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Show THIS TROUBLE IN COLORADO. P "Colorado is the most hopeless I State in the Union," says Ben B. Lind- 3, scy, Denver's famous juvenile court judge. But that depends upon the point of view. Unless we arc mistaken, the ' Socialists regard it as the most hope- ' f til State in the Union. It is ridden by a league of mine and franchise owners as predatory, as ruthless and as fatuous as the most enthusiastic disciple of social revolution could wish to sec. In the interests of the dominant gang, the worst crimes of our times against democratic institutions have there been committed. A jockied legislature nullified the miners' lawful victory at the polls in carrying an cight-hour-day constitutional constitu-tional amendment. A complaisant court acquiesced in suspension ol habeas corpus. That time has exerted exert-ed no saving influence is quite clearly shown by the recent election of Guggenheim, Gug-genheim, of the Smelter Trust, to the United States Senate. Colorado is the richest of Western ijj States, except California; but has only twenty-four thousand farms. Indian Territory has twice as many; Oklahoma, Okla-homa, three times as many, and, with half the total wealth, two and a half times as much money in agricultural implements. Colorado's total wealth is nearly half of Wisconsin's, for example, but only ten per cent, is in farms, against nearly forty per cent, for Wisconsin. Having total wealth equal to Connecticut, Con-necticut, Colorado docs not figure at all in the Comptroller's savings-banks returns. Admittedly, our system will work most easily where a large mass of the people have some property stake. Where the community consists more of rich employers and their employed, the former might well exercise some measure of moderation and general decency, merely for the sake of institutions insti-tutions which they inherited. Uilfortunatcly, this view has never appealed to the dominant property owning class in Colorado. By consistently con-sistently insisting upon the last ounce of advantage which they possibly obtain ob-tain by any means, they have contributed con-tributed mightily to the evolution in that State of an intense class feeling and antagonism which cheers the Socialists, So-cialists, but docs not cheer at all such citizens as Judge Lindscy in the other camp. |