regulate its value; and 
 cannot emit bills of credit to be used as money, as many 
 of the colonies had done prior to the Revolutionary 
 war ; and the state is prohibited from making anything 
 but gold and silver a legal tender in payment of debts. 
 
 The power to emit bills of credit, and make them a 
 legal tender is lodged somewhere, and when it is de- 
 nied to the state, this leaves this important function to 
 the congress of the United States; and Congress has 
 exercised this power on many occasions by the issuance 
 of United States treasury notes (greenbacks) and there 
 is now outstanding of these issues, about three hun- 
 dred and forty-six million dollars and these notes are 
 conceded to be the most convenient and best money 
 that the people of the United States ever used; and 
 they pass current in every nation throughout the civil- 
 ized world, for it is a government obligation, and is a 
 lien upon all the real, personal and mixed property of 
 the United States, and is in effect, a check of a great 
 nation, with an abundance of wealth and is readily re- 
 ceived by all the nations of the earth. Is not the credit 
 of a great nation a better basis for the issuance of cur- 
 
44 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 rency, than the credit of a bank, and if so, why not 
 use it? 
 
 The banks a few years ago, attempted to get rid 
 of the United States legal tender notes by retiring 
 them, and filed a test cast in the Federal court, ques- 
 tioning the power of the government to impart to these 
 notes the legal tender quality, and the case was finally 
 decided by the United States Supreme Court, in favor 
 of the government. 
 
 The court in brief, decided that the power to say 
 what should be legal tender in the United States, was 
 by the constitution, delegated to the Congress of the 
 United States. That the section of the constitution 
 that delegated to Congress the power to coin money, 
 did not limit the government to coining metal; but it 
 could place its coin or stamp upon paper as well as met- 
 al, and that the government having the power to emit 
 bills of credit, had an inherent right, to place upon the 
 bills, or notes, whatever was necessary to make them 
 current among the people, and cause them to circulate 
 as money, and if by making them a legal tender, would 
 increase their usefulness and make them more accept- 
 able to the people, congress had the power to coin its 
 promise to pay (greenbacks) into legal tender notes; 
 clothed with the power to pay debts, and to be a full 
 tender in payment of all obligations, public and private. 
 
 This decree of the United States court, is of the 
 greatest importance to the people of the United States, 
 and far surpasses that of any other decision ever pro- 
 mulgated by the Supreme Court, for it vests the power 
 to coin and issue money, with the general government, 
 where it belongs ; and the government should not dele- 
 gate this power to the banks, but use it in the interest 
 of the whole people, and it is a duty imposed upon Con- 
 gress, and is clearly set forth in the constitution of the 
 United States, and the decree of the Supreme Court. 
 
 At present, the national banks are the only banks 
 
BY GEORGK CAMPBELL 45 
 
 of issue in the United States, and the government pre- 
 pares the notes of the banks and prints them ready to 
 be signed by the president or vice-president of the 
 bank, and the government charges the bank for the 
 privilege of issuing these notes, one-fourth of one per 
 cent semi-annually, on the notes in actual circulation; 
 and these notes are loaned by the banks to the people, 
 at an average interest of ten per cent per annum, and 
 each note is a promise on the part of the bank that it 
 will pay on demand the face value of the national bank 
 note so issued. 
 
 Each national bank note therefore, represents an 
 indebtedness of the bank, and is so classed in their 
 liabilities; and the bank is thus permitted to draw in- 
 terest on what it owes, and is the only class of debtors 
 known to our law, that can draw interest upon their 
 indebtedness ; but this is another one of the many ad- 
 vantages that is given by law, to the corporation, over 
 the natural person. 
 
 The natural person, who issues his note, pays in- 
 terest upon it, but the national bank corporation issues 
 its note, and draws interest upon it. Is this right? 
 Should not the government issue these notes, so that 
 the interest will go to the government, and thus benefit 
 all the people, and relieve them to that extent from 
 taxation? 
 
 If a national bank note is lost, or destroyed, and the 
 numbers not known, the bank does not have to redeem 
 this obligation ; and is that much ahead ; and the num- 
 ber of bank notes destroyed in our great conflagrations 
 and otherwise lost, amounts to an enormous sum, in 
 the course of years. If the government issues these 
 notes, the losses or destruction of this currency would 
 benefit the whole people, as the government would not 
 have them to redeem, and the indebtedness represented 
 by these lost or destroyed notes would be cancelled. 
 
 In allowing the national bank to issue all the cir- 
 
46 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 culating notes (except the $346,000,000 in green backs 
 and the gold and silver certificates) the banks are en- 
 abled to fix the price of property to the extent of their 
 control of the currency, and if they get complete con- 
 trol over the currency, as they are now trying to do, 
 they can then fix the price of all property; and it is 
 time for the American people to act, if they are going to 
 protect their interests, from the bank merger, that is 
 now in the process of formation. 
 
 All debts, including taxes, are payable in money; 
 and if Jones does work for Doe, or lets him have some 
 articles of value, and there is nothing said about the 
 pay, the law says Jones may demand money, and Doe 
 must pay it, and the law thus compels Doe to pay 
 money, in the discharge of his indebtedness, and at the 
 same time, prohibits him from making it, under the 
 penalties of counterfeiting the money of the United 
 States^ and leaves Doe at the mercy of the banks for 
 the money necessary to meet his obligations. Is this 
 equity or is it just to Doe? 
 
 If the government compels Doe to pay money, and 
 prohibits him from making it, ought it not to provide 
 a means, whereby Doe can always get the money, at a 
 uniform rate of interest, if he has the security for the 
 loan? 
 
 The government says to the individual, if he wants 
 to send a letter through the United States mail, he 
 must place the necessary postage stamp thereon; but 
 it has established a post office where the individual can 
 get the stamp, at a uniform price; and the supply is 
 always equal to the demand; and why should not the 
 government do the same, with reference to money; 
 and not leave the debtor to the mercy of the banks, 
 which at any time can refuse to make loans, no matter 
 how good the security offered, and the property of the 
 debtor must be sacrificed to meet his obligations ; and is 
 often times sold at a fraction of its real value, because 
 
BY CxEORGE CAMPBELL 47 
 
 the banks ''are not discounting." Is it right? If the 
 government was doing the banking the supply of money 
 would always be equal to the demand, the same as 
 postage stamps, and there would be no money panic, 
 and no periods of depression in prices, following these 
 financial disasters; for panics come in obedience to well 
 known laws of trade, and as long as banking corpora- 
 tions control the money, the people will experience 
 these panics, followed by depression of prices and 
 stagnation in trade. 
 
 Let us trace the cause of panics, under our present 
 financial system, and learn their origin, and this will 
 better enable us to discover and apply a remedy. 
 
 The national banks are the banks of issue as herein 
 stated, and they loan to the people, their promises to 
 pay, which answers the purposes of money, under our 
 present system, and all the money circulating in busi- 
 ness channels except as herein stated, before it goes 
 into circulation, some one borrows it, and his note is 
 in the bank drawing interest. 
 
 The amount of loans by the banks to the people as 
 given in the Banker's Encyclopedia, published by 
 Kountze Brothers, of New York City, and edited by 
 bankers, was on January 1, 1911, $14,544,592,000 and 
 the interest on this vast sum at ten per cent, amounts 
 to $1,454,459,200 per annum and in ten years, the bor- 
 rower has paid back in interest, the entire amount of 
 the loan and yet owes the principal, with no money to 
 pay it, and of course, a panic is on. These panics come 
 with great regularity every ten years under normal 
 conditions, and are due to the absorption of the princi- 
 pal of the loans by the interest payments, and will 
 continue until we change our financial system. 
 
 If we search the records of panics, we find there 
 was a panic in 1837, 1847, 1857, but in 1867 it did not 
 come because we had the war issue of United States 
 treasury notes; the government of the United States 
 
48 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 having issued these notes to partly pay the expenses of 
 the war of the rebellion, and they greatly expanded 
 the money volume of the country and made exceedingly 
 prosperous times, but when this currency was funded 
 into United States bonds by the act of April 12, 1866, 
 the panic came in 1873, and again in 1883, and 1893 
 under the Cleveland administration, and was due in 
 1903, but it did not appear, because the government had 
 caused a large increase in the money volume, by reason 
 of the Spanish- American war, and the panic was de- 
 layed until 1907, when it again put in an appearance, 
 and will be due again in 1917, unless the people are 
 wise enough to change the system to government 
 banking. 
 
 Panics would not come with such regularity without 
 a cause, and this being true, as patriotic and intelli- 
 gent citizens, we should study and discover the cause 
 and apply the remedy, and stop these great financial 
 disasters that overspread the country every ten years. 
 
 For the purpose of illustrating how panics occur, 
 we will separate the people of the United States into 
 two great classes ; those who loan, and those who bor- 
 row money; and if we allow Jones to represent the 
 loaning class, and Doe the borrowing class, what holds 
 good between these two individuals, will hold good be- 
 tween the two great classes of our people. 
 
 We will suppose that Jones loans to Doe $1,000.00, 
 at 10 per cent, interest, and takes a mortgage upon 
 Doe's property, to secure the payment of the loan, and 
 to make the proposition simple and easily understood, 
 we will suppose that this $1,000.00 loaned by Jones 
 to Doe is all the money there is in the country. 
 
 In one year, Doe pays to Jones his interest $100.00, 
 and Jones places this money in his bank vault and 
 $100.00 is taken from circulation; but the people do 
 not miss it from the channels of trade, as checks will 
 supply its place during periods of prosperity, for dur- 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 49 
 
 ing prosperous times, we find that over 90 per cent, 
 of 'the property is exchanged by means of checks; but 
 when the panic comes, the people want money, and 
 checks will not answer the purpose. Doe continues to 
 pay his interest for nine years, and $900.00 is thus 
 taken from circulation and placed in the bank vault, 
 and there is now only $100.00 outside of the bank, 
 remaining in circulation. Doe cannot get all of this 
 $100.00, which would enable him to pay his interest 
 the tenth year, for a portion of it has been lost, some 
 has been laid away, and perhaps part has gone abroad, 
 and Doe is compelled to default in his interest payment, 
 no matter how much property he has, and when the 
 interest is not paid, then Jones wants principal and 
 interest, and a panic is on, for there is no money that 
 can be borrowed, and Jones proceeds to foreclose his 
 mortgage, and Doe's property is sold, and the differ- 
 ence between debtor and creditor is thus adjusted, by 
 the sale of the property to liquidate the debt. 
 
 All observing persons have noticed that after a 
 panic, there is a period of depression, when the sher- 
 iffs and constables are busy selling the property of the 
 debtor to meet his obligations, and when those debts 
 are adjusted, between debtor and creditor, then busi- 
 ness revives, prosperity returns and continues until 
 another panic and another liquidation follows. 
 
 But perhaps the reader will say that Jones would 
 not place the interest he collected from Doe in his bank 
 vault, but would loan it to the people and it would re- 
 main in circulation, and that banks would do the same 
 thing ; and this is probably true, but this makes no dif- 
 ference in the final results, for when Jones loans the 
 interest paid him by Doe, this interest becomes a new 
 principal, and will be absorbed by the interest the same 
 as was the original $1,000.00 and any amount loaned 
 will be absorbed in the same manner. 
 
 There are some other circumstances such as com- 
 
50 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 pound interest that might be taken into consideration, 
 but they are largely equalized by other conditions, and 
 will not change the final result ; and the panic will come 
 under present conditions every ten years, and is due 
 to absorbing the money of the country by excessive 
 rates of interest, until the interest obligation cannot 
 be met, for lack of money and the crisis comes. 
 
 Few persons are aware, of the rapidity with which 
 interest will absorb the property of a country, but if 
 we will take the compound interest table, we will be 
 enlightened upon this question to our surprise, and we 
 will not wonder that Morgan is enabled to gobble up 
 the property of the country under the present financial 
 system. 
 
 The compound interest table referred to, says: 
 That $1.00 loaned for 100 years, at 
 3% interest, compounded annually, amounts to $19.25 
 
 6%, compounded annually, amounts to $340.00 
 
 8%, compounded annually, amounts to. . . . .$2,203.00 
 10%, compounded annually, amounts to. . . .$13,809.00 
 12%, compounded annually, amounts to. . . .$85,075.00 
 18%, compounded annuall, amounts to. .$15,145,007.00 
 
 247c, comp. annually, amounts to $2,551,799,404.00 
 
 In looking over these figures, and knowing many 
 persons who are paying 24 per cent, for money, it 
 seemeed impossible that $1.00 at 24 per cent, compound 
 interest, would amount to two and one-half billion dol- 
 lars in one hundred years ; and I took these figures to 
 an eminent college professor to have them verified, and 
 after going over them carefully, he informed me they 
 are absolutely correct. The banks as a rule, compound 
 their interest quarterly in advance, and this would add 
 largely to the final results, and several of the western 
 states have legalized 24 per cent, interest on loans. Is 
 it a wonder that Morgan wants absolute control of the 
 money? 
 
 Under the present financial system, it is easy to 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 51 
 
 understand why the banks are governing the country ; 
 and if an attempt is made to compel corporations to 
 obey the law the same as natural persons are compelled 
 to do, the banks at once threaten the business of the 
 country with disaster, and these threats often deter 
 the government from doing its duty. The government 
 officials know, that all the banks have to do, to bring 
 business disaster, is to quit loaning their funds and 
 began to draw in the $14,544,492,000 due them upon 
 loans and disaster follows, for the total stock of money 
 in the United States on April 1, 1911, including that 
 in the United States treasury was $3,540,418,414. 
 
 The drawing in of the money and holding it in the 
 bank vaults, has the same effect upon business as when 
 interest charges absorb the principal of a loan, for in 
 either case, there is not sufficient money in circulation 
 to meet the obligations of the people and a panic fol- 
 lows, and it is thus in the power of the banks, to bring 
 on a money panic at any time they choose ; but under 
 normal conditions as herein stated, the panic will ap- 
 pear every ten years until we change our present bank- 
 ing system. 
 
 A money panic is impossible as long as the people 
 have the money to meet their obligations, and it is only 
 when the money volume is inadequate to meet the 
 wants of the people, that the panics put in an ap- 
 pearance. 
 
 The panic of 1907, caused less business disaster 
 than any other panic in the history of the country, as 
 it was not followed by the period of depression in 
 prices, which has characterized all other panics, in the 
 history of the United States, and the reason for this 
 is apparent, for the government came to the relief of 
 the people and made large deposits of government 
 money with the bank, at all commercial centers, and 
 allowed the banks to issue clearing house certificates 
 and cashiers' checks to take the place of money, and 
 
52 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 Congress passed the emergency currency law, which 
 allowed the banks to take out additional national bank 
 currency on their assets, not to exceed $500,000,000 and 
 this enabled the debtor class to meet their obligations 
 and staid the ravages of the panic; but it will come 
 again in 1917 unless the people change their banking 
 system, by having the government do the banking, and 
 make the loans direct to the people, and at a rate of 
 interest that will not absorb the property of the coun- 
 try, and will divorce the business of the people from 
 the banks. 
 
 Under the French system of finance, the govern- 
 ment loans money direct to the people, at 3 per cent, 
 per annum, and where the people desire to deposit their 
 money with the government, it allows 2 per cent, per 
 annum on the deposit ; and the one per cent, difference 
 in interest on the deposit, and on the loans made to 
 the people, pays all the expense of the system, and 
 leaves a surplus to the credit of the government each 
 year, and the business of France is wholly divorced 
 from the banks, and a person in business has the assur- 
 ance if he needs money, he can always get it from the 
 government at 3 per cent, per annum, and he feels 
 secure, and a business failure seldom, if ever, occurs. 
 
 Prior to the Franco-Prussian war, the Rothchilds 
 house of Paris and its branches, controlled the money 
 of France, and the French government had done much 
 to build up this great institution, and it is said the 
 banks had agreed with the French government to fur- 
 nish the necessary money to carry on the war against 
 Germany; but the Rothchilds house in Berlin and 
 London it is said, brought pressure to bear upon the 
 Rothchilds houses in Paris, and at the critical moment 
 when the crisis of war came, the banks refused aid to 
 the government of France, and the government without 
 money, was helpless in making an effective defense; 
 and the German soldiers overrun the country, and 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 53 
 
 France had to accept any terms of peace that Germany 
 was willing to grant. Germany required of France as 
 indemnity, a large section of her territory, Lorraine 
 and Alsace and a money indemnity that was appalling ; 
 and the financiers throughout the world, said that 
 France could never pay it, and that Germany would 
 enventually absorb the country. 
 
 But France changed her banking system, and con- 
 cluded that the "sinews of war" should thereafter be 
 controlled by the government ; and under her govern- 
 ment banking laws, her business has expanded in a 
 much greater degree than any other nation of the 
 world, and she has paid Germany in full, and has more 
 money and wealth in proportion to her population, than 
 any other nation on the earth, and her disaster in war, 
 has proven a blessing in peace, as it divorced not only 
 the government but the business of the people from 
 the banks. 
 
 In 1907, when the American panic was on, France 
 offered to loan the government of the United States any 
 amount of gold desired, but refused to loan a single 
 dollar to banking corporations. She had evidently not 
 forgotten the Franco-Prussian war incident. 
 
 IF THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD ASSUME 
 THE BANKING BUSINESS, WOULD IT NOT BE 
 DIFFICULT FOR IT TO MAINTAIN ALL THE 
 DIFFERENT CLASSES OF MONEY AT PAR? 
 
 No, it would not, for the government now has to 
 maintain all classes of money at par, and if it can do 
 this for the banks, it can do it for itself. Why not? 
 
 There is a misunderstanding on the part of the 
 
54 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 people about what constitutes money, and what is 
 necessary to maintain all classes of currency at par. 
 Some think that gold only is money, and in order to 
 maintain our currency at par, it must be redeemable 
 in gold, but this is not the case. Gold is not money until 
 it is coined any more than paper. If gold is money 
 before it is coined, then it is a waste of time to coin 
 it, and the coining should be stopped. The legal ten- 
 der quality of gold is what makes it money, and this 
 is stamped by the government upon it, and this legal 
 tender quality imparted to silver or paper will make 
 it money equal to gold. 
 
 But you say, that the gold in a gold dollar is worth 
 one hundred cents, and is of the same value before it 
 is coined, that it is after it is minted, and while this 
 is true, it is due solely to the law under which it is 
 coined. 
 
 We have the free and unlimited coinage of gold and 
 this law is what makes the bullion value of a gold 
 dollar the same as the legal value of the coin. If I 
 have gold in any amount, the government will coin it 
 for me free of charge. In fact, I do not have to wait 
 until it is coined, for the government will pay me one 
 dollar in money for every 25.8 grains of standard 
 gold; and the government will coin it at its pleasure. 
 This makes the bullion value of a gold dollar the same 
 as the legal value of the coin. If I have 25.8 grains 
 of standard gold, and the government will coin it into 
 a gold dollar for me free of charge, I will not take less 
 than one dollar for the 25.8 grains of standard gold 
 before it is coined, and this law providing for the free 
 coinage of gold, is what makes the bullion value of a 
 gold dollar the same as the legal value of the coin, and 
 our government is thus using its power in the interest 
 of corporations who have large holdings, to maintain 
 the price of gold, and the same law that puts a dollar's 
 worth of gold in a gold dollar, if applied to silver, would 
 put a dollars' worth of silver in a silver dollar without 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 55 
 
 increasing its size, and did do so as long as we had the 
 free and unlimited coinage of silver, the same as gold. 
 
 Suppose our government should pass a law receiv- 
 ing silver at the mints on the same basis as gold ; that 
 is, enacting a law providing for the free and unlimited 
 coinage of silver, the same as gold. Then any person 
 having standard silver, could deliver it to the govern- 
 ment and have it coined into standard silver dollars free 
 of charge. That is, the government would coin every 
 412.5 grains of standard silver, into a silver dollar 
 free of expense to the owner of the bullion ; and this 
 law would make the bullion value of a silver dollar 
 the same as the coined dollar. 
 
 If I had 412.5 grains of standard silver, and 
 the government would coin it into a full legal tender 
 dollar free of charge, I would not take less than one 
 dollar for the 412.5 grains of standard silver before 
 it is coined ; and the law would thus make the bullion 
 value of a silver dollar the same as the legal value of a 
 coin; and the same free and unlimited coinage is 
 responsible for the bullion value of a gold dollar, being 
 the same as the legal value of the coin. 
 
 While we had the free and unlimited coinage of 
 silver, the bullion value of a silver dollar, was never 
 less than the legal value of the coin, and never went 
 below the legal value of the coin, until the law provid- 
 ing for its free and unlimited coinage was repealed; 
 but as soon as our mints were closed against it, the 
 price of the bullion declined, and the case would be 
 the same with gold, if the United States mints were 
 closed against it, the same as they are now closed 
 against silver. 
 
 The question now suggests itself, should our gov- 
 ernment use its legal tender powers, given it by the 
 Constitution of the United States and affirmed by the 
 Supreme Court, to maintain the price of gold and not 
 silver. Should not both metals stand upon their merits, 
 
56 PROGRESvSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 and the government use its power to coin money and 
 impart the legal tender quality to metal or paper, only 
 in the interests of the whole people, and on government 
 account as is now the case with silver, paper, nickel 
 and copper. 
 
 The idea of redeeming one dollar with another, must 
 also be corrected, for it is mere childsplay. The ulti- 
 mate redemption of all money is the products of labor, 
 and gold has to be redeemed in this manner, the same 
 as all other classes of money, and if gold was not so 
 redeemed it would not circulate as money among the 
 people. 
 
 Suppose I have a five dollar gold coin, and I want 
 a pair of shoes of like value, and the shoe merchant 
 refuses to receive my gold coin for the shoes. Then 
 I will not receive any more of these coins for I cannot 
 exchange them for the product of the people; and no 
 other person will receive these coins for the same rea- 
 son, but the government has obviated this by making 
 the coin an absolute tender, and I purchase my shoes 
 from the merchant and owe him $5.00, and I tender 
 him my $5.00 gold coin and it is a legal tender in pay- 
 ment of debts and the merchant is compelled to receive 
 it in full satisfaction of the debt, and the shoe mer- 
 chant can compel his creditors to take it in like 
 manner, and this makes the coin current money, 
 among the people. At one time, I had a five 
 dollar gold piece that had been partially melted and 
 the government stamp destroyed. I tried to pur- 
 chase products with this coin from several different 
 merchants, but found no one that wouid receive it in 
 payment of goods. Why? It was because the legal 
 tender quality was gone, and I could not force them to 
 receive it, in payment for their products. 
 
 Now suppose, I have a five dollar legal tender note, 
 issued by the government of the United States, I go 
 to the shoe merchant and buy a $5.00 pair of shoes, and 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 57 
 
 I owe him $5.00, and I tender him my $5.00 legal tender 
 note and he receives it, as readily as the gold coin, for 
 I could compel him to take it, if he refused to do so, 
 because it is legal tender equal to the gold coin ; and he 
 could compel his creditors to receive it in like manner; 
 and it answers all the purposes of the gold coin, and is 
 absolute money. Then why use the gold on which to 
 coin money, when the United States notes answers the 
 same purpose, and is much cheaper and more conven- 
 ient for the people as a medium of exchange. It is 
 the stamp of the government that imparts the legal 
 tender power to all money, and it has a right to stamp 
 this power on metal or paper as decreed by the Su- 
 preme Court of the United States, and if this is true, 
 then as a business proposition, should we not use paper 
 as the substance on which to stamp the decree of the 
 government instead of gold, and by a judicious use of 
 this power to impart the legal tender quality to paper 
 only on government account and exchanging the paper, 
 made a full legal tender for gold and silver bullion; 
 the government of the United States would in a short 
 time own the bulk of the gold and silver of the world, 
 and the government would not be out a single dollar 
 in the purchase, and we have a verification of this 
 statement in the Sherman act of July 14, 1890. 
 
 Congress on the 14th day of July, 1890, passed a 
 law known as the Sherman act, authorizing the pur- 
 chase of four million five hundred thousand ounces of 
 fine silver each month by the government and author- 
 izing the government to issue treasury notes in the 
 purchase, and the measure provided that the govern- 
 ment should coin this silver, only on government ac- 
 count, and as the needs of the government required. 
 
 A large amount of silver was purchased under this 
 act, in exchange for treasury notes and something 
 over 168,000,000 fine ounces were bought before the 
 repeal of the law, and more could have been purchased 
 
58 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 in like manner, and much of this silver was bought as 
 low as 73 cents in treasury notes for every 4121/2 
 grains of standard silver, and the government made a 
 profit of 27 cents on each dollar coined from this bul- 
 lion, and was really out no money in its purchase, for 
 it merely exchanged the legal tender decree of the gov- 
 ernment stamped upon paper in the purchase of this 
 bullion, which was certainly an easy way to pay for it, 
 and in so doing, the government is using its power to 
 coin money, in the interest of the people instead of 
 banking corporations, and gets the full benefit. 
 
 The gold standard men however, in a short time, 
 got in their work against silver, in the election of Gro- 
 ver Cleveland in 1892, who was an avowed enemy to 
 silver; and the panic of 1903 came shortly after Mr. 
 Cleveland assumed the duties of president, and the 
 silver purchasing clause of the Sherman act was seized 
 upon by the president and by the gold standard men in 
 general, as the cause of the panic, and congress was 
 convened by the president in 1903, and the purchasing 
 clause of the Sherman act was repealed, but it did not 
 lessen the ravages of the panic, but really intensified 
 them, and business did not revive until McKinley took 
 charge of the government in 1897. 
 
 McKinley knew it was necessary that the people 
 should have more money before business could revive ; 
 and he ordered the silver that had been purchased 
 under the Sherman act, coined into standard silver 
 dollars and minor coins, and shortly after this, came 
 the Spanish-American war with an issue of govern- 
 ment bonds, on which the national banks issued addi- 
 tional national bank currency, and with this large in- 
 crease in the money supply of the country, greater ac- 
 tivity prevailed in all lines of business, and the build- 
 ing of the Panama canal, and issuing bonds therefor, 
 and the use of these bonds, as a basis for national bank 
 currency, and the enactment of the emergency cur- 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 59 
 
 rency law, which allowed ten or more national banks to 
 form a national currency association, and issue na- 
 tional bank notes on the assets of the banks not to 
 exceed in the aggregate $500,000,000 ; gave the people 
 a larger volume of money than had prevailed for many 
 years; and all the industries took on newness of life, 
 with an upward tendency in prices on all lines. 
 
 If the assets of the bank consists of state, county, 
 city or other municipal bonds and the interest has not 
 defaulted for ten years, the bank can issue national 
 bank currency to the amount of 90 per cent of the 
 value of the bonds, and on commercial paper, such as 
 promissory notes, endorsed by at least two responsible 
 persons, the bank can issue 30 per cent of their face 
 value, etc., and all these provisions has served to in- 
 crease the volume of money from about $1,750,000,000 
 under the Cleveland administration to $3,540,000,000 
 under the Taft administration, and business has kept 
 pace with the increase in the money volume. 
 
 DO YOU NOT THINK THAT THE BANKING 
 BUSINESS IS TOO COMPLICATED FOR THE 
 GOVERNMENT TO ENGAGE IN; AND THAT 
 UNDER GOVERNMENT BANKING, THE BANK- 
 ING INSTITUTIONS WOULD NOT BE LOCALIZED 
 AS UNDER EXISTING LAWS? 
 
 The banking business is not complicated, but there 
 is an attempt made upon the part of those who control 
 the money, to make it appear complicated, that the 
 masses of the people may not understand it, and the 
 banking business simply conforms to well known laws 
 
60 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 of trade, and would be easily exercised by the govern- 
 ment, more easily than the post-offices. 
 
 The government is now conducting the banking 
 business, for it issues every note and coins every dollar 
 that circulates as money among the people ; but instead 
 of conducting this business for the people and in the 
 interests of the people, it is conducted for the banks 
 and in the interests of the banks. 
 
 Under government banking, the banks would be 
 better localized than under the present banking sys- 
 tem, and our postoffices serve as an example along this 
 line. The postmaster is selected from the body of the 
 people where the postoffice is established, and he is 
 appointed by the government and qualifies by sub- 
 scribing the oath of office and executing his bond, and 
 when he takes possession of his office, he is a neighbor, 
 the same as before and is interested in the affairs of 
 the community, the same as before, and the postoffice 
 is thus localized to a much greater degree than are the 
 banks under the present system, for often many of the 
 stockholders of the banks and sometimes, the main of- 
 ficers, live in other localities, and even in other states 
 and operates the bank in the community for the profit 
 to the corporation, and not with a view to faithfully 
 serve the public. 
 
 If the government should establish banks on its 
 own account, all the officers would be appointed by the 
 government and would be taken from the body of the 
 people, the same as the postmaster, and would qualify 
 in a similar manner and give bond, but would probably 
 have to pass a civil service examination in order to be- 
 come a candidate for appointment. After assuming 
 the duties of his office, he would be a neighbor the same 
 as before, and the bank would be operated under in- 
 structions from Washington, the same as are the post- 
 offices ' and the individual having the proper security 
 could always borrow money from the government bank 
 for 3 per cent per annum, or could deposit his money 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 61 
 
 and receive 2 per cent, per annum on the deposit, and 
 the government would always have a supply of money 
 equal to the needs of the people, the same as is the 
 case with postage stamps, and you could always get 
 your money and there would never be a time when you 
 would be cut off by the statement "we are not dis- 
 counting," and would not this be an improvement on 
 our present banking system, where bankers sometimes 
 act toward their customers, as does the Czar toward 
 his subjects. 
 
 Another method of government banking is possible 
 by a slight change in the present national bank laws. 
 Five or more individuals having the necessary securi- 
 ties, can, by associating themselves together, incorpor- 
 ate a national bank, and there is no good reason why 
 all the people of a community should not be included 
 in the corporation, and become stockholders in the bank 
 as citizens of the community. 
 
 Suppose Montgomery county, with an assessed valua- 
 tion of about $60,000,000 should conclude to go into 
 the banking business and organize a banking depart- 
 ment and incorporate as a national bank of issue. 
 The county would vote a bond in order to com- 
 ply with the law, equalling we will say, ten per 
 cent of the assessed valuation of the property of the 
 county ; the bond to draw 2 per cent per annum inter- 
 est, which interest of course, would come back to the 
 county. The matter of interest is necessary in order 
 to comply with the national bank act as it now exists. 
 
 This bond is then assigned to the treasurer of the 
 United States as security, that the county will redeem 
 its obligations, after the manner of the national banks, 
 and the comptroller of the currency at Washing- 
 ton will then incorporate the banking department 
 of Montgomery county as a national bank, and 
 issue currrency to the county in the full sum of 
 $6,000,000, and the Montgomery county national bank 
 
62 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 would then put in as many branch banks, in the 
 various parts of the county, as would be necessary to 
 meet the business wants of the people, and the govern- 
 ment would charge the county one-fourth of one per 
 cent semi-annually on its currency in actual circulation, 
 and relieve it from all further taxation, and the bank 
 would allow the people two per cent on their deposits 
 and charge them three per cent per annum, on the 
 money borrowed from the bank. 
 
 All officers of the bank would hold their commission 
 from the government, and would be under bond, to in- 
 demnify the county against all loss, and the banking 
 business of the county would be absolutely safe, and 
 the profits arising from conducting the business that is, 
 the difference in the one-half of one per cent paid to the 
 government and the three per cent charged the people 
 on loans after paying all operation expenses, would 
 leave a surplus to the credit of the county and this 
 would relieve the people to that extent from taxation, 
 and the bank would be administered for the benefit 
 of the public, while a national bank as a private cor- 
 poration, is administered solely with a view to profit 
 for the corporation. Under such a system, the people 
 of the county would provide themselves with the cur- 
 rency necessary to transact their business and exchange 
 their property, by using their own credit instead of a 
 bank's and what would be done by Montgomery county 
 upon this line, would be done by other counties, until 
 the people were fully supplied with the necessary funds 
 to transact their business throughout the nation and 
 at a nominal cost. The people as a community, would 
 thus use their own credit in the form of national bank 
 currency, issued by municipalities to transact their 
 business instead of depending on the banks as is now 
 the case. 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 63 
 
 / CAN UNDERSTAND HOW THE GOVERN- 
 MENT COULD CONDUCT THE BANKING BUSI- 
 NESS IN THE EXCHANGE OF PROPERTY, 
 EITHER AS COUNTY INSTITUTIONS OR BY 
 DIRECT GOVERNMENT BANKING, AFTER THE 
 MANNER OF THE POSTAL SYSTEM; BUT 
 TRANSPORTATION AS CONDUCTED BY THE 
 RAILWAYS, IS AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN THE 
 EXCHANGE OF PROPERTY AND COULD THE 
 GOVERNMENT OPERATE THE RAILWAYS AND 
 PREVENT THE ABUSES WHICH NOW OBTAIN 
 IN THE CARRYING TRADE OF THE UNITED 
 STATES? 
 
 The government has demonstrated its ability to 
 successfully operate the railways, and nearly all Euro- 
 pean countries, own and operate their railroads, and 
 the United States government has in many instances, 
 where the management become involved in debt, so 
 they could not pay, took charge of these roads, and suc- 
 cessfully operated them by means of receivers and ad- 
 justed their indebtedness, put them upon a paying 
 basis, and turned them back to the company, thus 
 demonstrating that the government, can successfully 
 operate railways. 
 
 With reference to the abuse of railway companies, 
 in the carrying trade of the United States, there is cer- 
 tainly a remedy; but the railway question should be 
 carefully considered, before the remedy is applied. 
 Every great industry that the government attempts to 
 regulate, will affect every other industry to a greater 
 
64 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 or less degree, throughout the United States, as all 
 are interwoven to such an extent that care must be ex- 
 ercised, in dealing with any branch of the industrial 
 system, if we would avoid business disasters. 
 
 The government however, is the only power suffi- 
 ciently strong to regulate successfully, either of the 
 great corporate interests of the United States, and any 
 attempt on the part of the government to regulate the 
 railway carrying trade, will meet with resistance on 
 the part of all the special interests. The whole indus- 
 trial system is bound together and will be affected by 
 any effort to control the railways, and this will be evi- 
 denced by the uncertainties in business, the closing 
 down of factories, and the stagnation of trade in gen- 
 eral, but the regulation is necessary and must come, 
 and the quicker the government assumes its obligations 
 to the people upon these lines, and discharges its duty 
 and compels all public service corporations to act as 
 servants of the people instead of their masters, the 
 better it will be for all concerned, and the quicker will 
 the crisis be met and passed. 
 
 The railway corporations are supposed to be public 
 servants and owe to the public, fair and equitable 
 treatment, and any violation of this fundamental prin- 
 ciple, under which their charters were granted, should 
 be promptly punished, and the railway corporations 
 must be taught that to discriminate against any indi- 
 vidual or community is a wrong, and violates the fun- 
 damental principles on which their charters were 
 granted, and that such violation revokes their authori- 
 ty to do business ; and that the government under these 
 conditions, will assume control of their roads, and 
 operate them in the interest of the public. 
 
 The Texas & Pacific rate case, decided a few years 
 ago, by the United States Supreme Court, was about 
 the first act on the part of the railway companies, to 
 challenge the attention of the general public, and direct 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 65 
 
 them to the unjust discrimination in freight rates, and 
 the logical results of these discriminations, unless 
 checked by the strong arm of the government. And it 
 was made apparent that the railway corporations must 
 be confined to their duties as public carriers without 
 discrimination, in any form or that government owner- 
 ship must result, in order to protect the rights of the 
 people. 
 
 The Texas & Pacific rate case was the result of dis- 
 crimination on the part of the Texas & Pacific Railway 
 company in hauling goods from New Orleans to San 
 Francisco and on which the railway company charged 
 Americans more than three times what it charged 
 Europeans for hauling the same class of goods, over 
 the same line of railway from New Orleans to San 
 Francisco. A brief of the court decision and findings 
 are given in the report of the Interstate Commerce 
 Commission at page 8 of the 1896 report. 
 
 In the court review of this case, it is shown that 
 the Liverpool and London manufacturers secured a 
 rate of $1.07 per hundred pounds from Liverepool, 
 England to San Francisco, California, and this $1.07 
 per hundred pounds paid the through freight rate by 
 water from Liverpool to New Orleans, and then over 
 the Texas & Pacific railway, from New Orleans to San 
 Francisco. The goods shipped consisted of boots, 
 shoes, cashimere, cigars, cutlery, confectionery, gloves, 
 hats, caps, laces, linen goods, saddlers goods, woolen 
 goods, etc., and the Texas & Pacific merely received its 
 proportionate part of the through rate of $1.07 for 
 hauling these goods from New Orleans to San Fran- 
 cisco, and the rate on the same class of goods manufac- 
 tured or owned by Americans in New Orleans, was 
 $3.70 on each one hundred pounds from New Orleans 
 to San Francisco over the same line of road. It was 
 easy to see, that this discrimination would destroy the 
 effect of the American tariff, in protecting American 
 industries, and in retaining the American markets for 
 
66 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 American products, and would turn these markets 
 over to Europeans. 
 
 The court by a majority decision, favored the rail- 
 way company, that the company had the legal authority 
 to discriminate against American interests, in the man- 
 ner stated, if it was to the interest of the railway com- 
 pany to do so, in making their contract with other 
 companies, upon a division of the rates ; but a minori- 
 ty of the court consisting of Justices Harlan, Brown 
 and Chief Justice Fuller, dissented from this opinion, 
 but of course, the majority opinion has to govern and 
 is the law, but Justice Harlan in his dissenting opinion 
 says: 
 
 "The question is one of unjust discrimination by 
 an American railway company, against shippers and 
 owners of goods and merchandise originating in this 
 country and of favoritism to shippers and owners of 
 goods and merchandise originating in foreign coun- 
 tries. If the position of the Texas & Pacific Railway 
 company be sustained, then all the railroads of the 
 country that extend inland, from either the Atlantic or 
 Pacific ocean, will follow their example, with the inev- 
 itable result that the goods and products of foreign 
 countries, because alone, of their foreign origin, and 
 the low rate of ocean transportation, will be trans- 
 ported inland from the points where they reached this 
 country, at rates so much lower than is accorded to 
 American goods and products, that the owners of for- 
 eign goods and products, may control the markets of 
 this country, to the serious detriment of vast interests, 
 that have grown up here, and in the protection of 
 which, against unjust discrimination all our people are 
 deeply concerned. 
 
 "I am unwilling to impute to congress, the purpose 
 to permit a railway company, because of arrangements 
 it may make for its benefit with foreign companies, en- 
 gaged in ocean transportation, to charge for transport- 
 
BY GEORCxK CAMPBELL 67 
 
 ing from one point to another in this country goods of 
 a particular kind, manufactured in this country, three 
 or four times more than it charges for carrying over 
 the same route, and between the same points, goods 
 of the same kind, manufactured abroad and received 
 by such railway company at one of our ports of entry." 
 
 The discriminations, such as appear in the Texas & 
 Pacific railway case, and the juggling of accounts by 
 the railway companies to cover up profits, as appears 
 elsewhere in this booklet, naturally creates a distrust 
 and enmity on the part of the people against these 
 railway companies, and this is causing a large per 
 cent of the people to advocate government ownership 
 as a means, to prevent such abuses ; and it is now up 
 to the government, to exercise such reasonable control 
 over the railway carrying trade of the United States, 
 as will prevent these abuses in the future, or govern- 
 ment ownership will follow, and the government, in 
 delaying action upon this line, invites a political up- 
 heaval, that may not only result in the ownership of 
 the railways by the government, but perhaps other 
 public service corporations will be affected, and their 
 property taken and managed by the government, in 
 the interest of the people. 
 
 The railway companies as they now exist, have a 
 right to collect from the people, in rates, such a sum 
 as will give them a reasonable per cent on the capital 
 invested and pay operating expenses including repairs, 
 but railway companies should not be permitted to issue 
 stock and bonds to the amount of three or four times 
 the value of their property, and collect from the peo- 
 ple, in rates, a sufficient sum to pay dividends and in- 
 terest charges upon these watered stocks and bonds, 
 that represent no actual value. 
 
 The government under an equitable law, should ap- 
 praise all the railway property of the United States, 
 at its actual value in money, and allow the companies to 
 
68 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 issue stocks, in an amount only equal to the appraised 
 value of the property, and then the government to in- 
 sure equitable rates, should guarantee, say three per 
 cent upon these stocks, and in addition thereto, should 
 guarantee the payment of the operating expenses in- 
 cluding repairs of the railways within reasonable limi- 
 tation, and fix a rate for the transportation of persons 
 and property, that will reimburse the government for 
 all these expenditures. If the rate fixed by the govern- 
 ment is not sufficient at first to meet all the expenses 
 of the service, the deficit should be paid from the United 
 States treasury, the same as in the mail service. 
 
 Such a policy, would make the railway stocks as 
 good as government bonds, and a person purchasing 
 these stocks guaranteed by the government, would 
 know that he was not buying water, but something that 
 represented an actual investment, and on which a divi- 
 dend of three per cent would be paid. 
 
 A uniform rate of transportation, for persons and 
 property should be considered by the government in 
 fixing rates ; and this matter has been carefully calcu- 
 lated by a man prominent in railway circles in St. 
 Louis, and he informs me, that if the government would 
 establish a uniform rate, for the transportation of per- 
 sons and property to any part of the United States, at 
 the same price, as in postal service, that $1.25 for 
 1,000 pounds or less of merchandise, and $25.00 per 
 car for merchandise, to any part of the United States, 
 will pay the entire expenses that the government would 
 assume, in a uniform freight service as outlined in this 
 booklet. 
 
 With such a system in vogue, our industries would 
 take on newness of life, and states like Arkansas, rich 
 in minerals, but with railway rates so high, their mines 
 cannot be operated, would immediately assume work, 
 and the California fruit, and the fruit from the eastern 
 seaboard, could be supplied to many persons, who can 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 69 
 
 now scarcely afford the luxury, and under such a sys- 
 tem, products could be shipped a mile or across the 
 continent, at the same price, and such a policy would 
 convert the nation into a beehive of industry, and every 
 locality would produce what it was best adapted to — 
 produce and exchange products with other localities; 
 and the commerce of the United States, would soon be 
 doubled, and all products could find a ready market 
 somewhere within the United States, and without be- 
 ing consumed by corporations in exorbitant freight 
 rates ; and new lines of railway, should be constructed 
 where needed and the idle labor thus employed, and 
 all the people would be benefited by such a system. 
 
 The same authority informs me, that with the uni- 
 form passenger rate of $1.00 for a mile ride or across 
 the continent, would pay operating expenses of the 
 passenger system, taking into account the increase of 
 travel, that the system would insure; and while both 
 of these services would perhaps have to be modified to 
 some extent, they are worthy of consideration ; for, if 
 a uniform rate for passengers and merchandise is a 
 good thing for a great city, and necessary to the wel- 
 fare of the city, why would it not be equally necessary 
 and beneficial to a great nation, to have such a system? 
 
 The government will now carry through the United 
 States mail, four pounds of merchandise to any part of 
 the United States for the same price, and if the uni- 
 form price for four pounds of merchandise to any part 
 of the United States is a good policy, then why would 
 not a uniform rate on 1,000 pounds or a carload to any 
 part of the United States be equally advantageous and 
 beneficial to the people? 
 
 The government of the United States is owned by 
 the people, and why not have a policy that will be 
 equally beneficial to all? The mail service of the gov- 
 ernment which allows a person to send a letter a mile 
 or across the continent for the same price, is certainly 
 
70 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 an equitable service, and why not apply the same policy 
 to the freight and passenger service within the whole 
 United States? Such a policy should be considered in 
 fixing rates, for if adopted, it would entirely do away 
 with discriminations against individuals and communi- 
 ties; and all patrons would be equally benefited, and 
 have a square deal, the same as in the postal service, 
 where all receive the same consideration, and pay the 
 same price for the service eliminating the question of 
 distance, a policy that is now being adopted by many of 
 the European countries, and American railway com- 
 panies often eliminate distance in fixing rates, and now 
 have a rate in force that gives the shipper a lower rate 
 from New York to San Francisco than to interior 
 points in Kansas. 
 
 / CAN SEE HOW PUBLIC SERVICE CORPORA- 
 TIONS CAN BE REGULATED AND CONTROLLED 
 ON THE LINES SUGGESTED; BUT HOW CAN 
 THE GOVERNMENT REGULATE PRIVATE COR- 
 PORATIONS, THAT OPERATE OUR GREAT IN- 
 DUSTRIES, AS MANIFESTED IN THE TRUSTS, 
 AND OTHER GIANT MONOPOLIES THAT FIX 
 PRICES UPON THEIR PRODUCTS, WITHOUT RE- 
 GARD TO THE COST OF PRODUCTION. 
 
 The regulation and control of private corpora- 
 tions is easily accomplished. Let the government ap- 
 praise these plants at their actual value in money. 
 Then ascertain the number of employees necessary to 
 successfully operate the plant, and what the labor is 
 worth, calculated upon a basis that will insure the 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 71 
 
 operatives wages that will enable them to live as be- 
 comes American citizens, and enable them to support 
 their families in like manner. These items of labor 
 should be first considered, for as Lincoln said "labor 
 is prior to capital and deserves the greater considera- 
 tion ; that capital would not have existed, if labor had 
 not first existed/' and this fact should not be lost sight 
 of by the appraisers. Then take the cost of the raw 
 material into account, and the cost of keeping the plant 
 in repair, and add to these items a reasonable per cent 
 on the capital invested, and then ascertain the amount 
 of product of the factory, and fix the price on these 
 products, so as to meet all these expenses, and the ques- 
 tion is solved, independent of all tariff laws that may 
 be enacted. 
 
 The tariff law, will not under present conditions, 
 lower the price of the manufactured product, or con- 
 trol them in any form, while our factories are operated 
 by trusts. If we had absolute free trade, under our 
 present industrial system, foreign products would not 
 come into the American market, in competition or at a 
 lower price than that charged for like products manu- 
 factured at home; and this is due to the existence of 
 the trusts, that fixes the price of the products of the 
 factory, without regard to the cost of production. 
 
 Each of the various lines of the industrial system, 
 in the United States, is now formulated into a trust, 
 and is under one management, and competition is at an 
 end for all time. The merger has come to stay, and 
 the government must deal with conditions as they exist, 
 and not as the government would have them exist. By 
 reason of the merger, the trusts are easily formed, and 
 the industries of the various nations, are now merged 
 into trusts similar to those of the United States. 
 
 Suppose there are one hundred factories in the 
 United States manufacturing woolen goods. These 
 products before the trust was formed were placed on 
 
72 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 the market by the individual factories, in competition 
 with each other, and low prices resulted. The factories 
 however, in the course of time, became wise, and con- 
 cluded to cease competition and to form a merger on 
 plans as follows : 
 
 The management of the one hundred factories get 
 together and agree if possible, upon the value of each 
 factory, and in case they cannot agree, then the factory 
 is appraised at its actual value in money, and the 
 merger is incorporated, and stock taken in the merger, 
 by each of the factories in an amount equal to the 
 value of each of these one hundred plants, and the fac- 
 tories pass under one management, and competition 
 ceases. The price of the products are then arbitrarily 
 fixed by the merger without regard to the cost of pro- 
 duction, and each factory draws from the trust, its 
 proportionate part of the profits, and if the tariff laws 
 of the United States were stricken down, all that is 
 necessary would be to form an agreement between the 
 trusts of the United States, and those of foreign coun- 
 tries, and this creates the international trust or merger, 
 and the prices will be maintained and arbitrarily fixed, 
 on all the products throughout the world, and competi- 
 tion will be wholly eliminated ; but if the government 
 of the United States would fix the price of products on 
 the equitable lines herein suggested, the tariff law and 
 the influence of the trusts, would be powerless to raise 
 the price above that fixed by the government, and if 
 the trust should refuse to operate their plants, as was 
 attempted in Australia, then the government could 
 operate them through receivers as they are already 
 organized under one head, ready for the government 
 to take charge if necessary. 
 
 In discussing with the manager of a gas plant, the 
 government supervision of the business of the trusts, 
 and the fixing of prices upon the lines suggested, in- 
 cluding the price of gas and coal, the manager informed 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 73 
 
 me, that his plant was in the gas merger, and that his 
 company would never submit to the government super- 
 vision of its business. He said the plants belonged to 
 the merger, and that the property rights of the merger 
 could not be interfered with, and that they would man- 
 age their property to suit themselves, the government 
 to the contrary notwithstanding. 
 
 I called the attention of my informant to the fact, 
 that by reason of the action of the trust in arbitrarily 
 fixing prices, without regard to the cost of production, 
 they had created an unrest among the people, and that 
 this unrest forbodes a political upheaval, and perhaps 
 disaster to the special interests, that now dominate the 
 political affairs of the state and nation, and asked him 
 if he did not think it the part of wisdom for the special 
 interest to make concessions and to submit to such rea- 
 sonable regulation and control on the part of the gov- 
 ernment, as would insure equity and a square deal to 
 the masses of the people. 
 
 He informed me that in the past the special inter- 
 ests on every occasion, had been able to protect them- 
 selves, and would be in the future against any political 
 movement that might originate ; and that they would 
 make no concessions. That any political movement 
 however formidable, could not interfere with their 
 property rights, and that the corporate interests within 
 the United States, amounted to over $30,000,000,000; 
 and if necessary for self protection they could paralyze 
 the industries of the country in a day, and bring such 
 disaster and pressure to bear upon congress, and the 
 executive department of government that, it would 
 overcome any influence exerted by any political up- 
 heaval ; and in addition thereto he stated, that the con- 
 stitution and laws of the land and the decision of the 
 court, were all in their favor. 
 
 I called to mind, as we were discussing this ques- 
 tion, that he was using the same argument that was 
 
74 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 used by the slave owners prior to the war of the rebel- 
 lion. At that time, there was an abolition party, 
 backed by a secret organization, that believed in the 
 emancipation of the slaves; but the constitution and 
 the laws of the land at that time, were all in favor of 
 chattel slavery. 
 
 Judge Taney, of the Federal Court, in what is 
 known as the Dred-Scott decision said in 1857 : That 
 a slave was property, and the slave owner could take 
 his property into any state or territory of the Federal 
 Union, and the laws of the country were bound to pro- 
 tect him in the possession of his property rights. 
 
 The language used by the court, was clear and ex- 
 plicit, that the negro was property under the consti- 
 tution and laws of the United States, and that the slave 
 owner had a vested interest in his slaves, and that the 
 constitution and laws recognized this property right, 
 and that no political upheaval could interfere with it, 
 and that the value of the slaves, amounted to one-fourth 
 of the entire value of all the personal and real property 
 of the United States, and that it was too big a proposi- 
 tion for the government to handle, and it could not pur- 
 chase the slaves, for it could not raise the necessary 
 money to do so, even if the government should determ- 
 ine upon such a policy; and besides the slave owner 
 would not sell, and there was no law that could compel 
 him to part with his property rights ; that these rights 
 were sacred and guaranteed by the constitution and 
 laws of the nation, and would be upheld by the courts 
 against all political movements. 
 
 But a political storm was gathering, the force of 
 which no one foresaw, and the slave owner rested his 
 cause on his property rights in the slave and refused to 
 make concessions, and thereby invited the political up- 
 heaval, and it came; and with it was scattered the 
 rights of property, so far as the slave was concerned, 
 and the constitutional guarantees and decrees of the 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 75 
 
 court were lost sight of, and the slave was freed, and 
 the $6,000,000,000 invested in chattel slavery was con- 
 fiscated, and was a total loss to the slave owners. Now 
 the question suggests itself will the vested interests 
 take warning and learn a lesson from the history of the 
 past and bear in mind, that all property rights, indi- 
 vidual or corporate, rests upon the law, constitutional 
 and otherwise, and by repealing the law, property 
 rights, so far as individuals or corporations are con- 
 cerned, are at an end. 
 
 It will be remembered that in 1880, there were 
 many millions of dollars invested in distilleries and 
 breweries in Kansas, and the liquor interests were 
 largely dominating the affairs of the state, and were 
 accused of even corrupting elections. The people arose 
 in their power, and asserted the right of revolution, 
 and voted for prohibition, and the destruction of the 
 distilling and brewing interests ; and the vested rights 
 of these interests disappeared, and the property that 
 remained in the state was confiscated and destroyed by 
 the state, and in addition to the destruction of these 
 distilleries and breweries, the State of Kansas has 
 probably seized and confiscated $10,000,000 worth of 
 intoxicating liquors since 1880, and has never paid 
 one dollar for the property destroyed. 
 
 The special interests should bear in mind that the 
 paramount title to all property vests in the govern- 
 ment, local, state and national ; and the property rights 
 of the individual is only recognized by constitutional 
 guarantees, statute laws and court decisions under cer- 
 tain conditions, and if those conditions are not complied 
 with by the individual or corporation, the government 
 asserts its right of ownership and takes the property 
 and sells it, or otherwise disposes of it to satisfy the 
 demands of the government. 
 
 The title to your land was primarily received from 
 the government, and the individuals or corporations 
 
76 PROGRESvSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 are given the right to occupy this land, to the exclusion 
 of all others, so long as the occupant pays the taxes 
 and observes the law. If however, he does not pay the 
 taxes, the government sells the land, and will deed it 
 to the tax purchaser, and the law will put the purchaser 
 in possession of the premises. Now, if the government 
 did not have a superior title to that of the individual, it 
 could not deed away the land, and put the occupant out 
 of possession and the purchaser in possession ; and all 
 the property rights of the individual or corporation 
 rests upon law, and a corporation can only hold its 
 property by paying the taxes, and complying with the 
 law, and a repeal of the law that gives title to the prop- 
 erty destroys individual and corporate ownership, and 
 vests the title to all property in the government, local, 
 state and national ; and the government would not have 
 to pay a single dollar for the property taken. It would 
 be confiscated the same as the slave property, and the 
 distilling and brewing interests in the State of Kansas. 
 
 It is right and proper for the people to study these 
 questions so they can intelligently act, in case a time 
 comes for action ; for it remains for the people to de- 
 termine what the policies of the government shall be 
 with reference to all property rights ; and the masses 
 of the people should be educated on political lines as 
 well as business lines, that the future policies of the 
 nation may be determined by an educated ballot, in the 
 hands of honest, intelligent citizens, who will use it 
 for the benefit of the whole people instead of a class. 
 
 The socialist party backed by a secret society, at 
 the present time, occupies about the same position in 
 the approaching political upheaval, as that of the abo- 
 lition party backed by a secret society in the forepart 
 of the fifties. The membership of the abolition party 
 were radical, and knew what they wanted, but did not 
 understand how to organize and develop a • political 
 party sufficiently strong to accomplish their purpose; 
 but at this time, a division occurred in the Whig and 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 77 
 
 Democratic parties, and there was developed a radical 
 progressive element in both these parties against 
 slavery, and while these progressives did not go as far 
 as did the abolition party, and were content in declar- 
 ing "that slavery was a state institution and not a na- 
 tional policy, and that slavery should not exist within 
 the territories of the United States, but that when a 
 territory had made sufficient progress to be admitted 
 as a state into the Federal Union, while it must be ad- 
 mitted as a free state, that after its admission, it could 
 then by a vote of the people establish slavery as a state 
 institution" and upon this platform, they asked the 
 support of the people. 
 
 The Republican party which was the name assumed 
 by the new progressive movement in the early fifties, 
 knew how to organize and carry the country, but did 
 not have a clear idea of its political principles, and the 
 abolition party became the educator in the new move- 
 ment, and a powerful political organization resulted, 
 and in the political upheaval that followed, the aboli- 
 tion party got all it asked, but the work was accom- 
 plished by means of the new political organization 
 under Republican leadership. 
 
 In the present approaching contest, between capital 
 and labor, unless wisdom is used, history will repeat 
 itself. The socialist party knows what it wants. It 
 declares "In favor of government ownership and con- 
 trol of all the means of production and distribution," 
 and this statement is unequivocal and clean cut and 
 leaves no doubt as to what the socialist party wants, 
 but the socialist party does not seem able to organize 
 an effective political party, with sufficient strength to 
 accomplish its purposes, and now comes a breach in 
 the Republican and Democratic parties, and the forma- 
 tion of a strong, progressive element in each of these 
 parties, which is developing into a political movement, 
 as demonstrated in the results of the last election : and 
 
78 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 they seem to know how to build up a political organi- 
 zation, that will sweep the country perhaps in 1912, 
 but not later than 1916 at the furthest; and while the 
 political principles of the progressive party are not 
 well defined, they know there is something wrong, and 
 they want to remedy the evil, but have not fully determ- 
 ined just what the evil consists of, or the remedy to be 
 applied, and the socialist party to some extent, like the 
 abolition party, is becoming the educator in the new 
 progressive movement, but it remains to be seen how 
 far the progressives will go on these lines. 
 
 It is no argument against socialist movement to say 
 it is impracticable, and that the vested property rights 
 of the special interests are so great, that the govern- 
 ment could not purchase them, and therefore, these 
 interests are safe, for the history of the world shows 
 that in great political upheavals, the property rights of 
 the interests affected, are never purchased by a govern- 
 ment, but are confiscated and this fact of history should 
 be looked squarely in the face, in dealing with the social 
 movement, which now confronts the people. 
 
 Socialism has been tried, as a government policy 
 at different periods in the world's history, and while 
 we shall not attempt to enumerate them, it is but fair 
 to say that in some instances, it has met with a measure 
 of success, but has generally proven defective in this: 
 that there is a tendency to make the people indolent in 
 proportion as it destroys individualism, yet, if corpora- 
 tions persist in the organization of trusts, and domi- 
 nating the affairs of the people, to the extent that now 
 seems probable, the masses of the people may even- 
 tually accept socialism as a means to rid themselves 
 of the oppression of the trusts, if no other remedy is 
 offered, which in the judgment of the people, is pre- 
 ferable to that offered by the socialist party. 
 
 It seems a little strange, that nowithstanding the 
 unrest of the people, and their complaint against the 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 79 
 
 corporations and trusts, that capital continues to form 
 combinations at a rapid rate, as though they were in 
 fact, getting ready to turn over these properties to the 
 government under a socialistic system. 
 
 These great corporate interests are daily combining 
 and using the merger for this purpose, and the manage- 
 ment of our industries is being placed under a single 
 head, and if the policy is not checked or abated, the 
 people may come to the conclusion, that if competition 
 is to be wholly eliminated, and the industries managed 
 by a single head, that, that head shall be the govern- 
 ment, and that our industrial plants shall be owned and 
 operated by the government in the interests of the 
 whole people. 
 
 If the owners of these large property interests do 
 not want this policy to prevail, it would be well for them 
 to study conditions, and make concessions before it is 
 too late. If the people were sufficiently advanced upon 
 educational lines, and the canons of the decalogue and 
 Golden Rule, the government might go forward on so- 
 cialistic lines and be a success, but in order to insure 
 success, under socialistic rule, the people must be edu- 
 cated and of a high moral type, in a degree that will 
 eliminate graft and oppression. 
 
 The colonists, when they first came to America, 
 had everything in common, and their government was 
 purely socialistic, and each person was compelled to do 
 a certain amount of labor in raising supplies for the 
 people, and these supplies were stored in a house that 
 belonged to the colonists, and provisions were drawn 
 therefrom, as the needs of the people demanded; but 
 there was a lack of energy among the colonists and each 
 one seemed to be afraid that he would do more than his 
 share of the work, and under this system, the colonists 
 never .produced enough food to supply their needs, and 
 when they could not get supplies from the mother coun- 
 try, or from the Indians to tide them over, they starved 
 
80 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 and many perished from hunger, and in a few instances 
 the whole colony died from famine. 
 
 But when Captain John Smith took charge of the 
 colonists, he saw what was necessary to make them 
 prosperous and self-sustaining and he divided the land 
 in severalty, and gave each man a title to a homestead, 
 and gave him to understand that if he raised more food 
 than was necessary to supply him and his family, that 
 the colonial government would buy the surplus, and pay 
 for it, and that he could thus become prosperous and 
 contented. 
 
 After this policy was adopted, there was no more 
 want among the colonists. There was always a surplus 
 of food products which was sold to the Indian and 
 mother country, and the greatest prosperity prevailed 
 among them, and private ownership proved to be the 
 solution of the colonial problem, and their growth, per- 
 manency and prosperity dates from the abolition of 
 socialism among them. 
 
 The American Indians also serve as an example of 
 socialism. The tribes have held their property in com- 
 mon all the way down the centuries and have made little 
 or no progress during all this period of time, and the 
 saying had become proverbial that the ''Indian would 
 not work" ; but now where the government has done 
 away with the tribal relations, and divided the property 
 among the members of the tribes, the Indians are be- 
 coming good workers and are conducting farms and 
 raising stock; and their individual efforts are stimu- 
 lated under the incentive of private ownership, until 
 they now rival their white brothers in farming; and 
 many of them surpass in this respect the average of 
 the white race. 
 
BY CxEORGE CAMPBELL 81 
 
 IF SOCIALISM IS NOT THE REMEDY FOR 
 THE ILLS THAT AFFLICT THE PEOPLE, WHAT 
 IS THE REMEDY AND HOW IS IT TO BE 
 APPLIED? 
 
 The remedy is undoubtedly government supervision 
 and control of the industries on such conservative lines 
 as will insure equal and exact justice to all, and such 
 action requires a study of business conditions on the 
 lines herein suggested and when the cause is discovered 
 the remedy is apparent and must be applied by the gov- 
 ernment in the interest of all the people and the gov- 
 ernment to that extent must be paternal or socialistic 
 to the degree necessary in preserving equal and exact 
 justice to all the people. 
 
 All governments are more or less paternal; they 
 are paternal in preserving order, and must become 
 more paternal or loco-parentis, in controlling the trusts 
 and combines and protecting the right of the masses 
 against the classes, and it is the only adequate power 
 that can deal successfully with present conditions. 
 
 An intelligent parent with a large family of girls 
 and boys, will encourage each to put forth his or her 
 best efforts to achieve the greatest success in life; he 
 will not hold them back but encourage them to go for- 
 ward and assist them in so doing, and while each will 
 accumulate individual property by reason of such en- 
 couragement and assistance, each will have a share in 
 the patrimony or property of the parent at the same 
 time, and there is no good reason why an individual 
 should not possess individual property and at the same 
 time, have his interest in all government property and 
 to this extent, a government should be paternal. 
 
82 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 A parent will be zealous for the welfare of each 
 of his children, and see that one does not take advan- 
 tage of the other, and that combinations are not formed 
 by some of the household to operate against the inter- 
 ests of the other members, but will see that absolute 
 justice prevails among them, and that each is secure 
 in what he honestly acquires, as the fruits of his in- 
 dividual efforts; and should not the government be 
 equally zealous to protect the rights of its subjects, 
 and see that combinations are not formed in the inter- 
 ests of the few to operate against the rights of the 
 many and that the government should not donate the 
 property of the people to trusts and combines and thus 
 assist corporations in building up giant trusts that op- 
 press the masses and in some instances, exercise a tax- 
 ing power over the people that a government would 
 hardly dare to exercise. Would a prudent parent per- 
 mit such a policy to obtain in his household? 
 
 Suppose a parent has a large farm and numerous 
 children, and as they reach man's estate, they marry 
 and establish homes, and the parent sets apart to each 
 family a homestead of equal value. 
 
 The homestead set apart to John, is found to con- 
 tain gas, coal and oil in vast quantities, and John sets 
 about to develop these properties and sell the products 
 to the other members of the family, and wants to sell 
 at a large profit in fact, "what the traffic will bear." 
 
 The parent now appears upon the scene and notifies 
 John that in his title deed, there was transferred to 
 him the surface of the land for a homestead and that 
 his deed did not include the minerals underneath the 
 surface of the earth ; that these are a part of the patri- 
 mony and belong equally to all the children, and that 
 John cannot appropriate them to his exclusive use and 
 benefit. That John will not be permitted to acquire 
 ownership of these natural properties, but in drilling 
 wells for oil and gas, and piping the same, and in min- 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBKIJ, 83 
 
 ing the coal, requires an investment of money, and that 
 John would be entitled to a reasonable per cent upon 
 his investment in case he develops these properties, 
 which must be under the supervision of the parent, and 
 that he could charge for the gas, coal and oil a sufficient 
 sum to meet, first operating expenses of the plant, in- 
 cluding repairs, and second, interest upon his invest- 
 ment, say ten per cent per annum, and that if John 
 wanted to develop these properties under these con- 
 ditions he can do so, otherwise, the parent will develop 
 them for the benefit of all the children. Would there 
 be anything wrong in such a policy, and should not the 
 government loco-parentis do the same with reference 
 to the coal, gas, oil and other minerals of the United 
 States. These are natural properties, and all the peo- 
 ple should have an interest, and private ownership 
 should not be recognized, and the reader will observe 
 in the reading of the gas case set forth as an appendix 
 to this booklet, that the court seems to take about the 
 same view of this question. 
 
 It is right for the government loco-parentis to pre- 
 serve all property interests of the people, collective 
 and otherwise, and conserve the power sites, coal 
 and all other collective property interests for the 
 benefit of the whole people, and while it is right 
 and proper, we should preserve the Alaskan coal and 
 keep it from falling into the hands of syndicates, we 
 should not forget the coal lands, that are located within 
 the United States, that are now owned by syndicates, 
 the government should ascertain how the titles to these 
 lands have been acquired, and if by fraud, action should 
 be brought to set aside the pretended titles. 
 
 It is stated in the Wall Street Journal, that the 
 Morgan-Guggenheim syndicate controls seventy-four 
 per cent of the coal lands of the United States, and 
 while there are improved methods in mining coal, 
 which greatly cheapens the output of the mines not- 
 
84 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 withstanding the fact that labor has forced an increase 
 in wages, yet, the price of coal to the consumer has been 
 greatly advanced, and coal is now used as one of the 
 means to force factories into the merger, and if the 
 factory objects to joining the merger, the price of fuel 
 is raised so high that it is impossible for the factory to 
 operate its business, and the only alternative is to join 
 the merger. 
 
 The question suggests itself, how did this syndi- 
 cate get control of these coal mines, but the answer is 
 apparent, for the greater part of these coal mines were 
 gotten through land grants to railways and procured 
 by fraud, and it is a well settled principle of the law, 
 that fraud viciates all contracts and makes voidable 
 all sales, and would it not be proper for the govern- 
 ment to investigate the methods by which these coal 
 lands were acquired, and if acquired by fraud, insti- 
 tute the proper proceedings to set aside the title. 
 Would not a prudent parent do this, in matters be- 
 tween the members of his own household, and should 
 not the government act on similar lines, as a matter of 
 justice to the people? 
 
 The government at present is building the Panama 
 canal and is demonstrating what the government can 
 do in a great business enterprise, and is pushing the 
 work with great vigor ; and the methods employed and 
 results achieved, is a surprise to all the nations of the 
 world, as it is doing sucessfully what the greatest cor- 
 poration could not do, in digging this interoceanic 
 canal. 
 
 The greatest opposition, heretofore offered against 
 government operation and control of great industrial 
 enterprises, is that the government is slow to act; but 
 this objection is now overcome by the push and energy 
 manifested by the government in digging this water- 
 way, and it is now conceded that there is no good rea- 
 son why the government should not act as promptly as 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 85 
 
 private corporations, and it has demonstrated its power 
 in this instance to act, even more promptly and effi- 
 ciently in the construction of this enterprise than pri- 
 vate corporations have ever done. 
 
 The government should now act on the Alaskan 
 coal proposition, and see that this coal is mined for 
 the use of the people in Alaskan cities, and for the 
 coaling of vessels on the Alaskan coast. There is no 
 good reason why the people in Alaska should be com- 
 pelled to buy coal at an enormous price of British 
 Columbia, while the Alaskan field containing better 
 coal and a thousand times more extensive should lie 
 undeveloped awaiting the action of congress and the 
 interior department of government. Let the govern- 
 ment now demonstrate what it can do in handling this 
 Alaskan coal proposition, and if its efforts are success- 
 ful, and there is no reason why they should not be 
 the people of the United States will have an income 
 from these coal fields in royalties, that will soon pay 
 the running expenses of the government, or these re- 
 ceipts could be used in developing other enterprises, 
 that badly need government attention. 
 
 The digging of the Panama canal has given the 
 people a lesson in paternalism, that should not be lost 
 sight of. There are 35,000 men at work on the Panama 
 canal, and each man is apparently a cog in the great 
 industrial wheel, which is constructing this great inter- 
 national waterway. 
 
 The President of the United States recently visited 
 the Panama canal zone in company with several other 
 persons among whom was Mr. Authier, who in writing 
 the account of this wonderful waterway has the fol- 
 lowing to say about paternalism. His article was pub- 
 lished in the Review of Reviews of January, 1911. 
 He says: 
 
 "The result of the organization is the most com- 
 plete example of paternalism in government ever 
 
86 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 known in the history of the world; men are 
 housed, fed and cared for by the government, 
 which also looks after their personal, physical, 
 educational and religious needs. It supplies the 
 schools and pays the salaries of ministers of the 
 gospel, and of the entire organization, Colonel 
 Goethal is the head and absolute chief, within rea- 
 sonable limitation of law. Each man is a cog in 
 this wonderfully smooth working machinery 
 which is digging the canal and solving the prob- 
 lem of an international waterway, that has been 
 the dream of the centuries. 
 
 "The victory which sanitation has gained over 
 the pestilent conditions of a tropical country, has 
 made it possible to solve the canal problem. Today 
 the isthmus is as healthy a place as can be found 
 anywhere in the tropics. A trip over the canal 
 zone will show pipe lines running in every direc- 
 tion and these carry oil designed to eliminate the 
 disease spreading mosquito, and yellow fever is 
 now unknown on the isthmus. 
 
 "The 35,000 laborers employed on this canal in 
 addition to drawing a much higher salary, than 
 he could obtain in the United States, the Panama 
 employe finds his lines cast in pleasant places. 
 The government looks upon him as a ward. He is 
 provided with quarters, a modern house, in case 
 of a married man, and his house is furnished, he 
 receives free medical attendance and medicine, 
 free fuel, free water and free lights and ice is 
 delivered at his door at cost, and he has free hos- 
 pital service. 
 
 "He is eligible to membership in any of the 
 social clubs, the government furnishing the club 
 house with bowling alley, pool and billiard tables ; 
 superintendent and Stewarts for which he pays 
 $10 a year; the money being used by the club for 
 the purchase of books, magazines and other ap- 
 purtenances. If he belongs to church, he finds 
 a church furnished and a preacher employed. He 
 has free books, free schools and free school sup- 
 plies, and his children are taken to school and re- 
 turned to their homes in government conveyances ; 
 and if they attend high school, they are given 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 87 
 
 monthly trip passes over the Panama railway to 
 the high school at Ancon and Gutum. 
 
 "Through the commissary department, the high 
 cost of living is elimiated. The American em- 
 ployed upon the isthmus eats beefsteak of a finer 
 quality than is usually obtained at home, and at 
 much less cost. The commissary department un- 
 der the management of Major Wilson runs special 
 trains across the canal zone each day carrying 
 fresh vegetables, fresh meats, fresh eggs, etc., and 
 at a lower price than would have to be paid in 
 New York or Chicago." 
 
 If the government can so thoroughly care for its 
 subjects in the Panama zone and eliminate the high 
 cost of living, should it not be equally zealous in pro- 
 tecting the people of the United States at home, against 
 the combination that corners the food and other sup- 
 plies necessary for the very esistence of the people; 
 charging them exorbitant prices that cannot be justi- 
 fied on any grounds except "That might makes right." 
 Something surely ought to be done along these lines, 
 and whether this be called paternalism or socialism, it 
 does not matter, but action should be prompt and ef- 
 ficient on the part of the government to protect the 
 people from these extortions. 
 
 The government is now taking the initiative to pro- 
 tect the people against these abuses, and should be 
 assisted in every way possible by the masses of the 
 people, in obtaining evidence and in sustaining the 
 officers that are waging this contest for the benefit of 
 the people. This legal conflict will not be settled in a 
 day, for every stumbling block that money can pro- 
 cure and the best legal minds can devise, will be 
 thrown in the way of the prosecutor to impede his 
 progress in the prosecution of these cases; and the 
 special interests class will seek to divide the people and 
 cause them to think that the officers are not doing 
 their duty or have sold out to the special interests, and 
 the public press will be used to impart by insinuation 
 
88 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 this information to the people, for "divide and con- 
 quer" has been the policy of the corporate interests for 
 many years. 
 
 The people have had sufficient experience however, 
 along these lines, so they ought not to be deceived in 
 the future; for it is a part of the stock in trade of 
 the special interests to make it appear to the general 
 public through the press and otherwise, that the prose- 
 cutor is incompetent or dishonest, or both, and is not 
 properly representing the interests of the people. 
 
 When we hear such reports about the men that are 
 fighting our battles, we may safely draw the inference 
 that these officers are honest and competent and are 
 doing their duty in prosecuting these cases without 
 fear or favor; for, if the special interests could use 
 them, then there would be nothing but praise for their 
 ability and efficiency, in the prosecution of these cases ; 
 and the people must learn to sustain those that cham- 
 pion their cause, no matter to what political party they 
 belong. 
 
 Another matter that should be borne in mind by 
 the voter is election day. That is the one day in all the 
 year, he can greatly benefit his cause, and the voter 
 should not be scared into voting for candidates nor 
 policies that are against his interests by threats of 
 closing down the factory or reducing wages. Let him 
 study all public questions thoroughly and master them 
 if possible, and then go to the polls on election day and 
 vote his honest sentiment without fear or favor; and 
 he should always bear in mind in reaching his con- 
 clusion as to how he should vote, that the special inter- 
 ests want his labor as cheaply as possible, while it is 
 to his interest to receive the full value for his services, 
 'and hence, his interests are opposite to that of his em- 
 ployer, and it is well for him to thoroughly investigate 
 before voting the same ticket as that of his employer. 
 
 Some of the large employers of labor are adopting 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 89 
 
 a pension system, in order to control the votes of their 
 employes; but this should make no difference in the 
 casting of the ballot, for labor pays the pension all the 
 same, and the object to be attained in granting the pen- 
 sion is easily understood. 
 
 The government should however, adopt a pension 
 system for all old dependent persons, or those that 
 have become disabled by reason of accident, in any 
 branch of our great industrial system. The person 
 who labors and meets with an accident, that wholly or 
 partially disables him or her from service, or who by 
 reason of age is unable to work, should be properly 
 pensioned by the government, to provide the unfor- 
 tunate against want, and the government certainly 
 owes this consideration to its subjects and it is cheaper 
 in the long run to pension the poor, than to provide 
 poor houses and it is not so humiliating and does not 
 have the deteriorating effect upon the subject that is 
 experienced in sending him or her to the poor house. 
 
 Germany, England and several other progressive 
 nations have adopted the pension system for the poor, 
 and it has proven highly satisfactory, and neither of 
 these nations would abolish the system. 
 
 If after reading this booklet, you should come to 
 the conclusion that something ought to be done on the 
 lines herein suggested, get the people together in your 
 precinct and form a "Progressive Government Club" 
 where the people can meet and discuss public questions 
 and get ready for the campaign in 1912. 
 
 What the American people need is enlightenment 
 on these public questions, and they are ready to act, 
 and this enlightenment will come as the result of a fair, 
 free, intelligent discussion of the issues involved. 
 
 It does not matter if the speaker is radical, hear 
 him. He may express some ideas that will enlighten 
 the general public and he can do no harm, for the 
 American people can be depended upon, when they 
 
90 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 understand a proposition, to reject such portions as are 
 not conducive to the good of society, and adopt what 
 in their judgment will be to the best interests of the 
 people, hence, the danger lies not in radicalism but in 
 the carelessness of the voter in not being informed 
 upon public questions, and from lack of knowledge, 
 cast his ballot in a manner contrary to his interests. 
 
 It is the aim of the progressives to put at least one 
 booklet in each voting precinct throughout the United 
 States, and if the recipient of the book will see to it, 
 that a progressive club is formed in his precinct, and 
 maintained until after the election of 1912, he will 
 thereby discharge a great duty to the people that will 
 stand to his credit in the coming years, and relief will 
 come to the country largely by these means, and the 
 rights of the natural man will be recognized at least 
 to the same extent as those of corporations, and these 
 progressive government clubs will be the kindergar- 
 tens for the promulgation of governmental policies, so 
 framed as to make government a business proposition, 
 and at the same time, preserve the liberties of the 
 people and restore that strong independent American 
 manhood and womanhood, that is gradually being 
 crushed out, through the action of the trusts. 
 
 The people must learn that government either as 
 a city, a county, a state or nation, is under the present 
 industrial system, a business proposition and must be 
 handled as such, and the laws must be changed to 
 meet present conditions. 
 
 The commission form of government for cities, 
 while it is imperfect, is a step in the right direction, 
 and will eventually make the city a great business in- 
 stitution, supplying the people of the city with the 
 things necessary to their existence, and at a fraction 
 of the cost now charged by public service corporations. 
 
 If the cities so desire, they can set a price on the 
 necessaries furnished by the cities to their inhabitants, 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 91 
 
 that will net the city a margin, and then the price will 
 be much less than prices charged by corporations or 
 individuals for the same service, and the profits thus 
 accruing, can be apportioned among the consumers of 
 the city in the nature of dividends, and this will make 
 all the citizens interested in the business of the city, 
 as they will want the dividends earned from the busi- 
 ness, and similar changes must be made in the law to 
 apply to counties, states and to the nation, and the 
 details must be worked out, and the Progressive Gov- 
 ernment Clubs will prove of great assistance to the 
 people in the solution- of these problems of government. 
 
 "In the multitude of counselors, there is wisdom." 
 and by a free, fair discussion of all public questions, 
 there will be developed a class of statesmen, competent, 
 honest and fearless in the discharge of their duty, and 
 the year 1912 will mark an epoch in American history, 
 when the people took control of their government and 
 restored to the natural man his rights to live upon the 
 earth, without paying a corporation for the privilege. 
 
 It is not the intention of the author that the pro- 
 pressive government clubs should adopt the ideas con- 
 tained in this book in order to organize, but the sug- 
 gestions here offered are intended only as guide merid- 
 ians to direct the attention of the voter to certain 
 abuses in government, and point out the remedies for 
 the correction of these abuses, and all discussions 
 should take the broadest possible range in order to 
 develop the facts in issue; but the first aim of the 
 progressive movement should be to "save the county" 
 and leave the details to be worked out later. 
 
 Every person, whether he be known as a Repub- 
 lican or Democrat, elected to office, should be a Pro- 
 gressive, and the membership of this movement should 
 see to it, that only progressives are sent to national 
 conventions in 1912 to nominate the presidential candi- 
 dates of both Republican and Democratic parties, and 
 
92 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 if the stand patters should succeed in controlling both 
 these conventions, then it would be well for the Pro- 
 gressives to call a conference and ascertain the senti- 
 ment of the membership, with reference to placing a 
 presidential candidate in the field. 
 
 In this hour of uncertainty, when the stability of 
 Republican institutions of government are threatened 
 by the powers of aggregated wealth, the words of 
 Washington seem appropriate. Washington had in his 
 army many foreigners, who seemed as patriotic to the 
 American cause as did the colonists, but in the memo- 
 rable retreat of Washington from Valley Forge, when 
 the colonial cause seemed dark and foreboding and 
 clothed in the greatest uncertainty; Washington gave 
 the command: "Put none but Americans en guard to- 
 night." The order was obeyed and the world knows 
 the result, and the republic lives as a monument to his 
 wisdom and patriotism. 
 
 The Progressives, in governmental affairs are now 
 engaged in a great political contest to preserve those 
 principles of government for which Washington con- 
 tended, and the conflict is waged against the powers 
 of aggregated wealth, and will determine whether 
 preditory wealth or American manhood is to rule the 
 nation ; and the issue is f rought with uncertainty, for 
 all history attests the fact that every republic down 
 through the centuries, have been destroyed by predi- 
 tory wealth, in concentrating the w T ealth of the nation 
 in few hands and starving into submission the man- 
 hood and womanhood of these republics. 
 
 The question suggests itself, will the history of the 
 great American republic, be the same as that of Greece, 
 Rome and other republics, that have preceded it upon 
 the world's drama, and this will depend upon Ameri- 
 can manhood and womanhood. If they organize and 
 educate themselves on all public questions, they can 
 prevent the catastrophe that has wrecked all the re- 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 93 
 
 publics of the past. Will they do it? The demands of 
 the hour is for intelligent, honest and fearless officials 
 in the discharge of public duty, just what the progres- 
 sives have thus far proven themselves to be, and these 
 offices should be backed by a strong organized con- 
 stituency, composed of the same sturdy material, and 
 let the order go down the line "Put none but Progres- 
 sives on guard tonight," and the old ship of state will 
 come safe to anchor and the natural rights of men to 
 life, liberty and pursuit of hapiness, will be preserved. 
 
 IMPORTANT 
 
 Since writing the foregoing pamphlet, the Asso- 
 ciated Press dispatches contain the information that 
 the bank merger is placing organizers in the field in 
 all the reserved cities to organize citizens leagues to 
 force legislation through the next congress on the cur- 
 rency question, giving to the associated banks, the full 
 pcwer to issue and control the currency of the United 
 States and providing for the retiring of the 346,000,000 
 legal tender treasury notes, and active work is being 
 done in New York, Chicago, St. Louis and all other 
 reserved cities, and it is time for the people to act, if 
 they are to retain their independence. 
 
 The banking trust is the most formidable of all 
 trusts and with the absolute control of the money, they 
 can in a few years, own all the property of the United 
 States. No factory can be operated without money. 
 It must buy the raw material and employ labor for 
 which it must pay money. If the banks will not furnish 
 the money to operate the plant, it must close down and 
 the ownership pass into the hands of the banking 
 
94 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 trust, and so with the railways and all the other indus- 
 tries. 
 
 Think of it. All taxes are payable in money, and 
 if the banks get complete control of the money and 
 refuse to make loans, the property of the people will 
 be sold for taxes and the banks will buy it in, as they 
 alone will have the money to enable them to do so. 
 Pliney tells us that when the banks of the Roman Em- 
 pire had gotten complete control over the money, that 
 they formed a merger and refused to make loans and 
 withdrew the money from circulation and the people 
 could not pay their taxes and that the property of one 
 province after another, equalling in area some of the 
 largest states of the Federal Union, were bid off by 
 the banks, and that less than three per cent of the peo- 
 ple, as represented by the bank merger, owned 97 
 per cent of all the property of the Roman Empire ; and 
 the old Roman spirit that had conquered the world, 
 died within them, and the people became serfs and 
 were afterward bought and sold with the land. 
 
 Is history to repeat itself in the decline of this re- 
 public and is American liberty to be crushed out by the 
 money merger now in process of formation, and on 
 which legislation is to be forced during the session of 
 the next congress. The banks will succeed unless the 
 people organize to protect their interests and banking 
 by the government in the interest of the people as out- 
 lined in this pamphlet, can alone preserve the liberties 
 of the people ; and if adopted will inaugurate and main- 
 tain a business prosperity throughout the land never 
 before experienced in the history of the nation. 
 
 The people should see to it that progressive govern- 
 ment clubs are organized in every voting precinct, and 
 all other questions should be held in abeyance, and the 
 money question alone taken up and kept before the 
 people until it is settled, as the banks are forcing this 
 question upon congress, and a delay upon the part of 
 
BY GRORGK CAMPBELL 95 
 
 the people in organizing and educating themselves to 
 meet this issue, means the success on the part of the 
 banks and the ultimate destruction of the independence 
 of the people and their subjugation to the money 
 trusts, the same as it was in Greece, Rome and Egypt. 
 
 There are many things embodied in this pamphlet, 
 that will seem visionary to those that have never studied 
 these questions, for anything we do not understand 
 seems more or less visionary to the average citizen. 
 When Joseph Ross, about forty-seven years ago, said 
 that within fifty years electricity would be used to 
 carry the human voice to distant parts of the country 
 and that people would be able to talk to each other, 
 hundreds of miles apart and recognize the voice of 
 those talking, he was called visionary and was dis- 
 charged from the telegraph office where he was em- 
 ployed, but nevertheless, the telephone is here and Ross 
 is vindicated although he lost his job because he had 
 ideas in advance of the period at which he lived. For- 
 tunately, the people have became more liberal, and 
 they are not so apt to consider an idea visionary be- 
 cause they do not understand it, as they did a genera- 
 tion ago ; but if the facts in this pamphlet are not in 
 accordance with their ideas, by discussion, they will 
 evolve the truth, but for the present, the people should 
 unite upon the one question that is being forced upon 
 Congress with reference to our currency and should 
 hold all others in abeyance ; for the welfare of the coun- 
 try and the liberties of the people is involved in this 
 issue. 
 
 President Taft in his address of June 21, 1911, be- 
 fore the State Bankers' Association of New York, 
 fully endorsed the plans of the monetary commission 
 of which Senator Aldrich is chairman. 
 
 Mr. Taft, as reported in the press, said : 
 
 "There is no legislation, I care not what it is, 
 
96 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 tariff, railroad, corporation, or of a general pol- 
 itical character, that at all equals in importance 
 the putting of our currency system on a sound 
 basis, as proposed in the national monetary com- 
 mission plan. 
 
 "In all well regulated banking and currency 
 systems of the old world, the power to control 
 cash reserves and the issue of bank notes to be 
 used as currency, is placed under the control of a 
 central bank, recognized by the government and 
 given the necessary authority. 
 
 "A monetary commission was appointed, of 
 which Senator Aldrich was made chairman, and 
 it is a non-partisan commission, and I dwell with 
 great emphasis upon this fact, for our hope lies 
 in getting support from both political parties. 
 
 "The system may be roughly described, as an 
 association of seven thousand national banks, or- 
 ganized on a representative basis, to include the 
 entire country, with a great central bank at its 
 head to issue all circulating notes." 
 
 President Taft, has thus given a brief of the bank- 
 ing plan in as few words as possible, and we might say, 
 the plan is correctly stated; and if we will make a 
 careful study of the plan, we will observe that it is a 
 revival of the old United States Bank in an aggravated 
 form ; for the charter of the old United States Bank 
 that Jackson vetoed, called for one central bank with 
 twenty-five branches ; while the Aldrich plan calls for 
 a central bank with seven thousand branches, to in- 
 clude all national banks, and cover every portion of 
 the territory of the United States ; and these banks 
 will not only receive their circulating notes from the 
 central bank, but also orders which will be obeyed by 
 the seven thousand branches, scattered throughout the 
 length and breadth of the land. 
 
 Perhaps it will be well for us to briefly examine 
 some of the charges against the old United States 
 Bank, that caused Jackson to veto the re-chartering 
 of that institution, and these may prove a guide to us, 
 
BY GEORCxE CAMPBELL v )7 
 
 and influence our action in the consideration of the 
 Aldrich plan. 
 
 Thomas H. Benton in his thirty years in Congress, 
 shows that the old United States Bank spent over 
 three million dollars in subsidizing the press, politi- 
 cians and men of influence to support the bank 
 measure when it was up before Congress for the re- 
 chartering of the bank ; and after the veto of the 
 bank charter by President Jackson, it was claimed that 
 Jackson had slain the bank, but Benton said : 
 
 "Jackson has not slain the bank. The bank is 
 a wounded tigress and has flown to the jungles, 
 and at a time when ye think not, she will return 
 and pounce upon the country, and she will bring 
 her whelps with her," and we can certainly recog- 
 nize the tigress with her whelps in the Aldrich 
 bank plan. 
 
 Honorable W. T. Kelly in a speech stated : 
 
 "In Philadelphia, the bank would order the 
 business men to hold public meetings in its behalf, 
 in order that they might understand who were the 
 friends of the bank ; and would appoint places for 
 the assembling of different trades, in order that 
 their employers might see who of their workmen 
 had opinions in opposition to the bank." 
 
 Mr. Berkley, in referring to the tJnited States 
 bank, and the power it exerted over the people and 
 the business of the country used the following lan- 
 guage : 
 
 "The bank is a colossal money power, its arm 
 is in every state by means of its branches, and its 
 power over the country bank and over the busi- 
 ness of the country, and over public men who 
 were its debtors and retainers, seemed to have 
 been absolute; and with its organization under 
 a single head, it issued its orders in secret to be 
 obeyed in all places by all its subordinates at the 
 same moment." 
 President Jackson in Volume 3, of Messages and 
 Papers of the President, on page 6, says : 
 
98 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 "The bank increased its loans $28,025,766.48 in 
 sixteen months, and it was confidently believed 
 that the object of this immense extension of its 
 loan, was to bring as large a portion of the people 
 as possible under its power and influence, and it 
 was disclosed that some of these largest sums 
 were granted on very unusual terms to conductors 
 of the public press. In some of these cases, the 
 motives were made manifest by the nominal or 
 insufficient security and by the large amount dis- 
 counted, and by the extraordinary time allowed 
 for payment, and especially by the subsequent 
 conduct of those receiving these accommodations. 
 
 "Having taken these preliminary steps to obtain 
 control over public opinion, the bank came into 
 Congress and asked a new charter. Many docu- 
 ments and articles were printed and circulated at 
 the expense of the bank, to bring the people to a 
 favorable decision upon its pretenses. Those Whom 
 the bank appears to have made its debtors, for the 
 special occasion, were warned of the ruin which 
 awaited them should the President be sustained; 
 and attempts were made to alarm the Whole peo- 
 ple, by painting the depression in prices of prop- 
 erty and produce, and the loss, inconvenience and 
 distress which it was representing, would im- 
 mediately follow the re-election of the President, 
 in opposition to the bank." 
 
 President Jackson in speaking of the conduct of the 
 bank, calls the attention of the people to the fact, that 
 a bill was drawn by the United States against France, 
 for a part of the indemnity due the United States on a 
 claim against that nation ; but it was not thought for 
 a moment, to enforce the payment of this claim by our 
 government, as France had rendered the United States 
 a great service during the Revolutionary war, when 
 such services were needed, and this bill was placed, 
 after being drawn by the United States, in the bank 
 to be presented through the proper channels to the 
 French government; and the United States govern- 
 ment merely took credit in the bank for the amount of 
 the bill, and no money was paid ; but the bank in viola- 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 99 
 
 tion of the instructions of our government, sold this 
 bill to England, the enemy of France, in order to annoy 
 and embarrass the French government, that was un- 
 prepared at that particular time to pay the bill, of 
 which fact this government had knowledge; but 
 through English channels this bill was protested, and 
 came near involving the United States in a war with 
 France; and on page 12 of the volume referred to, 
 President Jackson says: 
 
 "The allegations which have so often circulated 
 through these channels (the bank) that the treas- 
 ury was bankrupt, and that the bank was sustain- 
 ing it, when for many years, there had not been 
 less on an average, than six millions of public 
 money in that institution, might be passed over as 
 a harmless misrepresentation; but when it at- 
 tempted by substantial acts to impair the credit of 
 the government, and tarnish the honor of the 
 country, such charges require more serious atten- 
 tion. 
 
 "With six millions of public money in its vaults, 
 after having used from five to twelve millions for 
 more than nine years without interest, it became 
 the purchaser of a bill drawn by our government 
 on that of France for about $900,000, being the 
 first installment of the French indemnity. 
 
 "The purchase money was left in the use of the 
 bank, being simply added to the treasury deposit. 
 The bank sold the bill in England and the holder 
 sent it to France for collection, and arrangements 
 not having been made by the French government 
 for the payment, it was taken up by the agent 
 of the bank in Paris, with the funds of the bank 
 in his hands. Under these circumstances, it has 
 through its organ, openly assailed the credit of 
 the government and has actually made, and per- 
 sists in a demand of fifteen per cent, or $158,- 
 842.77 as damages on protest of this bill, when 
 no damages or none beyond some trivial expense, 
 has in fact been sustained; and when the bank 
 had in its possession on deoosit several million 
 dollars of public money, which it was then using 
 for its own benefit. Is the fiscal agent of the gov- 
 
100 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 ernment which thus seeks to enrich itself at the 
 expense of the public worthy of further trust?" 
 
 Again on pages 16 and 17 of the same volume, 
 President Jackson, in referring to the bank says : 
 
 "If, indeed, this corporation holds in its hands, 
 the happiness and prosperity of the American peo- 
 ple, it is time to take alarm. If the despotism be 
 already upon us, and our only safety is in the 
 mercy of the despot, recent developments in rela- 
 tion to his design and the means he employs, show 
 how necessary it is to shake it off. The struggle 
 can never come with less distress to the people or 
 under more favorable auspices than at the pres- 
 ent moment." 
 
 Volumes might be printed, with reference to the 
 arrogance and insolence of the United States Bank, 
 and its use of force in coercing the government of the 
 United States and compelling it to keep hands off of 
 the bank; but we will only give one more quotation, 
 and this will be from President Jackson, and appears 
 in Volume 3 at pages 108 and 109 of "Messages and 
 Papers." The President says : 
 
 "Circumstances make it my duty to call the at- 
 tention of Congress to the bank of the United 
 States. (Supposedly) created for the benefit and 
 convenience of the government, that institution 
 has become the scourge of the people. Its inter- 
 ference to postpone the payment of a portion of 
 the national debt, that it might retain the public 
 money appropriated for that purpose, to strength- 
 en it in its political contest, the extraordinary ex- 
 tensions and contraction of its accommodation to 
 communities, its corrupt and partisan loans, its 
 exclusion of the public directors from a knowledge 
 of its most important proceedings, the unlimited 
 authority conferred upon the president of the 
 bank to expend its funds in hiring writers and 
 procuring the execution of printing and the use 
 made of that authority; the retention of the pen- 
 sion money and books, after the selection of new 
 agents, the groundless claims to heavy damages 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 101 
 
 in consequence of the protest of the bill drawn on 
 the French government, have through various 
 channels been laid before Congress. 
 
 'To the needless distress brought on the country 
 during the last session of Congress has since been 
 added the open seizure of the dividends of the 
 public stocks to the amount of $170,041.00, under 
 the pretense of paying damages, costs and inter- 
 est upon the protested French bill. This sum con- 
 stituted a portion of the revenues of the govern- 
 ment for 1834 upon which the appropriation made 
 by Congress was based. It would as soon have 
 expected that our collectors would seize on the 
 customs, or the receivers of our land offices on the 
 monies arising from the sale of public land, under 
 the pretenses of claims against the United States, 
 as that the bank would 'have retained these divi- 
 dends. Indeed if the principal be established, that 
 anyone who chooses, can set up a claim against 
 the United States, and may without authority of 
 law, seize on the public property or money where- 
 ever he can find it, to pay such a claim ; there will 
 remain no assurances that our revenue will reach 
 the treasury, or, that it will be applied, after the 
 appropriation, to the purposes designated in the 
 law. The paymasters of our army and the pur- 
 sers of our navy, may under like pretenses, apply 
 to their own use money appropriated to set in mo- 
 tion the public forces, and in time of war, leave 
 the country without defenses. This measure re- 
 sorted to by the bank, is disorganizing and revolu- 
 tionary, and if generally resorted to by private 
 citizens in like cases, would fill the land with 
 anarchy and violence." 
 Is it possible with this arraignment of the United 
 States Bank, that the people will re-charter this insti- 
 tution in an aggravated form, to prey upon the people 
 and to "boss" the government as was the case with 
 the United States Bank ; and we have only given a few 
 of the many instances that might be cited, showing 
 the arrogance of the bank, and its total disregard of 
 the rights of the people and the laws of the United 
 States, which it openly set at defiance on various 
 occasions. 
 
102 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 In the history of the past we find that nations have 
 arisen, reached the zenith of their glory, and have 
 fallen into decay, and we find, that the decline of all 
 these nations, is due to one cause, the concentration of 
 the property of the country in few hands, and in each 
 instance under a similar banking system to that pro- 
 posed by the Aldrich plan; and Egypt, Greece and 
 Rome serve as examples of what happens when the peo- 
 ple leave it to the so-called financiers, to make and en- 
 force the financial policy of a great nation. 
 
 Plinney tells us with reference to Rome, that when 
 the banks refused to make loans to the people, and 
 began to take over to themselves the property of the 
 citizens, that 
 
 'The people gave themselves up in despair in 
 their fields, as beasts of burden lie down beneath 
 their load and refuse to rise. The disintegration 
 of society was almost complete. All public spirit, 
 all generous emotions, all noble aspirations of men 
 shriveled and disappeared, as the volume of money 
 shrank, and prices fell. As men decayed, wealth 
 accumulated in the hands of the few. Not only 
 did whole provinces become the property of one 
 man, but usury existed in so frightful a form that 
 even the virtuous Brutus received sixty per cent 
 for the use of money.' ' 
 
 If the Aldrich plan of banking is adopted in 
 America, the history of the decline of Rome will be 
 the history of the decline of the American Republic; 
 for money is governed by the same law, that governs 
 all other commodities, and this law will apply in 
 America the same as it did in Rome, and the other 
 nations of the past. 
 
 It has been observed, that if only a part of a crop 
 of corn is harvested, the supply being lessened, and 
 the demand remaining the same, the price of corn ad- 
 vances as compared with all other commodities, and 
 we say that corn is high ; and a unit of corn (the 
 bushel) will buy more money or more of any other 
 
BY GEORGK CAMPBELL 103 
 
 commodity than it would, if corn was plentiful and 
 therefore, cheap; and the same law of exchange ap- 
 plies to wheat and all other commodities including 
 money; and this natural law applies to money, in a 
 much greater degree, than to natural products of the 
 soil. 
 
 If corn is scarce, and therefore high in price, there 
 is substituted for it, some other cereal, which lessens 
 the demand, and the case is the same with all other 
 natural products ; but not so with money. Money has 
 no substitute, but on the other hand, it is a substitute 
 for everything else. 
 
 If I owe Jones one hundred bushels of wheat, and 
 do not deliver it, he has a right of action against me, 
 and goes into court and obtains judgment for the value 
 of the wheat, and this judgment is payable in money; 
 and the money thus becomes a substitute for the wheat, 
 and so with all other products ; and even a person that 
 has his character assailed, goes into court for vindica- 
 tion, and the court and jury find that a certain number 
 of dollars is an adequate compensation for the damage 
 done to his character, and thus it so happens that money 
 becomes a substitute for all things, but there is no real 
 substitute for money ; and yet, it is proposed by the 
 Aldrich plan to turn the issue and control of the cur- 
 rency over to a central bank, with seven thousand 
 branches, and this power is to be used in the interest 
 of the bank, to further its own gain and advantage, as 
 opposed to that of the people. 
 
 Are the people of the United States ready to sur- 
 render this attribute of sovereignty, to an irresponsible 
 banking corporation to be used in its own interest? 
 If so, the American Republic will perish by reason of 
 the concentration of the property of the country in 
 the hands of the bank, and a monarchy will arise in its 
 stead, to protect the property interests, owned and 
 controlled by the bank. This is the object of the law, 
 
104 PROCxRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 and it was taken from the monarchies of the old world 
 and is designed to subjugate America. 
 
 If the Aldrich bill is enacted into a law, there is no 
 place provided where the people can get money only 
 from the bank, and if the bank refuses to loan, the 
 people will have no money with which to pay debts 
 and taxes, and their property will be thrown upon the 
 market, to be bid off by the bank, for such sum as the 
 bank sees fit to pay, and with the ownership of the 
 property of the country, there will come a demand for 
 a "strong government" for the protection of its prop- 
 erty rights, and hence, the monarchy will be estab- 
 lished — this is the history of the other republics, and 
 must repeat itself in America, under like conditions. 
 
 But perhaps some will say that the bank will not 
 own all the money at one time; that the people will 
 have large sums on deposit, that will not belong to the 
 bank, and in case the bank should adopt the policy of 
 not loaning their funds, the money on deposit would be 
 subject to check; and suppose we admit this, and we 
 will also say the same was true in 1907 at the time of 
 the panic, but the bank did not allow the people to 
 draw their money, and held it, and could it not do 
 the same thing in the future? 
 
 The banks as now organized have too great power, 
 even in the absence of the Aldrich plan of banking; 
 and they are now forming a bank merger to be operated 
 from one single head, to affect the very purpose that is 
 sought to be accomplished by the Aldrich plan, and the 
 people should defeat it. Our banking system as it now 
 exists, should be changed, and the national bank should 
 be abolished, and there should be substituted govern- 
 ment banking either direct or through municipalities 
 similar to that of France. 
 
 The government of France does its own banking, 
 through the postoffice and through municipal banks 
 operated under government supervision. I have a let- 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 105 
 
 ter from a Counsel General, representing the French 
 government, and he states that at each postoffice 
 throughout France, there is a window devoted to no 
 other purpose than to receive the funds of the people ; 
 and the funds so deposited, draw a rate of interest, that 
 would equal about two per cent in American money, 
 and the depositors can draw their funds at any time 
 they deem proper, principal and interest. 
 
 The French government also incorporates municipal 
 banks under government control, where the people can 
 always borrow money at a rate of interest, which 
 would equal about three per cent per annum in Ameri- 
 can money, and the funds are always on hand to ac- 
 commodate the people, if they have the security for the 
 loan. Why not have a similar system in America? 
 
 There is nothing to hinder a county or a city in 
 America (having the necessary population and proper- 
 ty valuation) from organizing a banking department 
 and getting its circulating notes from the government 
 the same as do the national banks at the present time ; 
 and at a rate of interest (which the government calls 
 a tax) of one-fourth of one per cent semi-annually, or 
 one-half of one per cent per annum, on the notes in 
 circulation. 
 
 Suppose Coffeyville with her 18,000 population and 
 property valuation assessed at $11,000,000 should con- 
 clude to organize a banking department for the city, 
 which can be done as easily as organizing a water or 
 electric light department, or the department of trans- 
 portation. 
 
 On a proper application from the City of Coffey- 
 ville, the government of the United States would char- 
 ter a banking department for the city, and issue cir- 
 culating notes to the amount of say, ten per cent of the 
 assessed valuation of the city, and authorize the bank- 
 ing department of the city to loan these funds at three 
 per cent per annum in such amounts as the business of 
 
106 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 the people may require. Under such a system, if a per- 
 son needs money and has the security for the loan, he 
 will borrow the needed funds from the banking depart- 
 ment of the city, and use it so long as it would net him 
 a margin above three per cent per annum; and when 
 it does not do so, he will return it to the banking depart- 
 ment of the city, and the people will have an elastic 
 currency, conforming to the natural law of supply and 
 demand, and the municipality would get the benefit of 
 the difference in interest between the one-half of one 
 per cent paid to the government for the use of the 
 money, and the three per cent interest on the loans 
 made to the people. 
 
 The City of Coffeyville like all other cities is in 
 debt. It owes about $700,000, on which it pays an 
 annual interest of six per cent, or in round numbers 
 $42,000 per annum. These bonds, I presume will run 
 on an average thirty years or more, for municipalities 
 are not paying their indebtedness, but going deeper in 
 debt, which policy will probably continue for many 
 years. In fact, as long as the city is growing and ex- 
 tending its limits into undeveloped territory. 
 
 Let us take the bonded indebtedness of the City of 
 Coffeyville, $700,000, and compute the interest upon 
 this for the period of thirty years at six per cent per 
 annum, and we have a total in principal and interest 
 that the city must pay of $1,960,000. This sum in- 
 cludes the principal of the bonds $700,000 and $1,260,- 
 000 in interest. 
 
 Now suppose the city would organize a banking de- 
 partment and carry these bonds herself, instead of al- 
 lowing the banking and trust companies to do so. By 
 organizing the banking department, the city would get 
 the $700,000 from the government at one-half of one 
 per cent per annum, which would equal $3,500 a year ; 
 and in thirty years, the amount paid by the city to the 
 government for the use of its money, would amount to 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 107 
 
 $105,000, while the interest upon the bonds at six per 
 cent for the thirty years, would be $1,260,000 ; and if 
 we now deduct the $105,000 paid to the government for 
 the use of the money, from the $1,260,000 of interest 
 paid on the bonds, we would have a balance of $1,165,- 
 000 standing to the credit of the banking department 
 of the city. Now if we should take the amount of the 
 bonds $700,000 from the $1,165,000 we have a net bal- 
 ance of $465,000 to the credit of the city after wiping 
 out all indebtedness. Hence, municipal banking in 
 thirty years would pay the entire bonds of the city, 
 principal and interest, and would leave a net balance 
 in the banking department of the city of nearly half 
 a million dollars — saved to the city, by the difference in 
 the rate of interest. Would not such a system be much 
 better for the people than to allow these vast sums of 
 money to go to increase the millions in the bank mer- 
 ger, controlled by Morgan, Rockefeller and others? 
 Think about it, and discuss it with your neighbors. 
 
 Under a proper law, the government of the United 
 States could furnish this money to the municipal banks 
 as easily as it now furnishes to the national banks, and 
 the municipal banks could use the same sort of currency 
 that the national banks now use, or could use United 
 States treasury notes, and all of this currency, whether 
 national bank or treasury notes, would be government 
 obligations, just the same as is the currency now fur- 
 nished to the national banks, and which is proposed to 
 be furnished to the bank, under the Aldrich plan. 
 
 A municipal system of banking would even be more 
 safe than the present banking system, or the plans pro- 
 posed by the Aldrich monetary commission; and the 
 money could not be cornered and business depressed, 
 and the amount in circulation would be governed by 
 the demand, and there would never be any more panics 
 in the United States, and no bank mergers or failures ; 
 and there would be no discrimination shown by the 
 municipal banks between individual borrowers. Why 
 
108 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 should not Congress enact a law," authorizing govern- 
 ment banking through the postoffice and municipali- 
 ties as herein outlined, and settle the currency question 
 for all time? 
 
 Under such a system of banking, the City of New- 
 York (which is referred to as being unable to ever pay 
 its debts) could establish a banking department with as 
 many branches as would be necessary for the conven- 
 ience of its people, and by the saving in interest alone 
 on her vast indebtedness, would pay off all of her obli- 
 gations in a few years and would be free of debt ; and 
 other cities could do the same, and with municipal bank- 
 ing for counties and cities, with such branches as the 
 convenience of business demands, would be solved the 
 currency question for all time in the interests of the 
 people, and would put the business of the country be- 
 yond the influence and control of the banks. 
 
 The banks are now forcing the money issue upon 
 the people, and will attempt, it is alleged, to coerce 
 Congress in the passage of a bill organizing the seven 
 thousand national banks into one great merger, oper- 
 ated under a single head, as proposed by the Aldrich 
 plan. 
 
 The means to be employed by the banks, to force 
 Congress as appears from a circular is to gradually 
 draw in the bank loans, cease to discount commercial 
 paper, create a money stringency, force property upon 
 the market in payment of debts, and thereby depress 
 prices and cause stagnation in business, resulting in 
 the closing down of factories and the throwing of large 
 numbers of people out of employment; and it is sug- 
 gested that the carrying into effect of these measures, 
 will bring a sufficient pressure to bear upon Congress 
 to force it to enact a law giving force and effect to the 
 Aldrich plan of banking; and the press will probably 
 be subsidized to publish articles in the interest of the 
 banks but none in the interest of the people, as was the 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 109 
 
 case in the fights for the rechartering of the United 
 State bank. 
 
 These measures proposed, to force the hands of 
 Congress are certainly heroic, and indicate that the 
 contest will be fierce; but if so, it will be the sooner 
 over, and the fight can be made at this time with less 
 inconvenience and loss to the people than perhaps at 
 any future period ; and it is to be hoped that the peo- 
 ple and Congress will not be frightened or coerced into 
 supporting a bank merger of any description ; but will 
 accept the gage of battle thrown down by the banks, 
 and defeat their propositions, and establish govern- 
 ment banking, (in lieu of the national banking system) 
 either direct or through municipal banks, which will 
 give to the people the profits on the issue of circulat- 
 ing notes, and the benefits of an elastic currency that 
 cannot be cornered, and will do away with panics ; and 
 forever divorce the business of the people from the 
 influence and control of the banks, and will thereby 
 insure prosperity to the people for all time. Let the 
 people unite upon this one issue of government bank- 
 ing, and stay with it, and success is assured. 
 
 As fast as progressive government clubs are formed, 
 a report should be made to some person designated 
 hereafter until such time as a general conference is 
 called and a national organization affected with head- 
 quarters at which to report. 
 
110 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 THE GAS QUESTION. 
 
 This appendix contains the circulars issued in the 
 campaign on the gas question in the City of Coffeyville 
 in the spring of 1911, and no changes have been made 
 in either except that the circulars are numbered as 
 appears in the brackets at the top of the page. 
 
 The law is quoted in the circulars, provides that the 
 city can fix maximum rates for gas, and after trying in 
 vain to get the city officers to fix a maximum rate, I 
 concluded in 1909, to be a candidate for City Attorney 
 on this issue and ascertain the sentiment of the people, 
 and the platform on which I made my campaign is 
 contained in Circular No. 1, and I ran 973 ahead of my 
 ticket and was elected. 
 
 I prepared an ordinance after my election, fixing 
 maximum rates for gas and put it up to the Mayor and 
 Council to pass, but it was voted down by a large ma- 
 jority. The city then adopted the commission form of 
 government, which made it possible for the citizens 
 to frame an ordinance and attach it to a petition signed 
 by not less than twenty-five per cent of the voters of 
 the city and present it to the commissioners and the 
 commissioners must either pass the ordinance without 
 amendment or submit it to a vote of the people within 
 twenty days. 
 
 After the commission form of government had been 
 adopted, I prepared an ordinance fixing maximum rates 
 for gas. The rate for factories being 3 cents per 
 thousand cubic feet and the rate for domestic purposes 
 I2V2 cents per thousand cubic feet, and there was at- 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 1 1 1 
 
 tached to this ordinance a petition signed by fifty-six 
 per cent of the voters of the city and the commissioners 
 adopted the ordinance as the sentiment of the people 
 seemd so overwhelmingly in favor of it that it seemed 
 useless to submit it to a vote. 
 
 The gas company then filed its petition in the United 
 States District Court, for an injunction to enjoin the 
 city from putting in effect the rates established by the 
 ordinance, and a temporary injunction was granted 
 pending the final hearing of the complaint, and while 
 the case was still pending in the United States Court, 
 the spring election of 1911 came. 
 
 The City Attorney was not an elective officer under 
 the commission form of government, so I went to sev- 
 eral of the candidates for Mayor and asked them to 
 make the gas question an issue, and some of them 
 promised to do so if no other candidates did. 
 
 I waited for them to announce themselves upon 
 this question until a few days before the primary when 
 I again called upon them and asked if they would 
 make the gas question an issue, but they refused to do 
 so, as they did not want to antagonize the gas company. 
 I then told them that the people should have an op- 
 portunity to express themselves upon this question, 
 and I had concluded if no other candidate would run 
 upon this issue, that I would be a candidate solely for 
 the purpose of submitting this question to the people, 
 and I thereupon entered the field with this object in 
 view. 
 
 I made no canvass, and told the people not to vote 
 for me on personal grounds, but vote solely upon the 
 gas question, and that a vote for me was to continue 
 the fight that seemed nearly won for the city, and that 
 a vote for the other candidates was an instruction to 
 me not to continue the fight and agree on the part of 
 the city to make the temporary injunction permanent 
 as per my instruction from the city commissioners, and 
 thus end the contest. 
 
112 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 The campaign that resulted was the most active 
 ever known in the history of the city and the gas com- 
 pany made concessions to the factories, as I am in- 
 formed by the management, and the factories made 
 the fight for the gas company and were successful, and 
 the gas company was endorsed by a large majority, 
 and in accordance with the vote of the people, I made 
 the temporary injunction against the city permanent 
 and the ordinance adopted by the city fixing maximum 
 rates for gas, was thereby annulled. 
 
 In this connection, it is but fair to state, that the 
 City of Coffeyville has a large floating vote consisting 
 of men temporarily employed in the factories and in 
 addition to this, about one-fifth of the vote of the city 
 is colored. The next day after the election, a merchant 
 of the First Ward of this city called at my office and 
 paid his bill of $15.00, and I noticed the payment con- 
 sisted of fifteen crisp new one dollar bills, silver cer- 
 tificates. I asked him. where he got these bills as they 
 were uncommon and he told me he took them in 
 in the course of business the day before (the day of 
 the primary) and the night following. I asked him 
 how many of these bills he had taken in and he said 
 he had not countetd them, but he would say one hun- 
 dred and perhaps more. I asked him if he had ever 
 received one dollar bills before in large numbers and 
 he said this was the first time in the course of business 
 he had received one dollar bills. That silver dollars 
 was the kind of money that he generally received in 
 the course of business and $1.00 bills were seldomly re- 
 ceived, and that he did no call to mind that he had ever 
 before received crisp, new one dollar bills. I asked 
 him from whom he received these one dollar bills and 
 he said principally from colored people, but that he 
 received some of them from the whites. 
 
 I then investigated and found that the other mer- 
 chants had received these bills in large numbers and 
 one druggist had taken in in the course of business, 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 113 
 
 during the day of the primary and the night following 
 one hundred and eleven of these bills. 
 
 I had thirteen of my one dollar bills remaining of 
 the fifteen that were paid me by the merchant and I 
 sent these to Governor Stubbs of Topeka and asked 
 that the matter be investigated, and that the person or 
 corporation guilty of buying votes be ascertained and 
 prosecuted to the full extent of the law. 
 
 The governor ordered the investigation and I have 
 received word from the attorney general and the detec- 
 tive agency of the state, that the investigation will be 
 made in the near future, but in the meantime, I sent 
 the numbers of many of these bills to the Treasurer of 
 the United States and asked him to ascertain to whom 
 these bills were sent. He did so and informed me they 
 were sent to the gas interests in another city about 
 twenty-five miles distant in Oklahoma, and the ques- 
 tion suggests itself, how did they find their way to Cof- 
 feyville on the day of this primary in such large quan- 
 tities? Of course, we have our opinion and many facts 
 to sustain it, but will wait for the investigation on the 
 part of the state. 
 
 This case is given somewhat in detail that the peo- 
 ple may understand what they will have to contend 
 against in trying to regulate and control public service 
 corporations, and it will be observed that not one state- 
 ment in my circulars have been denied, as the facts are 
 in my possession to sustain every allegation, and yet, 
 the people voted by a large majority to sustain the gas 
 company to the detriment of themselves, their families 
 and the city in general. 
 
1 14 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 (Circular No. 1, 1909.) 
 
 TO THE VOTERS OF COFFEYVILLE 
 
 I am a candidate for the office of City Attorney, on 
 the Independent ticket, and as it will be impossible for 
 me to see all the voters, I address you this circular, 
 which embodies my platform. 
 
 / am in favor of a greater and more prosperous Cof- 
 fey ville, and realize, if our city is to grow and become 
 great, conditions must be changed, and made more 
 favorable to the laboring people, for after all is said, it 
 is the "bucket brigade" that makes a prosperous city, 
 and we should not lose sight of this fact in our desires 
 to advance the city's interests. 
 
 At Independence, gas for stoves is furnished at the 
 flat rate of $1.00 a month per stove; and lights for 
 5 cents each per month ; and Independence has a tele- 
 phone service at $1.00 per month for residence phones, 
 and $2.00 for business phones per month. 
 
 At Dearing, the smelter rate for stoves is $1.00 per 
 month, and 10 cents per light; and at Mound Valley, 
 from $1.00 to $1.50 per stove, and 10 cents for the first 
 light, and 5 cents for each additional light ; and if you 
 will compare these rates with the rates that prevail in 
 Coffeyville, it is apparent that there is something 
 wrong, and there is a lack of a "Square Deal," some- 
 where. 
 
 The law is ample to protect the people of Coffey- 
 ville against excessive gas and telephone rates, and I 
 have called the attention of two Mayors and several 
 councilmen of our city to the law, but could get no 
 action. 
 
 SECTION 784 OF THE GENERAL STATUTES OF 
 
 1905 READS' AS FOLLOWS: 
 The Mayor and Council shall have the power by 
 Ordinance : 
 "To prescribe and fix maximum rates and charges, 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 115 
 
 and regulate the collection of the same, for all water, 
 electric light, heat, potver, gas, telephone service or 
 any other commodity or service furnished to such city 
 or to any of the inhabitants thereof by any person or 
 corporation now authorized by such city by virtue of a 
 franchise ordinance, or that may hereafter be author- 
 ized by virtue of a franchise ordinance, to furnish 
 water, electric light, heat, potver, gas or telephone ser- 
 vice, or any other commodity or service, to such city 
 or its inhabitants. The rates and charges so prescribed 
 sliall at all times be reasonable and just; and if any 
 city shall fix unreasonable and unjust rates and 
 charges, the same may, at the instance of any producer 
 or consumer, be reviewed and determined by the dis- 
 trict court of the county in which such city is situated" 
 
 This law has been in full force and effect for several 
 years, and while Independence acted under this law, 
 and fixed maximum rates for her public service cor- 
 porations, nothing has been done on this line in the 
 City of Coffeyville. WHY NOT? 
 
 If I am elected to the office of City Attorney, I 
 shall frame an ordinance fixing just and reasonable 
 maximum rates on gas and telephone service, and put 
 it up to the Mayor and Council to pass it ; and if I am 
 elected upon this issue, it will show the sentiment of 
 the people, and I have no doubt but that the Mayor 
 and Council will pass the ordinance. 
 
 I was told if I made this question as issue in my 
 campaign, I would be defeated, but I have disregarded 
 the warning, and have made it an issue just the same. 
 ''The die is cast," and it is now up to the people to 
 decide whether they want such an ordinance or not. 
 
 A VOTE FOR ME IS A VOTE FOR THIS ORDINANCE. 
 
 In this connection I want to say a word to the 
 women; they are interested in the home and its wel- 
 fare and should have more power to protect it. They 
 should have equal privileges with men, including the 
 right to vote on all questions. Why not? They have 
 to live under the same government, pay their taxes 
 and are amenable to the law equally with men. I hope 
 they will all vote at this election, and if Judge Snelling 
 does not want their votes (and I suppose he does not) 
 then I wish they would pass to the Independent ticket, 
 
116 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 and put a cross in the square to the right of my name, 
 and I shall certainly appreciate their kindness and they 
 will not regret their vote in the future years. 
 
 Now, I want to say a word to the Republicans who 
 are in the habit of voting a straight ticket. If you put 
 a cross in the circle at the head of your ticket, you 
 have done all the necessary marking in voting a 
 straight ticket. Now, if you will pass to the Independ- 
 ent ticket, and put a cross in the square to the right 
 of my name, then your ticket will be counted for the 
 entire Republican ticket except City Attorney, and 
 your ballot will be for me for that office. Don't you 
 think you had better vote in this manner? Judge 
 Snelling almost distanced me in the primary race, but 
 I want to come under the wire first this time, and 
 "score" and want you to help me. Will you do it? 
 
 Respectfully submitted, 
 
 GEORGE CAMPBELL. 
 
15V GEORGE CAMPBELL 
 
 117 
 
 (Circular No. 2, 1911.) 
 
 UNCLE SAM: Well, I reckon the progressive 
 movement has burst the shell of the two old parties, 
 and it does not look as though it could be put back. 
 It is a strong fledgling and will no doubt cause corpor- 
 ate greed a vast amount of trouble. 
 
 The question involved, is whether the natural man, 
 or special interests are to rule this nation, and the 
 forces are now gathering for a final contest, that will 
 shake the continent. 
 
118 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 Kansas will, no doubt, be the storm center in this 
 movement, as it has been in all other movements, for 
 the betterment of conditions. 
 
 Do you know, that the first time in history, that 
 corporate wealth was ever defeated by the people, was 
 in Kansas; and the case is known as the OSAGE 
 CEDED LAND CASE, and involved the title to 800,000 
 acres of land, lying mostly in Labette and Neosho 
 counties. 
 
 The M., K. & T. Railway Company, and the L., L. 
 & G. Railway Company had procured from the gov- 
 ernment of the United States patents to these lands, 
 and they wanted the settlers to pay the full value of 
 these lands, and also for the improvements placed 
 thereon by the settlers; and after many attempts to 
 compromise without success, the settlers organized 
 "THE SETTLERS' PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION," 
 and prepared to fight the case in the courts, and after 
 many reverses, they succeeded in having the Supreme 
 Court of the United States set aside these patents, and 
 the settlers recovered the lands worth about seven mil- 
 lion dollars. 
 
 The question that is now being fought out by Cof- 
 feyville against the gas company, does not alone con- 
 cern the people of Coffeyville, but there is a principle 
 involved that effects, to a greater or less extent, near- 
 ly every city in the state, and they are looking to Cof- 
 feyville; and many are asking the question "has the 
 people of Coffeyville the spirit of those hardy pioneers 
 of the early seventies," that successfully contended 
 against the railway companies for their homes? 
 
 The legal contest now being waged between the 
 City of Coffeyville and the gas company, is being taken 
 up by the other cities and letters have been received 
 from New York, Chicago, Kansas City and other 
 points, inquiring about the questions involved in this 
 suit; and it now looks as if the gas question was fast 
 becoming a state, and in a minor degree, a national 
 question; as gas is an article of fuel, of nearly equal 
 importance to that of coal, and the people have a 
 vested interest in these natural properties, and state 
 and national aid should be invoked in their conserva- 
 tion to the people. 
 
 Kansas sounded the alarm in 1860, that aroused 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 119 
 
 the nation and struck the shackles from nearly four 
 million slaves and destiny is again knocking at her door 
 and demanding a solution of the fuel question, especial- 
 ly as it applies to gas, and Kansas bids fair to become 
 the storm center of the new progressive movement, 
 that is born to CONSERVE OUR NATURAL RE- 
 SOURCES and to bring industrial freedom to the peo- 
 ple, and limit the power of aggregated wealth. 
 
 The question is now up to the Coffeyville voter to 
 say whether he favors the people or the Gas Company. 
 
 MAKE YOUR PREFERENCE KNOWN ON 
 ELECTION DAY. 
 
 THE GAS QUESTION 
 
 To the People of Coffeyville: 
 
 About two years ago, I was a candidate for the 
 office of City Attorney, and the main issue was the GAS 
 question, and I compared the prices of gas in Coffey- 
 ville with those of Independence, furnished by the same 
 company, and showed that in Coffeyville the people 
 were paying nearly four times the price, that was be- 
 ing paid at Independence, and I stated if elected, I 
 would prepare an ordinance correcting these abuses, 
 and put it up to the Mayor and Council to pass. I was 
 elected, and prepared the ordinance under section 1273 
 of the Compiled Laws of 1909, which reads as follows : 
 
 "A CITY OF THE FIRST-CLASS HAS THE POWER 
 
 "To prescribe and fix maximum rates and charges 
 and regulate the collection of the same for all 
 water, electric light, heat, power, gas, telephone 
 service or any other commodity or service fur- 
 nished to such city, or to any of the inhabitants 
 thereof, by any person or corporation now author- 
 ized by such city by virtue of a franchise ordi- 
 
120 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 nance or laws of this state, or that may hereafter 
 be authorized by virtue of a franchise ordinance 
 or laws of this state, to furnish water, electric 
 light, heat, power or telephone service, or any 
 other commodity or service to such city or to its 
 inhabitants. The rates and charges so prescribed 
 shall at all times be reasonable and just and if any 
 city shall fix unreasonable or unjust rates and 
 charges, the same may, at the instance of any pro- 
 ducer or consumer be reviewed and determined by 
 the District Court of the county in which such 
 city is situated." 
 
 This law seemed sufficient to enable the city to 
 correct these abuses, and I framed the ordinance with 
 this object in view, but it was voted down by the Mayor 
 and Council. 
 
 The commission form of government was later 
 adopted by the city, and I again framed an ordinance 
 covering these discriminations, and this ordinance was 
 forced through the commission by petition, but before 
 it went into effect, the city was enjoined by the United 
 States District Court and the injunction was issued on 
 the ground, that the ordinance was "confiscatory of the 
 company's property" in not allowing the company a 
 sufficient revenue to pay operating expenses and ten 
 per cent upon the capital invested, which sums the law 
 says a reasonable rate must provide for. 
 
 You will note in this connection, that the law quoted 
 above says, that the rates fixed by the ordinance shall 
 be "reasonable," and that if any city shall fix unreason- 
 able and unjust rates, the same may at the instance of 
 any producer or consumer, be reviewed and determined 
 by the District Court of the county in which such city 
 is situated. 
 
 This law clearly contemplates, that the appeal shall 
 be taken from the city to the District Court of the 
 county, but the gas company ignored this provision of 
 the state law, and filed its suit in the United States Dis- 
 trict Court, and Judge Pollock ruled that he had juris- 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 121 
 
 diction to hear this case, and that the question pre- 
 sented was whether or not the price of gas fixed by the 
 city ordinance was, confiscatory, in not providing a suf- 
 ficient revenue to meet the fixed charges above men- 
 tioned. 
 
 The gas company holds a franchise from the city 
 granted several years ago, which gives the company the 
 right to install meters (at the expense of the company) 
 and in accordance with the terms of this franchise, I 
 provided in the city ordinance for flat rates and meter 
 rates, and the city was very liberal with the company 
 in the fixing of rates, and gave it a larger price for gas, 
 than in equity the company was entitled to receive. 
 
 The meter rate fixed by the ordinance, is 12V&C per 
 thousand cubic feet for gas for domestic purposes, and 
 3c per thousand cubic feet for gas for factory purposes, 
 and the gas company was at the time and is now fur- 
 nishing gas to the citzens of Independence at Sc per 
 thousand cubic feet for domestic purposes, and as low 
 as 2V2C per thousand cubic feet for factory purposes, 
 and if the persons who are using the gas for domestic 
 purposes in Independence, pay their bills before the 
 tenth of the succeeding month, they get a discount of 
 3c per thousand cubic feet, making the actual rate on 
 gas for domestic purposes in the city of Independence 
 5c per thousand cubic feet, while in Coffeyville, the peo- 
 ple pay 20c per thousand cubic feet to the same com- 
 pany. 
 
 The ordinance framed by the City of Coffeyville, 
 allows 12V2C per thousand cubic feet, meter measure, 
 for all gas used for doemtsic purposes, and yet, the 
 company's officers swear this rate is confiscatory, and 
 will not net a sufficient revenue to pay operating ex- 
 penses and ten per cent on the capital invested, which 
 two items the court says, a reasonable rate must pro- 
 vide for. 
 
 We have a Kansas statute, paragraph 5162 of the 
 
122 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 Compiled laws of 1909, that is known as the anti-trust 
 law of Kansas, which reads as follows : 
 
 "Any person, firm or corporation, foreign or 
 domestic, doing business in the State of Kansas, 
 and engaged in the production, manufacture or 
 distribution of any commodity in general use, that 
 shall intentionally, for the purpose of destroying 
 competition, discriminate between different sec- 
 tions, communities or cities of this state, by sell- 
 ing such commodity at a lower rate in one section, 
 community or city or any portion thereof, than is 
 charged for such commodity in another section, 
 community or city, after equalizing the distance 
 from the point of production, manufacture or dis- 
 tribution and freight rates therefrom, shall be 
 deemed guilty of unfair discrimination." 
 
 The penalty for the violation of this law is set 
 forth in section 5,165 of the Compiled Laws of 1909, 
 and reads : 
 
 "Any person, firm or corporation, violating the 
 provisions of this act, upon conviction thereof, 
 shall forfeit to the State of Kansas, the sum of not 
 less than two hundred dollars for each and every 
 violation of this act ; said sum to be recovered by 
 a suit in the name of the State of Kansas, in any 
 court of competent jurisdiction by the attorney 
 general/' 
 
 In accordance with the provisions of said law, I filed 
 a complaint with the attorney general against the gas 
 company alleging discrimination against the City of 
 Coffeyville in the sale of gas, and showed there was no 
 good reason why Coffeyville should not receive gas as 
 cheaply as Independence, as it is in the gas field and 
 equally accessible. 
 
 The attorney general investigated the matter, and 
 the gas company raised the price of gas at Independ- 
 ence to conform to the price in Coffeyville, but was im- 
 mediately enjoined from putting this rate into effect, 
 and as a result, Independence is paying the same price 
 for gas that it paid heretofore, 5c per thousand cubic 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 123 
 
 feet for domestic purposes, and whether the company 
 had itself enjoined to evade the provisions of the anti- 
 trust law of Kansas, and enable it to continue its dis- 
 crimination against the City of Coffeyville, the reader 
 can draw his own conclusion. 
 
 The gas company states in its petition filed in the 
 United States District Court, that it was the intention 
 of the company at that time to charge the City of Cof- 
 feyville 25c per thousand cubic feet for gas for domes- 
 tic purposes, and that this rate was to go into effect 
 immediately, and stated, the company would charge an 
 additional sum of 2%c per thousand cubic feet if the 
 gas bills were not paid on or before the tenth of the 
 succeeding month; and that this rate for gas was a 
 reasonable rate for the City of Coffeyville to pay, and 
 would not more than create a sufficient sum to defray 
 the operating expenses of the plant including repairs, 
 and ten per cent on the capital invested. 
 
 The records in this case show, that the people of 
 Coffeyville are paying the gas company for gas for 
 domestic purposes, the sum of $95,032.52 per year, and 
 for mill purposes the sum of $75,792.53 per year, but 
 the revenues derived from the sale of gas for all other 
 purposes while it must be large, the city has not been 
 able to get the exact amount, but on the two items, 
 domestic and (mill purposes, we pay an aggregate sum 
 of $170,825.05 per annum, and yet, the company says, 
 that this sum is not sufficient to pay the operating ex- 
 penses including repairs, and ten per cent upon the 
 capital invested, and wants to raise the rate to 25c 
 per thousand cubic feet. 
 
 The records in this case show that the total ex- 
 penses in the operation of the Coffeyville gas plant in- 
 cluding repairs, extensions, salaries, taxes, etc., is 
 $38,400 per annum; and, adding to this the ten per 
 cent on the capital invested, which at the outside 
 figures would not be more than $25,000, and these two 
 
124 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 sums, aggregated make a total sum of $63,400 per an- 
 num, and this sum according to the company's records 
 should only be collected from the people of Coffeyville 
 on all the gas consumed, to meet the fixed charges, thai 
 the court says a reasonable rate must provide for ; and 
 in allowing ten per cent on the capital invested I have 
 estimated the actual investment at $250,000, while the 
 sworn statement of the officers of the company show 
 the total plant is worth but $133,000 as listed for 
 taxation. 
 
 Now, if we take the $63,400 from the $170,825.05 
 we have a surplus, after paying all these fixed cJiarges, 
 and ten per cent upon the capital invested of 
 $107,825.05 per year; yet the company contends that 
 this sum is insufficient and wants to raise the price to 
 to 25c per thousand cubic feet ; and in this connection 
 it says that the city ordinance is confiscatory of their 
 property rights, when as a matter of fact, the rates 
 fixed by the Coffeyville ordinance will provide a fund 
 of more than $120,000 per annum, and the reasonable 
 rate need only provide $63,400. 
 
 The injunction proceedings, brought against the 
 City of Coffeyville to annul the Coffeyville ordinance, 
 was filed something like six months ago, and of course, 
 it seems to those that are not aware of the questions 
 involved, that this case ought to have been disposed of 
 some time ago, but we must bear in mind that there is 
 more than a million dollars involved, when we take 
 into consideration the life of the franchise; and that 
 such a case can not be successfully tried without a large 
 amount of preparation, in the examination of the law, 
 and the taking of testimony ; and it is not an easy mat- 
 ter to always procure the testimony needed in a case of 
 this magnitude, but good progress has been made in 
 the preparation of the case, and a large amount of 
 record and other testimony has been taken, and the 
 case can be disposed of in the near future ; and the city 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 125 
 
 ought and I think will win, as both the law and equity 
 is with the city; as the company, in its franchise 
 agrees to furnish the gas at a reasonable rate, not to 
 exceed the limit placed in the franchise. 
 
 Rumors have been set afloat that this case has cost 
 the city a large amount of money, but I want to say in 
 reply, that the entire expenses of the legal department 
 of the city under my administration has been only 
 about $160 for the year, and from this fund has been 
 paid all the expenses incurred in this case, in procuring 
 the transcripts of records, taking testimony, and all 
 other expenses of my department, including all other 
 cases; and when we take into consideration that the 
 gas rate has remained 20c per thousand cubic feet dur- 
 ing the pendency of this action instead of 25c per 
 thousand cubic feet, the rate that was to have been 
 charged by the company, the suit has been a good thing 
 for the people of Coffeyville, and has saved them at 
 least $25,000 in the price of their gas. 
 
 I have been to a great extent handicapped in the 
 preparation and the conduct of this litigation, as it is 
 claimed I am not representing the city, but am trying 
 to force upon the people a litigation that they are op- 
 posed to, when as a matter of fact, I am merely defend- 
 ing the rights of the city. 
 
 Some of the leading members of the Chamber of 
 Commerce have made these representations to me and 
 also some of the leading members of the Merchants' 
 Organization, and the Mayor and some of the members 
 of the City Commission of Coffeyville, seem to take the 
 same view, and say, they believe a majority of the peo- 
 ple are against me, and I was directed by the Mayor to 
 consent on the part of the City for the court to make the 
 injuetion against the City permanent and thus, annul 
 the City Ordinance. 
 
 I told the Mayor I could not do this and stated if 
 the proposition was submitted to the people, and they 
 
126 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 directed me by their vote to do so, I would cheerfully 
 comply with their wishes, as I considered this a matter 
 resting wholly with the people of Coffeyville, and not 
 with the officers ; and that they had a right to be heard 
 before any such action was taken. 
 
 Sometime after this, I talked to some leading at- 
 torneys in Fort Scott, and went over the records of this 
 case with them, and they are considered among the 
 ablest attorneys of the state, and have a large practice 
 in the United States courts, and these attorneys stated 
 they would assist me in this case, and in the further 
 proceedings necessary in recovering from the gas com- 
 pany, what is due the city, for the use of the streets ; 
 and that if the city would allow them a reasonable com- 
 mission on what they collected, they would indemnify 
 the city against all costs; and I laid this proposition 
 before the Mayor and Commisison, and the Mayor 
 stated the gas company did not owe the city anything, 
 and the same idea was advanced by some of the Com- 
 missioners present, and the Mayor stated that the Com- 
 missioners had unanimously agreed that I should go to 
 Kansas City before the court and consent that this in- 
 junction he made permanent against the City of Cof- 
 fey vile, and it was stated that a resolution had been 
 prepared to officially instruct me to do so, and that I 
 was under the control of the City Commisison and that 
 this was their order and they wanted it complied with. 
 
 There is no doubt that under the commission form 
 of government, the City Attorney is subject to the or- 
 ders of the Board of Commissioners, as the law says in 
 so many words, "That the City Attorney shall be under 
 the immediate control of the City Commission," but 
 while I realize the force of the Commission's position, 
 I felt that this was a matter that ought to be placed 
 before the people, and that I was not justified in tak- 
 ing these steps unless ordered to do so by a vote of the 
 people. 
 
 The position, taken by the Mayor and Commission- 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 127 
 
 ers in this case, while it has placed me at great disad- 
 vantage with the court, there are grounds for their 
 belief that a majority of the people are against me. 
 It will be remembered that thirteen hundred petitioners 
 stated in substance that they were satisfied with the 
 treatment from the gas company, and wanted the ordi- 
 nance annulled; a similar request was made, so I am 
 informed, by the Chamber of Commerce, and by the 
 Merchants' organization of the city, and when the mat- 
 ter is presented to the court that thirteen hundred peti- 
 tioners, the Chamber of Commerce, the Merchants' 
 organization and the City Commision are all against 
 me, and they represent to the court that I am trying 
 to force upon the people what they do not want, it is 
 easy to comprehend the effect this will have upon the 
 court; and if the City Commissioners would say in 
 their resolution, they wanted the injunction made per- 
 manent, and that the power to represent the city in this 
 action, had been taken from me by the Board of Com- 
 misisoners, would not the court under these circum- 
 stances deny me a hearing and make the injunction 
 permanent in accordance with the sentiment of the 
 resolution passed by the City Commission? 
 
 I do not like to be guilty of insubordination, but I 
 feel in this instance, that I ought to be instructed by a 
 vote of the people, if this injunction is to be made 
 permanent; and under no condition would I consent 
 for the injunction to be made permanent, unless the 
 proposition had first been submitted to the people and 
 they had so instructed me by their votes. 
 
 I have waited now until the fourth of March, to see 
 if a candidate for Mayor would announce himself in a 
 manner to make the gas question an issue, but none 
 have so announced themselves up to this time ; and in 
 order to get the sentiment of the people upon this prop- 
 osition, I shall be a candidate for Mayor at the ap- 
 proaching election, tuith this question as my platform, 
 
128 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 and those that are in favor of sustaining the city in this 
 action, and in recovering from the gas company what 
 justly belongs to the city under the franchise, and who 
 believe that the gas company should be controlled and 
 that a supply of gas under the proper pressure should 
 be provided for the people, the same as in Kansas City, 
 should vote for me; and those that believe the injunc- 
 tion should be made permanent and the city should lie 
 down, and not defend or protect its rights should vote 
 against me, and in case a majority are against me I 
 will obey the will of the people and appear in the 
 United States District Court and consent that the in- 
 junction be made permanent. 
 
 I have done a large amount of work in this case, 
 and while I do not like to abandon it, yet, if the people 
 say by their ballot, that it is their will that this injunc- 
 tion be made permanent, and all my labor be lost, I 
 shall cheerfully yield to their instructions, but if the 
 people endorse my action by their ballot, then in the 
 words of General Grant "I shall fight it out on this line 
 if it takes all summer," and I have no doubt as to the 
 result, if the people are backing my action. 
 
 To counteract some of the unkind things that have 
 been mentioned I desire to say, that if elected to the 
 position of Mayor, I shall endeavor to do my whole 
 duty to the city, and shall give to the people, an ener- 
 getic, clean, conservative administration, and shall see 
 that the expenses of the city are kept within its reve- 
 nue, and shall endeavor to so manage its affairs that 
 there will be a surplus instead of a deficit in the de- 
 partments of the city government, and shall endeavor 
 to make corporations pay for the use of the streets, as 
 Kansas City is now doing, having recently instituted 
 a suit to recover $280,000 for the use of the streets. 
 
 I do not intend by this to involve the city in expen- 
 sive litigation in settling these questions, but I know 
 of able firms of attorneys, who will take these cases 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 1 29 
 
 on a reasonable percentage of what they recover for 
 the city, and will indemnify the city against all costs 
 and expenses. 
 
 If elected, I shall also ascertain from reliable sources 
 the cost of installing a gas plant to be owned by the 
 city, and after the facts are all marshalled, I shall then 
 call public meetings at which this and other questions 
 will be discussed, and if in the judgment of the people, 
 after knowing all the facts, it is thought to be to the 
 best interest of the city that a plant be installed, so the 
 city can offer inducements to factories to locate here, 
 the proposition will then be submitted to the people for 
 their action, and from the information now at hand, it 
 seems highly probable, that a gas plant can be estab- 
 lished without one cent of cost to the taxpayers of the 
 city, and that the entire expense, can be paid from the 
 profits upon the gas. 
 
 The city is now making some experiments with ref- 
 erence to gas development, and has a few gas wells, 
 some of which are coupled with the waterworks plant 
 of the city, and in a few days, the electric light plant 
 will also be operated with city gas. 
 
 If the city had created a debt for the costs of drill- 
 ing the wells, piping the gas, paying the royalties, pay- 
 ing interest upon the money, etc., after paying all these 
 expenses and providing for the payment of the entire 
 debt in four years with interest upon the same, and all 
 running expenses, it brings the price of gas that the 
 city has now developed at a little less than four-tenths 
 of a cent for each one thousand cubic feet, and the city 
 is offered eight thousand acres of approved gas land 
 with many strong producing wells near by, and can 
 lease this land at a nominal price, and there are many 
 other tracts within approved gas territory, and of easy 
 access to the city, that can be had at very reasonable 
 royalties on the gas wells that we use. 
 
 {Continued on page 133) 
 
In the early seventies, the people on the OSAGE 
 CEDED LANDS were engaged in a giant struggle 
 with the M., K & T. and L., L. & G. Railway Companies, 
 for the posesssion of their homes. 
 
 These companies had procured patents from the 
 government, for every alternate section of land on a 
 strip, twenty miles wide, and extending ten miles on 
 either side of the railroads. 
 
 These companies not only wanted the settlers to pay 
 the full value of land, but in addition thereto, wanted 
 them to pay for the improvements placed thereon by 
 the settlers ; and the settlers had made these improve- 
 

 ments in good faith, thinking they were on government 
 land, that they could enter for their homes. 
 
 All attempts at a compromise failed, and as a last 
 resort, the people organized the "SETTLER'S PRO- 
 TECTIVE ASSOCIATION" to contest the rights of 
 the railway companies in the courts. 
 
 At first, we were beaten on three occasions, but we 
 fought on ; and after more than five years, we succeed- 
 ed in beating these companies, in the United States 
 supreme court, and the court declared that these patents 
 were illegally issued to the railway companies, and set 
 them aside; and the settlers, by reason of their bull 
 
dog tenacity in remaining in the fight, secured for 
 themselves this vast tract of land, embracing over 
 800,000 acres, and worth about SEVEN MILLION 
 DOLLARS. 
 
 During the time this fight was being waged, of 
 course, there were a large number of the settlers, whose 
 fight we were making, became impatient, the same as 
 in this gas question, and wanted the case finally de- 
 cided, or the fight given up, as they said it was injuring 
 the country, but as a matter of fact it was a good ad- 
 vertisement. 
 
 In 1874, to quiet these people, who kept up their 
 constant fire from the rear, which was worse than the 
 one in front, I wrote up a detailed account of the case, 
 and had it published in pamphlet form, for distribu- 
 tion, that the people might know all the facts ; and the 
 pamphlet found its way to Chicago, and was published 
 by the Chicago Express, and there was comment made 
 upon it in various other papers, and in my statement 
 of the case, I told the people, if they would so conduct 
 themselves as not to prejudice the court, we would win. 
 
 About this time there was an Editorial Association 
 that convened in Chicago, and among the questions 
 talked over, was the OSAGE CEDED LAND CASE, 
 and one of the members who attended that meeting, 
 and who was connected with a Denver paper, returned 
 by the way of Mound Valley, Kansas, where I lived 
 and he visited me over night and I found him an 
 agreeable, genial fellow. 
 
 At that time, although a mere boy, I was quite well 
 posted as to what the government was doing, in its 
 donations of bonds and lands to the railway companies, 
 and this question was discussed freely with my visitor, 
 and the next morning he took quite an interest in my 
 breaking team and plow, as at that time I was en- 
 gaged in breaking prairie, and in about ten days after 
 his visit, I received his paper, with a cut, of which the 
 foregoing is a facsimile. 
 
 This cut represented me as plowing under COR- 
 PORATE RULE and the different classes of monopoly, 
 and plowing up the PEOPLE'S RULE, and other 
 things necessary for the welfare of the people; and 
 while it was intended as a "burlesque" I rather liked 
 the symbol, and concluded to reproduce it here, as there 
 are many things in Coffeyville, figuratively speaking, 
 that should be PLOWED UNDER, and many things 
 that ought to be PLOWED UP, for the betterment of 
 the city, and that the people may understand the af- 
 fairs of the city in detail, and remedy existing evils. 
 
BY GEORGR CAMPBELL 133 
 
 ( Continued from page 129) 
 
 A party was to see me a few days ago from the 
 Oklahoma fields, and said his company would sell the 
 city all the gas it desired at 5c per thousand cubic feet ; 
 and if the city so wished, his company would put in a 
 city plant with mains extending to all parts of the city 
 and fix a price of 15c per thousand cubic feet on all gas 
 for domestic purposes, and 5c per thousand cubic feet 
 on all gas for factory purposes, and that if the city 
 would turn over to his company all the patrons of the 
 Coffeyville Gas & Fuel company, his company would 
 receive the price above stated upon the gas for four 
 years, and at the expiration of the four years his com- 
 pany would turn over to the City of Coffeyville the city 
 plant, free of all indebtedness; and his company would 
 then continue to sell the city all the gas it desired at 5c 
 per thousand cubic feet and deliver the same at the 
 city limits. 
 
 I have written several cities that own their gas 
 plants, for information, and their answers are all on 
 the same line, that city ownership gives the city large 
 returns on the investment, and at the same time lessens 
 the price of gas to the consumer. 
 
 For lack of space I cannot give these letters, but 
 will give an extract from the letter of F. M. Abbott, 
 mayor of the City of Chanute, which is as follows : 
 
 "A franchise was granted twelve or fourteen years 
 ago to the Prairie Oil & Gas Company, who put in a 
 part of our present plant. Our city bought this plant 
 of them for $62,500. We paid for it out of the profits 
 on the gas in three and one-half years. We have since 
 extended to twice its former size. We have it paid 
 for and don't owe a cent on it. Our profits on gas per 
 month ranges from $1,000 to $3,000. No gas is used 
 in town for any purpose, but what is purchased from 
 the city, except one glass factory, and in case of emer- 
 gency it buys its gas of the city. Respectfully yours, 
 
 "P. M. ABBOTT, Mayor." 
 
134 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 Mr. Abbott states elsewhere in his letter that the 
 price charged for gas for domestic purposes is 15 cents 
 for each thousand cubic feet, and for factory purposes, 
 not to exceed 10 cents per thousand cubic feet, and that 
 the city has a splendid service much better than that 
 renderd by private corporations. 
 
 Since writing the above Mr. Cahill tells me that an 
 officer of the gas company inforced him that the com- 
 pany would not furnish gas for the Coffeyville factories 
 after the present year; that the gas was playing out. 
 
 This reminds me of what an employee of the gas 
 company told me nearly two years ago. He said the 
 officers of the company were talking among themselves 
 that the gas was then piped to Kansas City, St. Joseph, 
 Topeka and other points, and that the company could 
 sell all its gas for 25 cents per thousand cubic feet, and 
 that it would not furnish Coffeyville gas at a less rate. 
 
 One of the officers stated that 25 cents was all right 
 for the people of Coffeyville for domestic purposes, but 
 that the factories could not pay that price and live. It 
 was suggested by one of the company that the factories 
 could go out of business, or use some other kind of fuel ; 
 that there was plenty of oil that could be had for that 
 purpose. The question then came up about the fran- 
 chise, that was granted by the City of Coffeyville to the 
 gas company and the question was asked if the company 
 was not compelled under the franchise to furnish cheap 
 gas for factories at Coffeyville. One of them said, as 
 a matter of law that might be the case, but there was 
 always a way around, and the company could make a 
 contract with the factories and embody in the contract 
 a clause giving the company the right to turn off the gas 
 from the factories, by giving them thirty or sixty days 
 notice. 
 
 One of them stated, that he had a plan that he be- 
 lieved would work the best, and that was for the com- 
 pany to put down no more wells in or near the group 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPHKU, 135 
 
 that supplied Coffey ville, and not clean out any of the 
 old wells, and gradually let them fill in and exhause 
 themselves, and then say to the factories of Coffeyville 
 that the gas "is played out," and that they must use 
 some other fuel, and give them notice that their gas 
 would have to be turned off, and that it was impossible 
 for the company to furnish it. 
 
 It would seem as though this policy is being pur- 
 eued by the gas company, for it is said the company 
 quit putting down wells in or near the group that sup- 
 plies Coffeyville, and has not cleaned out the old wells, 
 and is allowing them to gradually exhaust themselves, 
 and are circulating the report that "the gas is playing 
 out," when as a matter of fact they are piping out of 
 this field 354,000,000 cubic feet every day. 
 
 The gas company in its franchise from the city 
 agrees to furnish gas to the city for all purposes at 
 "reasonable rates" and the court said a reasonable 
 rate was not what the company could get for its gas 
 but, such a rate as would net a sufficient amount of 
 money to pay the operating expenses of the plant in- 
 cluding repairs and ten per cent upon the capital in- 
 vested. 
 
 The court also added the statement, in referring to 
 the Coffeyville ordinance, as follows : "Take the three 
 cents per thousand cubic feet for factory gas, and 
 Yiy^cents per thousand cubic feet for domestic gas, 
 put these two together, and if they net a sufficient sum 
 to cover these fixed charges, the rate is reasonable." 
 
 We have already shown that the rate fixed by the 
 Coffeyville ordinance (three cents per thousand for 
 factory gas, and 12V2 cents per thousand for domestic 
 gas) will net the sum of $120,000 a year, while a rea- 
 sonable rate need only to net the sum of $63,400 to 
 meet all the expenses as defined by the court, and hence 
 the Coffeyville ordinance if put into effect, will net the 
 company over $50,000 after defraying all these fixed 
 
136 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 charges and yet, the company says this rate is confis- 
 catory and wants the injunction against the ordinance 
 made permanent. 
 
 From the statement of the facts, as above set forth, 
 it is evident, that the city has its case virtually won, 
 but if the people desire to abandon the contest, they 
 will have an opportunity to express themselves at the 
 coming election, and I hope that the voters will express 
 themselves in a manner so emphatic, that it will leave 
 no doubt as to where they stand upon this question. 
 Respectfully submitted, 
 
 GEORGE CAMPBELL. 
 
JOHN BULL : Zounds ! I hope the Coff eyville peo- 
 ple will not continue the fight against the gas company, 
 for I want America to create all the millionairs pos- 
 sible. 
 
 The sworn value of the Coffeyville gas plant, as 
 listed for taxation, is $133,000, and the annual income, 
 above operating expenses, is in round numbers $200,- 
 000 a year, and this vast profit will soon create mil- 
 lionaires, and I can then create titles, and exchange 
 for these Coffeyville millions. This is a business propo- 
 sition with me, and I will create all the titles necessary 
 to cause a transfer of the American millions to my 
 kingdom. 
 
138 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 MONEY RULES IN AMERICA, and when I get 
 control of the money, I shall then bear rule. My dress 
 will be changed to conform to the changed conditions 
 of my kingdom, and my lion will be remodeled, and 
 natural history will contain a new and valuable acqui- 
 sition. 
 
 Why should the people of Coffey ville object to pay- 
 ing these high prices for gas, when they know by so 
 doing they can create millionaires? It must certainly 
 be some satisfaction to these people who pay the bills, 
 to see the management of these corporate interests, 
 sport their diamonds and ride in their touring cars, 
 while their own families go afoot. But walking is 
 generally good in Coffeyville, and there should be no 
 complaint on these lines. 
 
 [CIRCULAR NO. 3.] 
 
 ARE INTERESTED IN CAMPAIGN 
 
 Factories of Coffeyville Take a Stand — Sounds 
 Public Warning — Future of the City at Stake 
 and Voters are Cautioned About the Apprach- 
 ing Election. 
 
 The undersigned are vitally interested in the present 
 campaign for the selection of mayor and commission- 
 ers of Coffeyville. We are especially opposed to the 
 candidacy of those who have adopted as an important 
 plank in their platform, the determination to force 
 the fight against the gas company for the reduction of 
 their rates. 
 
 We believe the interest we have in this matter, the 
 attention we have given it, the investigations we have 
 made, enable us to reach conclusions as to the situation 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL L39 
 
 that should be entitled to at least as much considera- 
 tion as that of any party not greatly interested in the 
 matter and who is using the subject as a stepping stone 
 to political preferment and honor. The undersigned 
 represent interests employing approximately 1,800 
 men supporting 7,200 of our population. The interests 
 we represent are such as are peculiarly dependent upon 
 an abundant and cheap fuel supply. Without this fuel 
 supply, many of these factories must close, these men 
 must be depried of their employment and become com- 
 petitors in other labor markets with other men.. We 
 submit that a man with a good job is better able to pay 
 for 20 cent gas than a man with no job to pay for 5 
 cent gas. We know, to a positive fact, that, regardless 
 of the irresponsible statements of any candidate, no gas 
 field with any promise of furnishing this city an ade- 
 quate supply of gas exists ivhere there is the slightest 
 possibility of securing the necessary money to pipe it to 
 Coffeyville in quantities that woidd supply her fac- 
 tories. 
 
 Statements to the contrary, not backed by the in- 
 formation which makes the proof of the facts stated 
 positive and certain, are the tricks in trade of the 
 demagogues and wily politicians, and should be con- 
 demned. If this unlimited supply of gas, anxious 
 to come to us, can be located, we will welcome it with 
 open arms, but we want facts, not dreams. The indus- 
 tries who have signed this article have gone into the 
 field and tried to get territory for a supply of gas to 
 run their factories, but have failed to find a permanent 
 supply. We have more at stake than the success or 
 failure of a single politician, and the business men and 
 laborers of Coffeyville have to choose, in our opinion, 
 between the loss of a pay roll of $125,000 per month on 
 the one hand, and the possible small saving of fuel bills 
 on the other. 
 
 We are firmly convinced that no possible hope exists 
 at this time or will ever exist again in the future, for 
 
140 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 an adequate supply of gas for manufacturing purposes 
 on the scale on which it is conducted in Coffeyville, ex- 
 cept through the channels which now practically con- 
 trol the gas supply of the mid-continent field. From 
 this source, we are convinced we must draw our supply 
 or not at all. 
 
 The ultimate failure of the supply, whether it be 
 one or ten years, not at Coffeyville but everywhere, is 
 admitted by all those who have had experience in this 
 matter. As this occurs manufacturers will be driven 
 to other and more expensive fuel, but it is of the utmost 
 importance that those of Coffeyville shall not be driven 
 to this high priced fuel before others are compelled to 
 use it and thus be driven out of business by their com- 
 petitors. We repeat, that the only hope we have been 
 able to find lies in the source from which we are now 
 drawing supplies. If the supply exists as stated by 
 some of the candidates, if those who control it are 
 axious to come to Coffeyville, if there are the tremend- 
 ous profits in the business claimed, we see no reason 
 why they should not come at the present time and 
 under the present conditions, as a division of the profits 
 claimed would be a splendid income. If the present 
 agitation continues we may rest assured that we will 
 get no additional supply, which has been promised us, 
 from those who are now supplying Coffeyville and oth- 
 er points, because other cities are urging an increase, 
 of such supply at prices far in advance, for manufac- 
 turing purposes, of those charged here. 
 
 If the laboring man is willing to sacrifice his job 
 for a dream he should support these men. If his home, 
 the education of his children, the food and clothing for 
 his family are more important to him than the few 
 cents involved in this gas question he should stand for 
 a candidate who is willing to admit the facts and stop 
 an agitation that threatens the prosperity of us all. 
 The assertions made by some of the candidates when 
 we consider the conditions at Iola, Gas City, Cherry- 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 141 
 
 vale and many other gas towns in Kansas, are nothing 
 short of amazing. The drilling of new wells in old 
 territory has seldom resulted in developing wells of 
 any importance. The cleaning of old wells, while help- 
 ing matters a little, has resulted in nothing of import- 
 ance from a manufacturing standpoint. No resources 
 or expense has been spared at Iola, but the results have 
 been practically valueless. If it were not for the mil- 
 lions spent in piping gas from distant fields, many 
 more of Iola's industries would be standing idle and 
 her people unemployed or seeking employment from 
 the factories of Coffeyville in competition with our 
 people. These are stubborn facts not dreams or argu- 
 ments made for the purpose of securing honors of the 
 people. Those who shut their eyes to these established 
 facts are unsafe, impracticable or demagogues. 
 
 We are fighting for the permanency of our institu- 
 tions and the employment of our employes, and upon 
 this foundation the prosperity of this city depends. 
 We believe there is everything to loose and nothing to 
 gain in a continued fight against the present source of 
 our supply of fuel, and we respectfully ask the voters 
 to say that it shall end. 
 
 It is a fact that Indepndence, Gas City, Iola, Cher- 
 ryvale, Chanute, Fredonia, Neodesha and Mound Val- 
 ley are now paying more for factory gas than is Cof- 
 feyville. 
 
 We believe if the voters will carefully consider the 
 facts as they exist that they will not vote for a candi- 
 date who is opposed to the factory interests and 
 through them the community at large. 
 
 Coffeyville Window Glass Co. 
 
 Ball Bros. Glass Mfg. Co. 
 
 Coffeyville Shale Brick Co. 
 
 North Star Mfg. Co. 
 
 Coffeyville Stonware Co. 
 
 Kansas Oil Refining Co. 
 
142 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 Kidcloo Milling Co. 
 Standard Vitrified Brick Co. 
 Coffeyville Foundry & Machine Co. 
 Ludowici-Celadon Co. 
 Coffeyville Vitrified Brick & Tile Co. 
 Ozark Smelting & Mining Co. 
 National Refining Co. 
 Sunflower Glass Co. 
 Robinson Packer & Machine Co. 
 Andersen Manufacturing Co. 
 Cudahy Refining Co. 
 Rea-Patterson Milling Co. 
 National Sash & Door Co. 
 
 (Circular No. 4, 1911.) 
 To the People of Coffeyville: 
 
 I did not intend to have anything more to say with 
 reference to the gas question. I set the facts out in 
 my circular in a manner that I thought all could under- 
 stand and I was willing to abide by the results. 
 
 I was told, however, that the gas company, by its 
 attorney and certain city officials, were preparing a 
 circular that would be placed before the general public 
 at so late a date that it could not be answered, and that 
 this circular would be signed by certain factories with- 
 in this city; that the gas company would compel the 
 factories to sign this circular under the threats of 
 turning off their gas. 
 
 In the Herald last night appears this circular, in 
 which I am branded as a demagogue and an enemy to 
 the city, and it seems as though this circular should be 
 answered. 
 
 The circular purports to be signed by nineteen Cof- 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 143 
 
 feyville industries, but as a matter of fact, from a 
 legal standpoint, it is not signed by any one. 
 
 A corporation can only act through its officers and 
 no officer's name is attached to either of these signa- 
 tures. Any one can write the name of the Coffeyville 
 Window Glass company, but that does not mean any- 
 thing, unless the name of an officer is attached thereto. 
 If the signature had been The Coffeyville Window 
 
 Glass Company, by its President , or Secretary, 
 
 or Business Manager, or some one else authorized to 
 sign the name of said company, then there would have 
 been some force to the signature, but the names are 
 withheld from all the signatures that are attached to 
 said circular. 
 
 I want to call the attention of the voter to the fact 
 that even in this circular not even one statement con- 
 tained in my circular is contradicted, and the reason is, 
 the gas company knew that I had the proofs in my 
 office to establish every statement contained in my cir- 
 cular. And I ask the voters to read it again and see 
 if it does not contain a clear statement of facts and 
 that I am trying to sustain our city's industries instead 
 of attempting to destroy, as alleged in the gas com- 
 pany circular. All that I am asking is that the gas 
 company abide by its contract with the people of Cof- 
 feyville, as embodied in the franchise, and certainly 
 there is no demagoguery about this. 
 
 The gas company through its franchise agreed to 
 furnish gas at reasonable rates for all purposes to our 
 city and its consumers during the life of the franchise, 
 and it cannot turn off the gas from our industries. 
 And it also agreed to pay a certain per cent into the 
 city for the use of the streets and public squares. 
 Section 6 of the franchise granted by the City of Cof- 
 feyville to the Peoples Gas Company reads as follows : 
 
 'That in consideration of the granting of this 
 franchise the City of Coffeyville hereby reserves the 
 
144 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 rentals for its streets, alleys, avenues and public 
 grounds provided for in chapter 82 session laws of 
 1897 of the State of Kansas, which said rentals shall 
 be ascertained and collected as provided by said chap- 
 ter 82 of said session laws and the ordinances of said 
 city hereinafter passed." 
 
 Then turning to chapter 82 of the session laws of 
 1897 we find the following provision: 
 
 "No renewal or original grant, lease or contract 
 shall be made with any such private corporation by 
 any city of this state without reserving rents and pro- 
 viding for the collection of the annual rental value for 
 the use of its streets, alleys, roadways or squares, 
 which shall be done and ascertained by allowing first, 
 legitimate expense of conducting such corporations' 
 plant, including all necessary repairs; and second, by 
 allowing interest at the rate of not more than six per 
 cent per annum on the capital invested as ascertained 
 under the provisions of the preceding section, unless 
 the council and mayor are petitioned to allow a greater 
 rate than six per cent by at least three-fifths of the 
 bona fide taxpayers of such city based on the last as- 
 sessment rolls, which expense and per cent on the 
 capital invested being deducted from the gross earn- 
 ings of said corporation, such municipality shall 
 through its proper officers collect the net balance of 
 said earnings as rentals for the use of the streets and 
 alleys, roadways and squares of such city, and as the 
 city's income on the franchise leased by said munici- 
 pality to any such corporation, and as such rentals, 
 said net proceeds shall be paid into the treasury of such 
 city on the first day of January and July of each year, 
 after the making of such grant, lease or contract for 
 the operation of such plant." 
 
 There has never been one cent paid by said gas 
 company for the use of the streets, alley, roadways and 
 public squares of the city, and there is now due the 
 city under this franchise upwards of a half million 
 dollars, and now the question arises, "Will the voters 
 of Coffeyville release the gas company from the pay- 
 ment of this honest indebtedness?" 
 
 The gas company gave a bond that it would abide 
 
BY GEORGE CAMPBELL 145 
 
 the conditions of its contract and said bond was signed 
 by the gas company through its president and attested 
 by the secretary of said corporation, and said bond 
 was signed by the following individuals: E. S. Rea, 
 F. 0. Weis, Daniel Wells, J. F. Savage, F. D. Benson 
 J. T. Wettack and W. H. Read. So there is no question 
 about the bond being good, and it looks as though there 
 should be no objection to settling these matters in court 
 as it was designed by our forefathers and has come 
 down to us through the ages, that the court is the place 
 to settle our difficulties when we cannot agree among 
 ourselves. The threats that are intimated in the cir- 
 cular should not deter any one from doing his duty and 
 a corporation should receive no more consideration 
 than an individual, and the question remains whether 
 the voters of Coffeyville have the nerve to go to the 
 polls upon election day and discharge their duty with- 
 out fear or favor of any citizen or any corporation. 
 
 We need the spirit that was manifested by the Com- 
 mander of the old "Minnesota at Hampton Roads in 
 1862. At that time the old rebel ironclad, known as 
 the "Merrimac," sailed into Hampton Roads and at- 
 tacked our navy and had sunk some of our vessels and 
 flashed the threat to the commander of the old "Min- 
 nesota" to haul down his flying colors or he would sink 
 his Yankee boat — and the old commander, though he 
 was at a disadantage, the American spirit was aroused 
 in him, and he flashed back the message, "You hydra- 
 headed monster and all your rebel clan, I will never 
 strike my colors; you may sink me and be damn'd." 
 This is true American manhood, and I hope every 
 voter in Coffeyville will go to the polls on election day 
 and do his duty regardless of any threats. Be honest 
 with yourselves and the interests of the city and let re- 
 sults take care of themselves. 
 
 The circular says that these companies have en- 
 deavored to find gas for manufacturing purposes but 
 have been unable to do so in sufficient amounts to an- 
 
146 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT 
 
 swer their purposes, and that if there is as much gas 
 as I have stated that they would like to be informed. 
 But at the same time they do not want me to inform 
 them, for the reason they are trying to prevent my 
 election. I stated in my circular that if elected I should 
 call a public meeting and lay these facts before the peo- 
 ple and if they decided to develop gas, or purchase 
 from another company, and thought this would be to 
 the best interest of the city, that I would then submit 
 the proposition to the voters by calling an election and 
 let the people decide it. There is no doubt that there is 
 plenty of gas within easy access of the city, and even 
 if we should decide to procure gas from the Hogshooter 
 district in Oklahoma, what we pay the gas company 
 in one year for gas would build a pipe line to the 
 Hogshooter district and would leave a surplus of 
 $25,000 — and this is no dream, but is a positive fact 
 and susceptible of proof. 
 
 In conclusion I desire to say that the city is in bet- 
 ter position to make this fight now than it will ever be 
 again, and if the people sustain the gas company the 
 future historian who shall write the history of Cof- 
 feyville will date its decline from the surrender of the 
 city to the gas company, and Iola, Humboldt and sev- 
 eral other cities serve us as an example of what hap- 
 pens where the people of the city do not contend for 
 their rights but surrender to the gas company. 
 
 So far as the office of mayor is concerned, I care 
 nothing about it, and if elected I would willingly re- 
 sign to some one else that would successfully carry for- 
 ward this contest. I have done the best I could in the 
 past several months, and nearly single handed, to pro- 
 tect the interests of the city, and now it is up to the 
 voters whether they will sustain the arm that has 
 fought their battles or whether they will strike it down 
 and embrace their enemies. 
 
 Respectfully submitted, 
 
 GEORGE CAMPBELL. 
 
BY GBORGE CAMPBICLL 147 
 
 (Circular No. 5, 1911.) 
 
 VOTERS ATTENTION 
 
 The Manufacturers' Circular did not mention 
 George Campbell. Why does he believe he was refer- 
 red to as a Demagogue? 
 
 The circular was issued by the Manage?^ and 
 Officers of the concerns represented.. Those who doubt 
 this, call any of the offices by phone. The Gas Com- 
 pany has net forced nor requested these concerns to 
 sign the circular, but have, in every way and at all 
 times done everything possible to assist us, and have 
 kept us informed candidly of the gas situation. 
 
 If Mr. Campbell is a loyal citizen of Coffeyville, he 
 will not demand that he be elected mayor before he is 
 willing to furnish the information he claims to have, 
 which no other person has been able to obtain, and 
 which is of such vital importance to Coffeyville and her 
 citizens, the location of an adequate gas supply and 
 the means by which he will obtain it. 
 
 We honor those who are public spirited, not those 
 whose benefits to the community are only given in ex- 
 change for honors previously demanded and granted. 
 
 S. C. HOOVER, 
 President Manufacturers' Association. 
 L. E. ROBINSON, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 [P. S. Since the election a well was drilled on a 
 part of one tract of land of 2,300 acres offered to the 
 city and the well discharges 16,000,000 cubic feet of gas 
 a day, showing that there is an abundance of gas out- 
 side of the Coffeyville Gas Company's holdings, and a 
 careful inquiry fails to show that the management of 
 the same Coffeyville fathers made any investigation 
 outside of what the gas company told them.] 
 
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