The labor world., 1899-06-10
AT ST. / >Ol1IS
The Trust SmasherS Hold a Conference
Throw Boquets at Each Other and outline
Work for 1900. ]. 5
BY S. GOODWIN. I. J 6 \

TNHE democratic leaders held a
conference in St. Louis re-
Gently for the purpose of
outlining, as well as may be,
the course Of the national cam
paign of 1900. It seemed to be.
the almost unanimous sentiment that
the only hope Of democracy lay in TAX
ing up the antitrust cry and working
it for all it is worth. William Jen-
nings Bryan was the chief speaker and
all others took their cue from him.
He said: Democracy is opposed to
monopolies of every kind" and then
went on to relate the disasters which
are bound to follow in the train Of
the trust movement. But not a single
man Of all that throng Of politicians
had word to say as to the manner in
which the trusts were to fall victims
to the. dire vengeance Of the demo-
j.
Gratis now camped upon their trail.
The two great political parties of
the United States have had anti-trust
splanks in their platforms for many
years but nothing in the line of anti
trust legislation has been accompl y
ed. According to the opinion Of Attor-
ney General Griggs an opinion which
is concurred in by every onstitu-
tional lawyer in the United States =
there is no met thod B Of proc oceeding
against these corp orations under our our
fundamental law. No statute can be
made thatswill stand the test Of the
const stitution, because such q law
would, i'm feet, limit the amount of
property which . single indiYidual q
corpora lion could acsuires
How, then, do the anti trusters pro--s
pose to begin their assault !? The only
way would be to amend the constitu-
ton OF. the United States. We have
been told that in this glorious coun-
try the people are sovereigns and can
do anything they want to, but 1T is
more theory than fact. TN the first
place, an amendment to the constitu-
ton requires the consent @ofs fboth
houses Of congress and the president
before, it can be submitted to the sew
5eral states. Then the several state
legislatures take a whirl at it; and il
amajority of all the states SO decide,
it lis then submitted to the people to
vote upon. Would any one expect the
present United States congress to act
favorably on a matter which threat
ened the existence of trusts? The SEN
ate is especially the 9hot-bed Of prob
ably hundred millionaire trust Inag-
mates, while the remaining members
are corporation attorneys who have
won their places by the influence Of
trusts. @ ~ iz s
Even should an amendment pass the
national corporation bulWarks and
successfully run the gauntlet Of nearly
half hundred personally conducted
corporation legislatures, and event
ually receive the assent of the people,
the job Of controlling the trusts would
be hardly begun. With the power in
the hands Of congress to enact laws to
prevent the formation of monopolies,
how could such law be made to
apply to the several hundred trusts
now in operation? Would congress
say to the proprietors of these com
bines: "You must quit the business
in which your capital is invested. If
you cannot sell your plants at a salts
factory price, they must be sold for
what they will bring under the ham
mer, or you must give them away" .
The more closely you look into this
antitrust agitation, the more foolish
and hopeless it must appear, and the
more certain you will be that trusts
have come to stay. AS well might an
agitation be started for the destruc-
tion of all labor-saving machines, for
trusts are the labor-saving machines
of commerce. The people who have
formed the trusts have seen the folly
of the competition system, and have
taken measures to eliminate competi-
ton with it's uncertainties from their
business. Here in our own country
the trust movement has been more
extensive than in any other in the
world, and by favorable tariff legisla-
ton they are largely able to control
the home market, while by reason of
their compactness and extreme cheap
ness of management, with the excep-
tional advantages ill u:eight rates
which their large operations give