The Rising Power of the Common Citizen

The throughout passage of the Inter-State Commerce bill by the House of Representatives indicates a real advance in public opinion in the United States. Ten years ago, such a bill would have been laughed out of Congress, and the member who had the hardihood to present it would have been accused of socialism and of everything else that is either comical or horrible. Ten years ago such a bill would have been smothered in a committee room, or if it reached the House, would have been overwhelmingly defeated. Last week it passed the House by more than a two-thirds majority.

What is the inference to be drawn? This: The power of the people is growing greater and greater, while the influence of wealth and corporate corruption becomes less and less. The demands of the great thinking, laboring, the heartbeat of the Nation, are sounding louder and louder in the halls of Congress and in the legislative halls of the states. It is a grand, swelling roar that must be heard, must be heeded. It cannot be stilled, cannot be deadened. Never since the first beginning of recorded time has such a voice been hushed; never so long as the last shred of the social fabric remains, shall such a voice be hushed. The people demand back the rights that have insidiously been taken from them by the vast monopolies and railroad corporations.