Joseph W. Folk: former Governor of Missouri

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JOSEPH W. FOLK
Former Governor of Missouri



Exclusive Management of The Chautauqua Managers Association Chicago, Illinois





GOV. JOSEPH W. FOLK



A Statesman who has started a wave of Civic and Political Reform that is sweeping America from the Atlantic to the Pacific




GOV. JOSEPH W. FOLK



T
HE most momentous conflict of the twentieth century is the one now raging in this country for Civic Purity.  The leaders in that great conflict are among the nation's greatest benefactors.  They are accomplishing more than any warriors in the past, and their victory or defeat is more pregnant with weal or woe for the future.  Jos. W. Folk, former Governor of Missouri; perhaps the best known of all the foes of graft and civic rottenness in the United States to-day, has been the target of every enemy to good government, and millions of dollars have been used in the endeavors to defeat and discredit his work.




The recital of the reforms inaugurated by Gov. Folk would more than fill this sheet.




As Circuit Attorney of St. Louis he exposed more official corruption than was ever laid bare before in the history of the world.




When he commenced, bribery was the common and accepted thing.  It was regarded as merely conventional.  The revelations he made awoke a slumbering public conscience, and the moral wave now rolling over the land is the result.




Meeting with the fiercest opposition in his work of eradicating corruption, denounced and villified by corruptionists of every kind, he took his fight before the people.  In the face of the bitterest contest in the history of American politics he won the nomination of the Democratic party of his state for Governor by an over-whelming majority.  Again in the campaign for election every venal influence combined against him, and again he triumphed.  He was elected, while the others on the ticket, who were not fought as he was, were defeated.




In this campaign he announced the doctrine known as the 
Missouri Idea,
 which is familiar in every part of the earth to-day.  This idea is that citizenship in a free country implies a civic obligation to enforce the performance of every public trust; that bribery is treason, and the givers and takers of bribes are the traitors of peace; that laws are made to be enforced not to be ignored; that officials should no more embezzle the public power entrusted to them than public money in their custody.




His was the first of the great battles for reform before the people and the principles he declared are the inspiration of the crusade for higher ideals of public life.




As governor he put an end to boodling in legislative affairs.  There was no crookedness or scandal in the three legislatures held under him.  This was a wonderful change from conditions that existed prior to that.




He abolished the practice of legislators and officials riding on free passes.




He procured the passage of a law, after a hard legislative fight, repealing the race-track law, whereby gambling was legalized, and put the most powerful and insolent race-track syndicate in the world out of business.  He broke up the attempted defiance of law by race-track gamblers, who had the assistance of local officers, and enforced the law over the heads of the local officials.




He stamped out the grafters from the police departments.  He revolutionized the conduct of the police in reference to elections, and made elections fair and free from police interference.




He appointed men of the highest character to all positions of public trust.




He closed up the gambling dives in St. Louis, and ran the gamblers from the state.




He exterminated the wine rooms in the metropolitan cities where so many young girls had been ruined.




He has made the large cities unhealthy for crooks, and has brought about a reign of law and order never before attained.




In St. Louis, Kansas City and St. Joseph, where he had the power through appointees, he enforced the law closing saloons on Sunday, in the face of intense opposition and denunciation.  This was the beginning of the movement for law enforcement that is now going on in all the large cities.  The brewers and saloon-keepers loudly announced that they would repeal this law at the next legislative session, but when that time came the people saw the benefits of Sunday closing, and not a legislator dared propose the repeal of the law.




Fought by grafters, gamblers, brewers, saloon-keepers and venal corporate influence, he went before the people asking for an indorsement by an election of a legislature in accord with his policies.  The Democratic convention endorsed his policies, and the people approved by electing a majority of the General Assembly pledged to his reforms.  When the General Assembly met every hostile influence in the state was arrayed to have legislators faithless to their pledges to the people.  Some of them did fail, and proved untrue to their constituents, but in spite of organized wealth and of the liquor and gambling interests he fought for and secured the passage of more good laws than were ever enacted in the history of the state before.





The Chautauqua Managers Association is pleased to announce that Gov. Folk will fill Chautauqua engagements under its direction.





PRESS COMMENTS



The Hon. Joseph W. Folk, former Governor of Missouri and the man who had earlier reformed the political morals of his state and driven corrupt politicians to hiding or to the penitentiary filled the Elks' Theater yesterday afternoon.  Mr. Folk appeared in his now famous lecture, 
Soldiers of Peace
, the title being explained in one of his epigrams, 
We now need patriots in peace as well as in war.

Mr. Folk is a pleasing speaker.  His style is a delightful compromise between the conversational and the florid oratorical.  His lecture abounded in epigrams but they were judiciously placed for Mr. Folk understands what so many public speakers do not, that a dinner must be made up of something besides speeches.

Arizona Republican, Phoenix, Ariz., Sept. 27, 1909.





Ex-Governor Joseph W. Folk delivered a stirring and forcible address last evening at the Academy of Music, under the auspices of the Teachers Institute.  His theme was 
The Era of Conscience,
 which he handled in a masterly manner.  The audience, large and appreciative, greatly enjoyed the treat of hearing, from a straight man, how the people have the power to bring about the needed reforms in civic, state and national affairs.


Reading Daily Times, Reading, Pa., Oct. 29, 1909.




Before an audience which taxed the capacity of the High School auditorium former Governor Jos. W. Folk of Missouri, last night delivered his famous lecture on 
Soldiers of Peace.
  With no attempt at oratory the noted reformer and statesman told in simple language of the methods that had been used to purge his own state of civic and political rottenness and outlined his remedy for similar conditions in other communities.


The Evening Times, McKeesport, Pa., Oct. 27, 1809.




The lecture of ex-governor Folk marked the opening of the Brotherhood Lecture Course, and the pleased remarks heard after the evening's event was over indicated that the lecture couse this year had been started off auspiciously and in a manner that indicated a successful season.
The First Methodist Church which had been secured by the Brotherhood for the entire season was crowed to the doors.  All the reserved seat space was taken, and large numbers of the holders of the season tickets had reserved their seats for the entire season.  Those coming late or failing to secure seats stood along the sides.Governor Folk delivered a lecture that contained in addition to a short review of what had been accomplished in the way of reform and incidents that had occurred during the most strenuous times of his reign as governor of Missouri that were not a little amusing—an eloquent plea for the people to rise up and become a mighty force for good.

The Sharon Telegraph, Sharon, Pa., Oct. 26, 1909.




Gov. Jos. W. Folk gave the first lecture of the Community lecture course at the Union Opera House Saturday night.  He was greeted by a representative audience of New Philadelphia citizens.
Gov. Folk is a pleasant talker and his listeners enjoyed every word that he said.  He makes an excellent appearance and one can readily see that he believes in the reforms that he stands for.  Gov. Folk is one of the most conspicuous men in the nation today.  He has probably done more to stamp out corruption in public office and vice and lawlessness in the various forms than any one man in public life today.


Ohio Democrat and Times, New Philadelphia, Ohio, Nov. 4, 1909.




The Era of Conscience,
 subject of address made by Joseph W. Folk, exgovernor of Missouri, before a representative audience of the citizens of Findlay at the Majestic Theater last evening, was heartily received by everyone.  Mr. Folk carries conviction.  What he says impresses his hearers as being as true as gospel.  His attitude upon the stage is strangely different from the majority of the orators of the present day.  He takes his stand upon the center of the stage and there he talks to you in a heart to heart manner which compels your undivided attention, your sympathy and your respect.  No gestures to annoy, but quietly Mr. Folk addresses you, speaking clearly and distinctly so that his voice is heard in every corner of the theater.  A true orator, not impressing his audience with his flights of language, but with the truthfulness of what he says.


The Findlay Daily Courier, Findlay, Ohio, Nov. 1909.




Governor Folk of Missouri is an apostle of optimism.  He refuses to consider the hole in the doughnut, and the calamity howler would have to 
show
 him before he takes any stock in the rumor that the hubs of perdition are moving toward us in the road just ahead.
Without question the most splendid lecture ever delivered in Zion City was heard in the auditorium last night by a good sized audience which listened to every word most attentively, and frequent bursts of applause greeted the speaker's strong, manly, statements along the lines of honesty and graft in public places.

Zion City News, Zion City, Ill., Aug. 13, 1909.



The visit of Hon. Jos. W. Folk, reformer and ex-governor of Missouri, made Wednesday the big day thus far of the Hamilton Chautauqua.  Hundreds of admirers of the great leader in political and civic progress braved the intense heat to hear the story of his fight against corruption, greed and predatory wealth as told in his famous lecture 
Soldiers of Peace.

Speaking for an hour and twenty minutes to a great audience which in spite of the intense heat listened with rapt attention broken frequently by vociferous applause.


The Daily Constitution Democrat, Hamilton, Ill., Aug. 12, 1909.




Gov. Folk's lecture Tuesday afternoon, the bulk of which was published in the Review of Tuesday, was the best thing so far offered Chautauqua patrons this year.  On this there does not seem to be any division of sentiment.  It ranked up with some of the good things of former meetings and reminded of the addresses of other men and it was several minutes before it ceased.  It was Kalamazoo's tribute to a great man.


Kalamazoo Gazette, Kalamazoo, Mich., July 20, '09.




An immense throng of people gathered to hear Ex-Governor Folk's address at the Union Avenue Church of Mt. Union Thursday afternoon, when he talked to the class and others upon 
The Era of Conscience.
  It was a masterly address, upon a high moral level, eloquently delivered.  The impression made was profound.
During the rendition of the address, there was frequent applause, but the highest tribute paid the man was the intense interest with which his auditors hung upon his every word.  The effect of his utterances cannot but inspire all to greater and better things
The Alliance Leader, Alliance, Mo., June 17, 1909.



Salt Lake City yesterday entertained a man who is recognized as one of the foremost citizens of the United States, former Governor Joseph W. Folk of Missouri, the man who eight years ago made the then startling declaration of an opinion that citizenship in a free country carries with it certain civic obligations, and who with, that idea in mind, as prosecuting attorney in the circuit court of St. Louis, Mo. started in a campaign to prosecute grafters and boodlers.  Governor Folk came to lecture in Barratt Hall last evening on the subject 
The Era of Conscience.
  He was greeted by a large audience, one that comfortably filled the auditorium; an audience that expected a treat and got one.  His appearance upon the rostrum was greeted with a storm of applause, and his talk, made in his easy, convincing, clear style, almost without gesture, but nevertheless forceful, was punctuated with very frequent expressions of approval.


Salt Lake City Herald, Salt Lake, Utah, May 25, 1909.




That the country is passing on to an era of development in which the new conscience is overwhelming graft and corruption, was the statement made tonight in the U-No skating pavilion before a large audience by Joseph W. Folk, former Governor of Missouri. Folk was given an enthusiastic reception and aroused great cheering when he told of winning the fight of the good government forces.


The San Francisco Call, San Fransisco, Cal., May 19, 1909.




Joseph W. Folk, ex-Governor of Missouri, and a noted reformer, was given a hearty reception here tonight when he spoke on 
Public Conscience
 to an audience which filled the gymnasium the largest building of Washington State College.  Governor Folk was given an ovation as he entered the gymnasium and took his seat on the platform, accompanied by President Bryan, Judge Canfield and William Goodyear.


Spokane Wash, Spokesman Review, May 2, 1909.




Before an audience which filled the auditorium, Gov. Joseph W. Folk of Missouri last night delivered a forceful address on 
The Era of Conscience.
  Eloquence and sincerity for the cause of civic righteousness and improvement marked every word uttered by the famous speaker, and the audience was stirred again and again to enthusiastic applause.  It was not the speech of a spell-binder, nor yet the red-radical inciting vituperation of a demagogue, but the sane observations of a student of conditions, the sincere advice of a reformer, who has reformed, an appeal for better citizenship, higher and patriotic ideals, and more conscientious performance of duty to country, by a man inspired with the truest sense of patrotism, and the earnest conviction of principle.


Helena, Mont. Independent,




Apr. 27, 1909.
Denouncing the political machine, for which he declared that the commission form of government was a remedy; endorsing the exposure of governmental corruption, rather than hiding a municipality's vice under the heralding of its virtues, Ex-Governor Folk delivered one of the stongest lectures taking as his subject 
The Era of Conscience,
 that it has been the pleasure of a Fargo audience to hear, at the Presbyterian church last evening.


Fargo, N. D. News, April 23, 1909.




That the management of the lecture course given by the young peoples societies of the several churches had reserved a general treat for the concluding number was evident to the audience which assembled at the Henry Boyle Theater Friday evening to hear former Governor Joseph W. Folk of Missouri.  While Governor Folk is no stranger to the people who have been keeping in touch with current events for the last eight years, their knowledge of him came through what they have read about this man of iron in public print, rather than from personal contact.  Reformer though he is, and of genuine type at that, Gov. Folk is mild mannered, suave, and possessed of a musical voice, pitched low at all times, but penetrating and distinct.  Although speaking without gestures, Gov. Folk is eloquent and before he has proceeded far his audiance is held captive and is following him with that intense interest which is the finest compliment that can be paid a public speaker.


The Commonweath, Fond Du Lac, Mich., April 10, 1909.




Without a trace ofegotism, of political cant, or of oratorical bombast former Gov. Jos. W. Folk of Missouri, delivered a simple and powerful appeal to his audience last night for clean government and civic reform wherever reform is needed.
In a well-modulated, yet powerful voice that fulfilled in every way its mission as the messenger of the vital thoughts which the speaker desired to express, an audience of 800 at the Y. M. C. A. auditorium heard the great exponent of reform from the 
show me state,
 deliver his lecture on 
The Era of Conscience
 and at every blow of the speaker's hammer upon some rivet in the iron-clad argument, he erected for the defense of reform and reform method, there was a response in the form of hearty applause from his hearers.


Des Moines, Iowa, Capital, April 18, 1909.




Before an appreciative audience at auditorium last night, former Gov. Jos. W. Folk of Missouri, delivered his famous address, 
The Era of Conscience.
  The larger cities of the country have been stirred by this remarkable address, and it was delivered last night with all the vigor and vitality which has characterized Governor Folk's former appearances.


Munice Ind. Star, April 4, 1909.




Filling every seat in Caleb Mills Hall and crowding into every foot of standing room in the rear and along the sides of the auditorium more than 2000 persons, members of the Southern Indiana Teachers' Association and their friends, heard ex-governor Jos. W. Folk of Missouri deliver his address on 
Education in Democracy,
 last night.


Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis, Ind., Apr. 1 1909.




An earnest plea for the maintenance and uplifting of the public conscience and an optimistic gaze into the future was made by Hon. Jos. W. Folk, former Governor of Missouri, in his lecture delivered last night at the Althenaeum under the auspices of the Young Men's Hebrew Association.  An audiance in which were many prominent men and women listened attentivly to the address and at its close many pressed forward to congratulate the speaker.
As an orator Gov. Folk is not dramatic, but he speaks rapidly with a continuous flow of thought and with an earnestness and vigor that impresses one with his sincerity and having the vitality to do more than he says.  His sentences and ideas roll forth in one unbroken stream as rapidly as the successive slides of a moving picture machine, and he holds the rapt attention of his audience.


New Orleans Times Democrat, New Orleans, La., March 23, 1909.




Ex-Gov. Folk of Missouri, delivered a lecture 
The Era of Conscience
 last night before a large audience at Grand Avenue Congregational Church.  The speaker saw great cause for encouragement in the awakening of the public conscience everywhere, resulting in the wide spread war on graft.  Much work remained to be done, however, and this could be accomplished only by activity on the part of the citizen, which was one of his patriotic duties.
The church was crowded to the doors with an attendance of over 1200 persons who listened attentively to each word of the speaker.

Milwaukee Free Press, Milwaukee, Minn. Mar. 17, 1909.





TOLD IN PARAGRAPHS
A Few Terse Comments on Current Topics


All life is a search for power;
 yes, but many men fail to find it because they play on too many strings.  Concentration is power.  It is said that a man with a fiddle having but one string can, if the string produces just the right note, fiddle a bridge into collapse.  Men stood aghast at the amazing power of concentration in the young man Folk.




Before he became governor there had been no effort to enforce the Sunday dram-shop law in the large cities—St. Joseph, Kansas City and St. Louis.  Folk enforced the law and the result was a decrease in Sunday crime and a saving in the cost of criminal prosecution.




Exposures do not mean that the people are getting worse; they mean that the people are getting better.—Folk.




His rapid rise to eminence reads like fiction.  Unknown in 1990; recognized as the 
arch enemy of boodlers
 in 1902.




There was not gold enough coined to buy him, nor bullets enough molded to scare him.




Folk won.  The adage, 
Success is the test of merit,
 may in practical application be hard, illogical and unjust, but by reason of the infirmity of human standards it is the only one which is susceptible of practical application.  A southern daily says we judge Lincoln by this standard.  He won.




If to accomplish great results in an incredibly short time, apparently without any adequate resources, save those of his own creation, constitute greatness, then few men have shown themselves the superior of Governor Folk.




A great deal has been said about what is commonly called the 
lid
.  The land of the 
lid
 means the land of law.—Folk.




General Indifference is not a good general to have in command of a campaign against wrong.




Who saves his country, saves all things and all things saved will bless him.




Give the orator a commanding occasion and the inspiration of a great multitude.—Emerson.




Folk has no time to forward advertising material.  Committees must cull it from newspaper files or do without it.  He is too busy.  Indeed it has been said of him that he is not a good advertiser.  Probably this acconnts for the people's desire to hear him.  They know the busy man has a message.  They admire a tremendous worker and this is what Folk is.  As governor he worked the last day of his term as hard as he did the first.




He is one of the few eminent men of the age who have accomplished things without tainting their careers with sensationalism.




Emerson says the woman carry the conscience of the country.  It is easy to see why they are thrilled with the record of Joseph W. Folk.




As Circuit Attorney Folk gave his whole life to his work.  He accepted no dinner invitations of any kind, and seldom left his home save to go to his office.




We do not know who first suggested the idea that the public has a conscience.  But we search in vain for it, says Folk, in the encyclopedias of oratory compiled prior to eight years ago.




On one of his speaking tours, made in an incredibly short time, Folk traveled 7,000 miies, including New York, Philadelphia, Nashville, Des Moines, Denver, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon.




Governor Folk Speaks for the Need of the Hour



Belongs to That Group of Great Men Who Thrill Armies with Their Purpose—His Words are Battles.




Witness the following:




Every citizen must either march under the flag of decency or the banner of iniquity.




The man who puts the success of his party above the welfare of his state is a traitor to his state.




He who violates the law is not Democrat, not a Republican—he is a criminal.




Civilization rests upon the law and the law rests upon the citizen.




The patriotism of peace is often more necessary than the patriotism of war.




The sunlight of publicity is the greatest preventative of corruption.




Honesty is not only the best policy, but is the best POLITICS.




Civic depravity cannot exist if the people make up their minds not to premit it.




Every law is a blue law if a man wants to break it.




Lawlessness is anarchy, whether at the top or the bottom of the social



The first duty of a presecuting officer is to put the scoundrels in jail.




The best way to enforce a law is to get a man behind it.




I have confidence in the people; they will do right when they know right.




If the people want the reign of the law they can get it but they must fight for it.




When a state's honor is besmirched by unfaithful public servants, it is the people's business to see that every vestige of the power and influence back of these men is destroyed.




If corruption exists anywhere the people are to blame.  What is needed is more of the sort of patriotism that fights for the city, state and country every day—that will go into battles of peace as well as battles of war.






A moral wave is sweeping over this country that is analagous to the spiritual wave that arose on the coming of Christ.
—
Folk.





MANY VOICES; DIFFERENT THINGS



Folk opened the skies of a new day for America.




First known as 
that man Folk,
 now known as the 
Famous Folk.




It takes a stout heart to step out of a crowd and risk success in the face of assassination.




Some men are events.  It is not what they say, but what they do and are that moves the world.




Here I am,
 said the circuit attorney, 
and as long as I stay here I am going to punish rascals.




One thing that made Folk's message as governor of special interest to the nation was the man behind the message.




In every age we must do what Washington did in his age; labor to keep alive that spark of celestial fire called conscience.




Throw yourself upon the altar of some noble cause, said Wendell Phillips.  Joseph W. Folk did this at the age of thirty-two.




It is easy to be independent when all agree with you, but the difficulty comes when you have to stand along, one among a thousand.




The character of Folk may be written in three words:  HONESTY, COURAGE, STRENGTH; and the greatest of these is HONESTY.




The 
Missouri Idea
—the conclusion that every public official shall be held to strict accountability before an enlightened public opinion.




The mark of a man in the world, it has been said, is the absence of pretension.  The men are few who conspicuously illustrate this observation.



 secret of attending to his own business and letting other people alone unless their business was a part of his.




In accounting for Folk's fame we must not omit the newspapers.  They gave the widest publicity to his amazing revelations of official corruption.




Governor Folk, 
the most widely known man in the United States with the exception of Theodore Roosevelt, President Taft and W. J. Bryan.




The moral wave has swept across the continent and even beyond the seas.  A law-enforcing official in Honululo is known as the 
Joe Folk of Hawaii.




Folk has taught the bar, the pulpit, and the platform the value of moral courage.  He has proved that it pays to do right though the heavens fall.




The honest people of Missouri were not mistaken in their man.  Nor were the newspapers.  They knew enough to stand by an efficient public servant.




As the character of the state is shown by the character of those it crowns, so the character of the city is shown by the character of the men it sustains in official life.




We benefit ourselves only when we benefit others.  For eight years Governor Folk sacrificed time, labor and money for the good of his state; now he is rewarded not only by the applause of his own people, but by the immense assemblies that greet him in all parts of the Union.




Men slow to give judgment say Governor Folk's biennial message in its simplicity and sincerity and its lofty note of patriotism, suggests the state papers of Washington and Lincoln.




Unless they appear before the grand jury,
 said Folk of two eminent scoundrels, 
within forty-eight hours and tell everything they know concerning the attempted bribery of the Assembly, I shall send them both to the penitentiary.
  (Something in his voice told the scoundrels that Folk would put his threat into execution.)