The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-09-13
Conclusions.

r HAVE THUS presented to you, az
best l could, and, as | believe, in
no unfair spirit, both sides OF this
great controversy. l said in the outset
that the time had not yet arrived when
final Judgment could be safely passed.
This was said not with reference to the
trusts as they have been used and operat-
ed up to this time, but with reference to
a system which. for all we know, may, in
it's final development, under wise restrlc-
tive laws, retain all the efficiency of the
present trusts, for purposes consistent
| with public welfare, and become bene-
ncent agency. | said also that l had
reached certain onclusions, upon which
| I felt l could rest with reasonable GER
| tainty. Some of them l have already
| stated. Allow me, in conclusion, to give
| you C-e or two others.
| Upon an impartial review of the whole
| case, / think it manifest that trusts as
now organized and operated are oppres-
| sive; that their tendency is to monopoltze
| trade, to greatly increase the inequalities
| of life, to degrade labor, and to demora-
| lize our social and corrupt our political
4 life. If these features and tendencies
| necessarily inhere in the system, and can
| neither he eliminated nor controlled, no
advantage the system can possibly offer
| will compensate in the slightest degree
for the irreparable injury it is sure to
work. 1t may gain for us the markets
| of the world; but the voice of warning
, with solemn emphasis asks the question
| what shall it profit us to gain the whole
| world, If in exchange for it American
labor must give up it's independence and
manhood and American citizenship ITS
! proud distinctions and birthright privi-
| leges?
MY other conclusion contains more of
hope. A change of business methods ls
not to be averted; such change must
come If not one way, then in another.
am prepared, at least not unwilling to
believe that the essential feature in any
| system that will be adopted for our
| changed conditions will be associated
capital and combined enterprises. Fur
thermore, | believe that it is possible-at
present this belief goes no further-to
have associated capital, not to the eX-
tent we now have, however, without
monopolstic power or privilege; in other
words. that trusts may be so controlled
and regulated by law that while retain
ing their efficiency they will be unable to
prevent or protect themselves against any
competition that eXtortiOn or oppression
| of theirs might invite If this be possi-
BILE, and competition within reasonable
limits be preserved. believe we shall es-
| cape the evils predicted and those We
| now suffer from can exist only so long as
the public virtue is not strong enough TO
abate them l do not presume to suggest
any plan or policy. That is not for me;
the problem is at once the most serious
and difficult we have to solve, and its
appeal is, and must he, to the profound
| est learning and the wiseSt statesmanshlp
| of the country. The one is in your SER
vice now: all over the land the student
and the scholar are at work, giving to
these great questions their severest
thought and labor Ii would be glad
sign If as much could be said of our
craftsmanship: II our lawmakers were
less interested in distribution of public
t-spoils, and moro in these ques-
tions that so Vitally concern the
public welfare; better still, If we
had fewer Of them who owe their
places to the corrupt assistance Of
the trusts, and more who have the abil-
ity and virtue equal to the pressing de-
mands Of the hour
Finally, II the hope l have expressed
shall fail: if it shall be once determined
that the evils / have indicated are in
separable from trusts then 1t means an
irrepressible conflict, which can end only
with the extinction of one or other Of
the opposing forces, In such event,
while l cannot predict the day or the
hour of its accomplishment, nor the
measure of public distress that may be
exacted, my faith in the intelligence and
virtue OF the American people enables
me to see, beyond doubt or fear, as-the
issue of the final struggle, the complete
overthrow of a system that threatened
and attempted the degradation of Ameri-
I can labor, and the subversion of our So
, cal and political order.
-
There is more Catanh in this section
; of the country than all other diseases
! put together, and until the last few years
was supposed to be incurable, For a
great many years doctors pronounced it
? a local disease, and prescribed local
remedies, and by constantly failing to
cure with local treatment, pronounced
it incurable. Science has proven catarrh
, TO be a constitutional disease, and there
fore requires constitutional treatment
Halls Catarrh Cure, manufactured by
s1~4F. j. Cheney & CO., Toledo, Ohio Is tho
= only constitutional cure on the market.
! 1t is taken internally i'm doses from 10
drops to "A teaspoonful, 1t acts directly
on the blood and mucous surfaces of the
4 system. They offer one hundred dollars
e for any case II fails to cure. Send for
@ circulars and testimonials Address ~"
a +. J. CHENEY, & co, Toledo. o.
] Sold by Druggists, 75c
. Halls Family Pills are the best.