The herald., 1897-07-06

Otner, you say that fact IS universally
recognized. 1 say to you, my friends,
that bodily injury is not the only in
jury. Injury by club is not the only
injury that can be done. 1t is more
necessary to protect the weaker men,
bers of society from those financially
stronger than it is to protect the physi-
cally weak from the physically strong.
why, my friends, the strongest man
is only a little stronger than the
weakest. The differences between peo-
pie physically are not great, and yet
you all recognize that no matter how
similar the condition, the weaker should
be protected from wrong at he hands
OF the stronger. 1 say to you that in
these latter days, when improved ma
chinery has multiplied the strength of
the human arm, when corporate exist
ence has anihilated the death line, and
brought together under one manage
ment enormous amounts of capital, that
sometimes a corporate person is a hun
dred or a thousand times as strong as
tne natural rival that the corporation
mas; lApplause.1 1t is necessary to
protect man from physical injury at
the hands of a person a little stronger.
PROTECT THE WEAK.
IL us not necessary to protect the
weaker mem bers of society from those
who are hundred or a thousand times
as strong, either by financial stand
ard or by an Industrial standard? If
there is any difference, the need for
restraining these great aggregations
OF wealth is greater than the need of
restraining a man from injuring his
nelghpor physically. Why? Because
naturally the individual is under two
restraints. He is restrained by law,
ana ne is also restrained by the con-
sclousness of his responsibility to his
maker; but the corporation has no
nfe hereafter through which punish
ment may come for the deeds done in
tne Hesh. Laughter and applause.] The
restraints against wrong in the case of
c9rporate injury are not so binding as
the restraints that press down on
creatures of flesh and blood. 1 do not
want you to think that l would incite
you TO DO injustice against the corpor-
ate person. All that l ask is this:
mat you recognize that the CORPORA
tion IS a creature of law; that laws are
~ me works OF human hands, and that
therefore the corporation is called into
existence by human beings; that hui
man beings called the corporation into
existence to advance the public veal
ana that the creators of corporations
must always be greater than the cor
poratlon created. [Applause.1 All 1
ask is this; that that power which calls
ever possess the power to restrain. to
control and to direct. 1t is absurd to
say that the people would voluntarily
call INTO existence an instrumentality
TOR their own injury, and it is worse
than absurd to say that, having called
INTO existence instrumentalities like
corporation. they are powerless to pro-
tect themselves if the corporation turns
against its creators. [Applause1 In
other words, public attention is being
turned toward the conduct of corpora
tlons' and II l mistake not, the senti-
ments of the people are preparing to
apply this rule, that the fictitious per-
son made by man shall not have rights
superior to the natural person of flesh
and blood made by the Almighty and
placed upon his footstool. Applause
THE ODIoUS TRUST.
There is just one feature of the cor
poration as it now presents itself to
the American people to which l invite
your attention. There is one thing
that can be denounced without fear of
the institution being defended in pub
lie, and that is the trust. You can de-
nounce trust anywhere. You can say
what you will of it. Nobody rises to
defend it. 1t is unnecessary. Its de-
lenses are the secret defenses that
come from electing men to office to
guard It's interests, so that public dis
cusslon is unnecessary. Applause
My friends a trust that is organized
TO control the price of things that the
people must use is an institution which
must be met and considered In the
olden times, if your son or mine desired
to go into business, if he had the capi-
tai necessary, if he had the industry
required, if he had the ability, expert
ence, economy, you might expect him
to succeed. Not so today. A man may
enter upon business He may be quail
ned in every way. He may be ex-
emplary in his character and his
habits; he may have sufficient capital
he may have industry; he may have
ability and yet not succeed. Why?
Because some trust may come to him
and hold out the alternative of becom-
ing conspirator against his fellow
man or becoming a bankrupt and los
ing all that he had invested in his bus
mess. [Applause.] Your son may not
have suffered; my son may not have
suffered. but, my friends, it is the test
OF lntelligence; it is the sign of civiliza-
tion that people see dangers before
those dangers become too great to be
resisted, and we see those dangers in
our land today. We see men driven out
OF business. We see mems property
taken from them and l assert to you
today that the trust which bankrupts
d man IN ORDER to drive him out of
business is as much a moral thief as
If it went by night and stole his prop
erty and put the property in it's vault.
Applause The government which is
not great enough to protect the weak
est citizen from injury at the hands of
the strongest, is not great enough to
deserve the love of a man who is op-
pressed without hope of relief lap
plause.] If you ask me who the dan
gerous men are, who are the men who
threaten the existence of our nation, l
will tell you that it is not the bare
headed and bare-footed anarchist, be-
cause the real anarchists are so few
and the sentiment of society is so
strong against them, that no extended
harm can come from them. All hands
are against them, because all citizens
recognize government as a necessity,
and government has the well-nigh
unanimous support of the citizens, no
matter what their name, their creed
or their political faith. [Applause.1 I
say, my friends. that the people who
are not the anarchists, who are always
men are the great men who feel them
can defy government, corrupt legisla-
lures and bid defiance to seventy mil
lions of American citizens. [Great APP
plause.1
AN ENTHUSIASTIC HEARER.
1 have dwelt already longer than I
intended to upon these.
A voice. Go on; we will stay here
all night.