The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-06-23
WILMINGTON. \. c.
FRIDAY, JUNE %. 1899.
THE BEST WAY TO DOWN THE
TRUSTS.

pers OF ability and influence in all sec
lions take hold of the detestable, grind
ing tariff tar of the unfaithful and cor
rupt republican party and the accused
trusts that spoilate and Cypress at will.
Tens of thousands of active, industri-
GUS commercial travellers have been
turned adrift, have lost their places by
the consolidation Of companies and in
dustries into huge trusts. 1t is the
tariff that feeds the trusts and makes
them possible. Every day one to three
trusts are formed, and they embrace all
things that sell. The Industrial Com
mission made a good haul when it
threw out it's seine and caught in it's
meshes the big fish Henry Have
meyer, the King of the sugar trust.
He was plain and positive when he de-
clared that "the tariff was the mother
Of trusts" and added with the en-
phasis of truth that the United States
government was responsible entirely
for the trusts as it supplied the ma
-chinery by which the people were
plucked and wronged. 1t was surpris-
ing but useful talk. We care nothing
for Havemeyer's selfish views and com
plants as affecting his own grab-all
business. But as he turns on light as
to the abuses of the government itself
and the work of the detestable- villain
Gus, robber republican tariff the coun-
try is served and the people partly in
formed.
But there are others who are con-
tributing to the enlightenment of tn
people as to protection as an oppressor
and creator of the damning trusts that
devour and ruin. Mr.. A. B. Farquhar
lives at York, Pa, and is an extensive
manufacturer of agricultural machin-
cry. A meeting was called in Phlla-
-delphia to discuss trusts and their
abuses. Among the speakers was MI.
Faruuhar. He first commented upon
the present attitude of trusts, which
was indeed a system of united corpora
xions that were specially organized for
deception and for evading the penalties
of law. Speaking of the plan to place
a. special tax on the artful, grinding
trusts, he said this:
1.-THE tax they might perhaps evade,,
but there is no lodging a remoVal or
the tax now levied upon the people Tor
the benefit of the trusts. Monopoly,
brought about by nature, or fayorltlsm,
or force, is, let me repeat, the condition
which the trust most e%rnestly seeks to
secure. and the enjoyment Of which
gives it most power over the
ity. Deprive it of monopoly and we
disarm it; there is little use trying to
fight it any other way"
He then went on to show how the
monopolies operated and how unnec-
essary was protection for what the de-
ceivers have been wont to name "in-
FAINT industries" while some were
hoary and bald-headed with age:
1--WE may therefore consider this
proposed remedy without fear of bring
ing it into politics. So considering it
we must see at a glance that there are
a great many products of manufactur-
l. ing industries in this country, which,
whatever may have been their need Of
protection heretofore, most certainly do
not need it today. You need not accept
my testimony unsupported. The OIL
GERS Of a prominent manufacturing
in Wisconsin, convinced that
the high duties Of our present tariff
law were provoking retaliation on the
part Of more than one country Of con-
tinental Europe, where it would be ad-
vantageous to us to sell machinery,
sent out a circular letter a few weeks
ago to manufacturers throughout the
United States.
"In this circular the opinion was
plainly expressed that this country had
passed the need of protection in ma
-chiene construction, and that the tar11
thereon ought to be greatly lowered or
abolished altogether; the views of cor
respondents ON the subject also being
solicited"
Remember that the speaker is a great
manufacturer of machinery. He was
not alone. Others spoke to the point
way to strike at the greedy trusts was
tn cut down severely the enormous and
unconstitutional tariff. But this char
acterization is our own, for nothing
is more unbearable, wicked and illegal
thar a tariff laid for protection in
stead of for revenue only.
The president of the association is
Mr. Louis Wagner, an avowed PENN
~syfvanian high protectionist, and that
a a very great deal. And yet he
said openly:
Especially in the steel trade have
we nothing to fear from foreign COM
petitors. America leads the world in
this industry, as in most others, and
h time is at hand when I, who have
always been a strong proteetionist, re-
-alize that free trade is an absolute ne