The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1896-12-04

| udtlOHhi uOuOI. lucIc 10 iuSrdiuou III US,
Bryante and McKinleyite alike, the con-
viction that this nation in all her action
must be honorable to the last measure, just
to W thin hairs weight, and stainless as
the soul washed in the blood of Emmanuel.
And then, on the other side, there was
the appeal to the discomfort and the wretch.
edness of the country. That appeal has been
made before but not in quite the way nor to
the extent that 1t entered into this campaign.
And this is mentioned with an entirely OPP
pOsite feeling to what has been thus far ex-
pressed. 1t has seemed to me that 1t was
fact portendidg future danger that this year
1896 should witness the first campaign into
which sectionalism and class distinctions
have entered to any marked degree. Say
what we will about the round million ma
jOrity for the winning candidate, the Omi-
nous fact is that the man without work and
the man with grievance against society,
! the poor and wretched men voted together
at this last election. Mr.. Hanna has been
quoted as saying: "The fight at the polls
was not SO much between gold and silver as
it was the fight of the working men against
the man they thought was the exponent of
trusts and monopolies. They were led to
believe that Mckinley was the candidate of
the trusts, and not to mince matters, was
my candidate, and that | was the head CEN
ter of trusts" And guess Mr.. Hanna is
about right in his judgment of the situation.
And just here lies the duty of the hour for
this country. 1t is to see to it that equitable
laws are enacted and enforced. We must
see to it that in so far as legislation can do
it the unfair advantage which corporate cap.
ital has been all too prone to take to itself is
restrained. We must see to it that some
light is let in and some conscience thrust
into that constituencies thing called trust.
| La the Inter Ocean of Tuesday there was
| head line which attracted my attention and
so res the article. 1t concerned certain
arrangement among nail manufacturers
which had been in force since 1895 whereby
the price of nails had been maintained at
81 IS keg and under which great many
small concerns in the country were able
to do a paying business. But the point of
this article was that this general arrange
ment among the factories had been declared
off. That some seven or eight large con-
Germs proposed to begin war on the little
factories throughout the country. And it
was thought that by operating their mills
double time and scaling costs to the lowest
possible limit they could obtain some profit
on their output. That the small concerns
could not long meet their prices in an open
market. In the meantime you and | would
get cheap nails, but the Lord have mercy on
us after they have gotten their monopoly
by crushing the other factories. And the
article closed with the rather trite saying |
that il was 10 be the old question of the sur
vlval of the fittest. Had he let me put 1t
should have most likely said it was the old
question of the survival of a set of rascals |
secured by damnable conspiracy against
good order and general prosperity of society. |
Fer one think there ought to be note of
warning coming out of this time of business
depression and from this last campaign
which would reach the ear of thess con-
scienceless trusts. We have had the quiet
from a stagnation of business.
The factories and great business enterprises
have had no disposition to cut one another's
threats, in part because they have not had
the strength to WELD the assassin's knife,
d nd in RI az Of
pity for their competitors and for the suf
fering public in this time of distress had
reached the breasts of even these conglom-
erations of tyrannic capital. And we have
heard the hoarse and ugly cry of the poor
nan against the rich man as 1t came to us
n this campaign. And now the duty of
he hour for every man who loves his
country and desires industrial peace and
,ood order is to throw in his influence and
aise his voice for saner and more chris
ian industrial order. Society must get
nto 1t more of the leaven of righteousness
md more of the spirit of fairness, not to
mention the law of love. If the triumph Of
DIR. Mckinley is to mean the coming again
# good times and along with 1t the same old
policy among the corporations
nd trusts which has characterized them in
he past, then has our panic and our pecu-
lar campaign left no lessons behind. The
citation for better things In industrial and I
ocial life Is sure to continue. And let the
reed ana injustice of the past be practiced Z
y the strong as against the weak for anoth-
r generation or even decade and some q
is sure to come. There are l
of men in this land who want to a
ee the restraining hand of law laid upon t
orporate greed who did not vote for Mr.. 4
'ryan in this election, in part because they j
i'd not believe that free and unlimited {
oinage could reach the evil and in part be- !,
ause they did not like the company he fell b