The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1899-10-27

lneapolis ther was no great fortunes and
no great industries here. There were a
lot of young men, most of them COM
| Ing from the fields, as most of the
energy and individuality of this country
| has, engaged In business in small
way. Competition between them was
sharp and every man of the lot had his
opportunity. He had to reckon only with
men like himself. I was in the lumber
business in very modest'way 80 and
so and so and So (mentioning q number
Of men well known to the great business
interests of the northwest) were in ex-
actly the same boat with me- We did
not have to truckle to trusts or COM
binations of capital. Many of these
men succeeded in life beyond their most
sanguine expectations. But they did
It in a fair, honorable way. Do you
suppose that II would have been possible
for any of those men to succeed with
the start they had, in the lumber or
flour business, IL they had to contend
with the conditions that now exist? I
do not and to speak of myself
The senator tapped his finger tips
together and smiled In remembrance
perhaps Of the famous remark of Igna-
thus Donnelly about the Washburns all
lCOhhuB lutO luc WOTlu uQeQ the
United States senate.
| OPEN TO INDIvIDUALS.
but 1 believe that the development
of the Touring business here would not
have been possible if 1t had not been
for the great chances that were open to
individual effort
And that brings the matter Of trusts
home to u.s." he continued" 1t Is my
firm belief that combinations of cap
ital, while they will, certainly in ure the
working men of the country at once,
will ultimately furnish the means of
their own destruction. The concentrat-
ed and sustained effort that is essential
| to the welfare of any large business
will be lacking in the conduct of a
great trust. / believed this years ago
when opposed the effort to combine the
| Touring interests. l knew that nothing
but the closest application, the most in
Itelligent effort could keep manufactur-
ing enterprise on a paying basis. Gov
ernor Pillsbury was Gs we'll aware of
this fact as myself, and we opposed,
with might and main, the attempt to
buy up the Touring interests here in
Minneapolis. Ultimately we were
obliged to go into the British market
and take up great deal of our stock,
but / believe that in doing so the in
dustry was saved Here Is the PROPOSE
ton: A trust owns or controls mills
in, let us say, st. Louis, Minneapolis,
Milwaukee, Duluth, Chicago and per-
haps in the east. All these mills are
directed from point remote from many
of them, the object of the directors
being to get all the money possible
out of the investment. Labor conditions
may be essentially different in st. Louis
and Minneapolis. 1t may cost more
to make flour in st. Louis than in Min
neapolis. The trust directors, in order
to equalize the cost for their whole
System, reduce wages in st. Louis.
There is strike. They have
NO LOCAL INTERESTS
In st. Louis, the market only requires
so much flour. Very well, they say,
shut down the st. Louis mills The
mills close. Hundreds of men are
Thrown out of employment. but the
trust has increased it's revenues, and
what redress is there for the st. Louis
lworkmen who have beer. thrown out?
that universal strike would follow.
The present so-called flour trust will
wreck itself this way, the more readily
from the fact that it has not been able
to control all the mills
$50 THE TRUST IS NOT ONLY A
MENACE TO THE WORKINGMAN,
BUT TO THE SMALL CAPITALIST,
WHO, LED AWAY BY THE PROMISE
OF LARGE RETURNS, INVESTS IN
TRUST STOCKS.
THAT is where the great danger is
to the commercial interests of the
country. The trusts have been floated
now when we are at the floodtide of
prosperity. Their stocks have been
enormously watered, and great fortunes
are made by the promoters.
SOMETIMES AND SOMEWHERE
THERE HAS GOT TO BE A PROCESS
IOF LIQUIDATION. WHEN THAT
TIME COMES THE WORKMEN UN-
DER THE TRUSTS WILL FIND
THEIR APPARENT PROSPERITY
DISAPPEAR. WAGES WILL BE
lCUT WITH UNSPARING HAND IN
THE FIRST EFFORT TO MAKE A
|GOOD SHOWING ON THE TRUST
BALANCE SHEET. STRIKES WILL
ENSUE, THE TRUSTS WILL BE
CRIPPLED, AND THE STOCKHOL-
DERS AND WORKINGMEN WILL
BE ENGULFED IN THE SAME SEA
OF DISTRESS"
you take desperate view of the
situation"
"The situation itself is desperate. 1t
is un-American. 1t is impossible that
this people should allow to continue a
condition which handicaps individual
effort. l am not inclined to be a
pessimist, but 1 am forced to view the
situation with alarm"
REPUBLICAN TRUST AGENTS.
"But the Republican press attacks you
so sharply that it would seem you had
attacked Republican doctrine in attack
ing the trusts"
Then those papers do not represent
the Republican party any more than DO
some of the leaders who are identified
with trust interests. They attack me
because 1 said the protection should be
taken off trust-made articles. 1 re-
peat 1t. The Republican party does not
need the men who are in support of the
trusts. They are serving their private
interests, neither the interests of their
party nor of their country. The people
cannot be made to believe that they