The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1893-06-14
THE LINE is DRAWN.
Anti. Trust and Free Silver the Is.
sues for '94 and '96.
Coal Men Run the National Anti
Trust Convention.

uSk NIOAN CuIlOHs
The People are Powerless to Re.
strain the corporations.
My premOnitiOns were right:-the
National Antitrust Conference was
packed. My experience had taught
me that whenever the people at
tempted to assemble, to break their
shackles, the Rings had taken pos
session of the meeting. In this case
it was boldly done. Pennsylvania
sent delegation whose express OBJ
ject was to defeat the purposes of the
conference. One sharp fellow, among
them, tried to switch us off upon the
greenback question. Another, named
Corey, was coal operator, who let
the words 'us coal men" slip from
him unawares,s at which the whole
convention shouted. He made per-
sonal attack on myself, but he grew
weary of that and let me alone. II
was here" he said sat the time of
the great Chicago fire." ''Was the
gentleman here the night the fire
started?' I asked. The convention
"took," and the uproar was tremen-
dous; and the old fool soon found out
that he could not bambooZle our
western men. Another Pennsyl-
vania delegate, Judge Walker, the
best of the crowd, admitted that the
people Of that state were perfectly
pOwerleSs to restrain the corpora
tions, and that they ran things to
suit their own sweet will. And this
is the condition the entire region
west of the Mississippi will be in,
within ten years, unless the peoples
party is able to reverse the down.
ward movement. Another evil in
fluence was Editor Rosewater of the
Omaha Bee,-a Shrewd, plausible,
forcible, persistent character. His
object was to minimize the results of
the convention to the least possible
quantity. Nearly all the Minnesota
delegation backed him up. Gov. Gil
man was the only man that stood by
me on the question of the govern
ment taking possession of the 100000
acres of coal land, in Pennsylvania,
under ''the right of eminent do
main," paying the present owners
fair price, and farming them out, as
the state of New York does the salt
wells of Syracuse, so as to insure the
consumers cheap coal, and the pro-
ducers fair wages. On the question
of forfeiting the property of trusts
and placing it beyond the protection
of the law, Hon. A. Rice voted with
me, Gov. Gilman was for it but out
of the room, and all the other Mime
sofa men voted for Rosewater's rose
water policy, of passing perfunctory
resolutions, calling on some one else
to do his duty. I caricatured the
whole business by offering the follow
ing resolutions:
Resolved, That every man in the
United States should do his whole
duty: that no woman should wear
hoops; that
That to be dreaded needs but to be SEEM"
less artice of diet; that vice is vici-
GUS, and the devil gentleman; and
that Grover Cleveland is earnestly
%o 10 hi ,fvy hi mi f0
be virtuOuS, and he will be happy"
But they beat us on the confisca-
tion of the coal lands 81 to AZ; and on
the question of outlawing the trusts
the vote stood SO to SO, and when the
roll was called IS to 80.
By this time there was great ex-
citement. The radical members per-
ceived they were sold out and at the
request of a number of delegates I
gave notice that those who really
wanted to fight the devil with fire
and crush the trusts would meet
that night at the Palmer House.
At 8 O'Clock we had thirty odd
delegates from 13 different states, in
cluding Massachusetts,, Kansas, Illi-
nois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Iowa,
North Dakota, Utah, Michigan, Wis
consin, Colorado (the whole delega-
tion) Oklahoma and one from Mime
sofa. We had very nearly one half of
the original convention; and they
were a most harmonious and enthusi-
astic set of gentlemen and ladies.
Prof. Beemis, of the Chicago Univer-
sity, was given seat on the floor;
and Mrs. Corinne S. Brown of Chica-
go, and Mrs. A. P. Stevens of the
Vanguard were present as delegates.
The following resolutions were
adopted by practically unanimous
vote:
Resolved, That since it has been
demonstrated officially that the busi-
ness of mining, transporting and sell
ing anthracite coal is a monopoly, the
government should take possession
Of the anthracite coal fields by right
of eminent domain.
Resolved, That since it has been