“Mr. President and gentlemen,” said he, “we have now reached a point in the history of this Commonwealth which marks the beginning of an epoch. To my mind it is apparent that all the events of Christian civilization have been a preparation for the higher civilization which we are privileged to usher in. It has been said that ‘Time’s noblest offspring is her last,’ and we may hope that such offspring is this day born, and that it will thrive and continue to grow until time shall be no more. I have always believed that the old system from which we have sought to escape is barbaric feudalism, and that, whether in its ancient military or its modern commercial form, it was distorted by selfishness and greed. “The motives of the robber baron of the dark ages and the self-serving organizer of trusts to-day do not differ, and if in the dark ages the one, by force of arms, held possession of fertile valleys and exacted tribute from neighboring peoples, the other by fraud monopolizes an industry and seeks to crush out all competitors. Death strewed the paths of both, the one being no less hideous in blood than the other was in the gaunt and shrunken spectre of starvation. The one, however, spent itself in its own terrors and disappeared before the awful ravages of destructive war. So the other has exhausted itself in greed and making the automaton serve in the stead of man has taught man the lesson of co-operation. “I have never been a friend to political socialism as a factor in building up the Co-operative Commonwealth. My judgment has proposed to me the development of the co-operative principle in commercial and industrial lines until it became so strong that it could not be ignored. In that manner the railroads, telegraphs and other vast interests from unknown forces, developed into those mighty giants which came to control the government and now terrorize the people. I have hoped that the Co-operative Commonwealth developing in like manner, slowly but surely, might with very different motives and for different purposes, become strong enough to take the government and wield it for the common good of all. If I mistake not, the time has come, the Commonwealth is equal to its purpose, and we may assume our political rights. If we win in the election now approaching the state of Idaho will become a co-operative state. Our aim should be to establish our system without encroaching upon the constitution of the nation. We will violate none of the provisions of that instrument, but we will carefully observe all its limitations. This will be no more difficult for us than it is for the great trusts and monopolies, which have become so powerful that they are able to obtain an interpretation of the constitution when they wish it, whereby its limits have been and are constantly extended to suit their purposes. By presenting a model of one co-operative commonwealth, we may, and I believe will, sooner or later induce other states to follow