The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1888-10-31
Even fjiaiiie - nelhe ieaacalg.i.

Mr.. Jafiea g. Blaine has at hast discov-
cred that trilsts are not by any meaus tho
harmless affairs which he declared them
to be few weeks ago. when. fresh FROM
tlfe hospitalities of Carnegie aud the
spleridors of Elnny Castle; he nut himself
at the head of the party whose members
speak of him as 1.-The greatest combina-
tion of heart and brain IN the world" and
"the object of our (theirJ hndying aifec-
ton" he Is now persuaded that some of
them ought to be dealt with by the gov
ernment. and that President Cleveland
was not so much in error after all In do
houncing them as conspiracies against
the people This is change of mind
which shows what can be don6 in the
course of an educational campaign.
IL Is interesting to note tho stages
through which Mr.. Blnineas mind has
passed in its progress toward truth on
this question. First OF, it will be re.
ncmbered, he scofTed at the president and
tho Democracy for finding fault with
trusts and lightly dismissed them from
further notice as private affairs. That
this would not do he learned as soon as
1t was shown to him that the effect of the
trusts was TO increase the cost of living
and diminish wages. He then favored us
with the announcement that. though
trftsts might be objected TO, still they
were not In any degree due to the so
this. told an astonished world that Eng.
land was als6 afflicted by similar organi-
cations. It was something Eaipcd to
have the greet mar admit thai fhsY Here
not good things; even II he persisted IN
ignoring tho cause of them.
For time Mr.. Blaine songlit 10 occupy
middle ground. lie acknowledged i'm
plicitly that trusts were evils. and that
tolerltion of them IN other countries WAS
not an adequate reason for toicratinG them
here, since the European addiction to aris-
tocracies and standing armies has neycr
been deemed n reason for setting up q
royal family and a vast military establish
neUt IN the United States. but cofrtendcd
thnt the state governments and not the
Federal authority ought to correct them
That he could not long adhere TO this po-
sition was clear enough 10 every person
capable Of consistent thought.
IN the town Of Goshen. Ind, he practi.
eally abandoned all his previous bfeaS and
undertook to show liot as in the past that
trusts were priynte affairs with which the
federal government had nothing TO do, or
which ought to be left TO the state goys
ernments. but were evils for which DEM
6crats were largely responsible. This;
the reader perceiyes. changes tho whole
character of tue discussion. The ques-
tfon now Is not whether trusts arc evils,
but who IN to blamc for Perpetusting
them. At Inst Mr. BInfne b IN accord
with the Democracy on the main matter
and differs only in regard to certain facts
and persons lie no longer asserts fiat
the crime charged against his client Is mo-
crime, blIT turning round ON tho aecusers
he says: Yes, q crime has been COM
nitted. but the guilt is with the plaintiff
and not the defendant .
1t IS now agreed that trusts 6ugIt TO be-
suppressed What the people hnyei 70 de-
eide is, to which party may the work of
s1pprcssing tlem be committed with most
Likelihood of having Justice done. Shall
the commission be gwen 10 President
Cleveland who has from the, Beginning
consistently denounced the wrong. or To-
the representative Of MIR. Blaine, who be-
gan by telling the country that trusfs.
were harmless. and had no word Of een--
sure for them TIL he learned that tile
people were resolved to crush tIlens To.
TINS question the average mar will be able
Brooklyn Citizen.