The millionaire and the trust have appropriated too many of the economic opportunities formerly enjoyed by the people.

The corrupt politician has usurped too much of the power which should be exercised by the people.

Reform must restore to the people the opportunities and power of which they have been deprived.
An agitation of this kind, deriving as it does its principles and purposes from the very source of American democracy, would seem to deserve the support of all good Americans: and such support was in the beginning expected.

Reformers have always tended to believe that their agitation ought to be and essentially was non-partisan.

They considered it inconceivable either that patriotic American citizens should hesitate about restoring the purity and vigor of American institutions, or such an object should not appeal to every disinterested man, irrespective of party.