Evening star., 1899-12-11

OlIleI lOcdI ulillcuilleS before IHe cTtutnLldlS
committee.
After adoption of a resolution of sym
pathy for President Gornpers. the annual
report of the president was read by Vice
President Duncan.
Concentrated Capitai-Trusts.
On the subject of trusts the report says:
We are all conscious of the giant strides
with which industry during the past decade
| has combined and concentrated into the
nc dern trust There is considerable differ
ence of opinion, however as to what is re-
garded by many as an intolerab evil.
Organized labor is deeply concerned re-
gar ding the swift and interse concentra-
tiOu CT the industries. and ii realizes that
unless successfully confronted by an equal
or superior power there. is economic danger
and political subiugation in store for all.
But organized labor looks With apprehen-
sion at the many panaceaS and remedies
offered by theorists to curb the grow Ia and
development. or to destroy the combina-
uonS of industry. We have seen those who
knew little CT StateCraft, ard less of eco
ponies. urge the ado cption of laws to "regu-
late interstate commerce, and laws to
prevent combinations and trusts: and We
have also seen that these measures, when
enacted, have been the very Instruments
TO deprive labor of the benefit Of organized
effort. while at the same time they have
simply proved incentives to more subtly
and surely lubricate the wheels of capitals
combination.
the state is not capable of preventing the
development. or the natural concentration
Of industry All the propositions to do 50
which have come unGer our observation.
would. beyond doubt, react with greater
force and injury upon the working people
Of our country than upon the trusts
The great wrongs attributable to the
trusts are their cOrrupting influence on the
politics of the country, but as the state
has always been the representative Of the
wealth possessors. we shall be compelled
to endure this evil until the toilers are or
SaniZed and educated to the degree that
they shall know that the state is by right
theirs. and finally and justly come to their
own, while never relaxing in their efforts
10 secure the very best possible economic,
social and material Improvement in their
condition.
There Is no tenderer or more vulnerable
spot in the anatomy of trusts than their
dividend paying function; there is no power
| on earth other than the trade unions which
wieldS SO potent a weapon TO penetrate,
disrupt and, If necessary. crumble the
whole fabric. This, however. will not be
necessary, nor will it occur; for the trade
unions will go on organizing. agitating and
educating, in order that material improve
ment may keep pace with industrial devel-
opment, until the time when the workers.
who will then form nearly the whole peo-
pie. develop their ability to administer
who will then form nearly the whole peg
pie. develop their ability to administer the
functions of government in the interest of
all
",
sition so gentle that most men will wonder
/ how it all happened.
In the early days Of our modern capital
ist system. when the individual emplover
was the rule under which industry was
conducted. the individual workmen deemed
themselves sufficiently capable to cope for
their rights: when industry developed and
employers formed companies. the work
men formed unions; when industry concen-
trated into great combina tions, the work
II gmen formed their national and interna-
tOnal unions; as enploynents became
trustified. the toiiers organized federations
Of all unions. local, national and interna-
| ticnal. such as the American Federation of
Labor.
ate the grand army Of labor and with our
notices, fewer hours of labor higher
wages and an elevated standard of life we
shall establish equal and exact justice for
all
| "Our New Prosecutions" and Militarfsm
a marked change within the recent past
has overcome the policy and trend of our
country in its international relations. A
humane war, undertaken for the indepen-
dence of Cuba from Spanish domination
ana musrule and the circumstances in con-
nection Herewith, has been taken adyan-
taSe OF TO ruthieSsiy trample under foot
every principle upon which our republic was
founded; every tradition which has made
ITS name sacred to patriots thinkers and
humanitarians. and every policy which has
endeared the names of the statesmen
heroes ana emancipatOrs. have been fla
grantly flung to the winds Hawaii is an
neNed in spite of the protests of her peo-
pie Slave-like conditions of labor obt ain
there. The agents of the slavemasters are
Turing workers to Hawaii to continue in
definitely the siave-like contract conditions
of labor there, where the specific enforce
ment of the conditions of the contract to
labor are enforceable with the whip and
the dungeon. Porto Rico has by armed
force been conquered and annexed Cuba
promised her freedom and Independence. is
held by the armed military forces of our
country.
In Cuba the workers sought by united
EFFORT to secure some Of the advantages re-
sultant from modern civilization: that is a
reduction in the hours of their daily toll:
, , anu upon their request being denied them
by employers, they exercised their natural
| ard legal right to cease work
ine general in command issued an order
containing the most offensive and unjusti-
| hable attacks and abuse upon the workers
= WIS ses.ght an amelioration in their condt-
uciiS and relief from burdensome toll The
arrest OF every man engaged in the strike
was threatened, and an ultimatum given
tnat unless the men returned to work with
IN 1orty-eight hours after the issuance of
| the military order the leaders would he ar
ana punished In accordance with the milf
| tary code.
EtEht-Hour BILL
The eight-hoUr law met with defeat md
under most peculiar circumstances. The
House passed the bin unanimously. 1t
failed in the Senate principally by reason
of the actions of Senator Kyle of soutb
| Dakota, chairman OF the Senate committee