Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va) 1886-1890, 1890-03-26
G0THAM'S SHAME
DEBATE o'RAND JURY SCORES THE
THEIR SOtolFFs OFFICE.
FARMERS And TRADES 7aLAqED LAW.
Some Senators Argue that the
would Render Illegal the Farmers ie haents'
Alliance and tho knights of Labor. ieSea'
Mr.. stewards Views.

WASHINGTON, March 25.-The con-
sideration the bill to declare unlawful
trusts and combinations in restraint of
trade, gave rise to an interesting debate
in the senate. Mr.. Teller said he was
in full sympathy with the objects of the
bill He was inclined to vote for the
bill, although he was not sanguine OF
its accomplishing the purpose for which :
it was intended, and he doubted very
much whether any benefit wo uld be de-
rived from it. Unless the states took
hold of the question and suppressed
those trusts by limiting the amount or
capital that can be aggregated IN any
corporation the trouble would continue.
The Farmers Alliance.
The bill, he said, would apply to the
Farmers Alliance and the National
Farmers League, which were organized
with the avowed purpose of increasing
the prices of farm produce-a thing
which he regarded as most desirable
and as absolutely essential to the pros
perty of the country for everybody
knew that unless the prices of farm
products in this country could be in
creased, a great many of the farmers
would soon be in bankruptcy and turned
out of their homes.
Mr.. George said that he thought that
that was good point, not only against
Mr.. Reagan's amendment, but against
the original bill Mr.. George referred
to the knights of Labor as another or
ganization that would come within the
scope of the bill, because the object of
that order was to increase their wages
and consequently to increase the cost OF
production.
Mr.. Reagan thought the first necessity
was to strike down trusts and comblna-
tons, which gave life to Knights Of
Labor and trades unions.
Combinations Necessary Evil:
Mr.. Stewart said that the whole SUBJ
iect was surrounded with difficulties Of
the gravest kind. Combinations were
at the foundation of all civilized society.
They seemed to be like the necessary
evil of civilization itself. The English
people had tried to check them for 100
years and had finally come to the con-
clusion that legislation on all such SUBJ
iects simply retarded trade, and there
would be the same result in this country
if the like thing was attempted. He
could find no warrant in the constltu-
ton for such legislation. Ii the bill
were constitutional it would permit the
prosecution of the farmers of Iowa or
Kansas who combined to hold back their
corn until prices were better.
Mr.. Blair opposed Mr.. ingalls, amend
ment as being really legalization or
licensing Of the crime of gambling "ln
futures" on condition of paying high
tax.
Mr.. Hoar criticised the bill in some of
its legal aspects and claimed that it
failed to afford any adequate remedy.
Sherman Defends His Bill.
Mr.. Sherman, replying to Mr.. Hoar,
said that if the duty on cotton cloths or
wooden cloths was little too low to
protect the manufacturers of Massa-
chusetts, not a day, not month would
be allowed to pass before he (Nlr. Hoar)
would demand a remedy in the way of
raising the duty. Here was remedy
for a greater wrong than any that
would result from a low tariff. State
rights had been endeavoring to wrestle
with combinations. He instanced the
sugar trust, composed of seventeen cor
porations, and asked what remedy had
lu0 DSODlc VI ANCW IOiA SAAehS
corporation. None at all, he said, ex-
cept against one of the corporations in
Guided in it. A remedy would never
come, he said, from the class of men
engaged in such monopolies. He had
seen the gradual growth of combina-
tons, and knew that their power was
growing greater and greater and
stronger and stronger, and if congress
was impotent to deal with that evil, If
it could not prescribe anything but
quack medicine, it would prove itself
utterly untitled to perform its duties.
Dir. Vest aimed some sarcastic re-
marks at Mr.. Sherman, denying that
there was anything in that senator's
career that gave him the right to as
sumo that he discovered the only
remedy and the only road to success
against combinations.
The bill went over without action.