Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-09-14

panic ana ulSITtSS from Sutll iHlldleu
stocks being absorbed by the small invest
ols whose savings may be thus in great
measure lost.
We hope TO hear the general subject
discussed from all possible standpoints-
from the view not only of the organizers OF
the combinations, but also from the work
men and customers of the industrial cor
norations. We hope that light will be
thrown upon the difference between the
class of trusts which tend TO monopoly
| and the Industrial combinations which in
many cases seem to be to the advantage
of ALL
I'VE are now in a period of large ad-
vance in the prices of most classes OF
manufactured goods, especially in iron anu
steel product, and We hope that some OF
our speakers will illustrate how much of
this advance is due 10 combinations, ana
how much TO The vastly increased demand,
which IL all lines has always IN the past
! resulted in advanced prices under the i'm
mutable law of supply and demand. There
has been no trust or combination, Tor IN
stance, among our farmers, but We all
recollect how two short years ago the
/ short wheat crop abroad caused such an
/ increased demand as to legitimately adj
| vance the price of that staple over 80 per
| cent within period of four months, and
that later on an enormous demand for
| wheat from one Of our own citizens, MIR.
Joseph Letter, whose hunger for wheat
gave him a worldwide reputation, caused
an advance of another so per cent
Professor jerks followed with paper
under the caption, Problems Before the
paper was finished, and adjournment was
| taken until o'clock.
| The afternoon session opened with a pa
per by Professor Adams on the same sub
! ject as his predecessor. Mr.. jerks.
These addresses were received attentive.
! ly, but 1t remained for Dudley Wooten, OF
| the Texas delegation. to stir up enthusiasm
of the campmeeting variety. He was fire.
! quently interrupted by cheering and was
rapturiously received by his fellow dele
gates from the Lone Star State upon the
| completion of his peroration. he said IN
part; t:csrt,nr in sooa fai., the. amend
| ment which the heroic legions of the South
| resisted unto death on thousand battle
| fields, we believe that neither slavery nor
involuntary servitude, except as punish
| ment for crime, shall exist within the
| United States or any place subject to their
| jurisdiction. And we confidently assert
that the commercial and industrial bond.
age being rapidly imposed upon the toll
and talents of 100000 American citizens
by the syndicated wealth of a few great
corporate monopolies, is more dire and
! the heads and burdened the backs Of 4,090,-
coo Southern black men.
And over and beyond these great writ
ten guarantees of equality and justice We
look to the lessons of history and appeal
to the authority of experience. When We
are told that tho spirit of commercial COM
bination promises golden rewards to the
present tendencies of our economic sys-
tenn, wAremember that no republic has
ever survived the mercenary despotism of
merchants and moneychangers."
John Graham Brooks, of Cambridge,
Mass, In sticking closely to facts" he
prefaced his address. spoke in part as
follows, and was received with considerable
we do not say a corporation is good
or bad until we know what the corpora
ton is or does. If the business is prop
cry safeguarded the corporation renders a
social service as essential as the college,
the library, or the church. If the larger
combinations now under discussion can be
so far controlled as the Boston street rail-
way and, indeed most Massachusetts, con-
m lnH Cbntt COW fnn frts
Is not TO be feared, but to be welcomed.
The supreme question that confronts US is
that of possible regulation
Il submit that the time is at hand for
some kind of wide, thorough and effective
organization. Nor do l believe it open to
doubt that the immense pressure of this
| necessity is producing the so-called trust.
a trust makes itself far more than 1t is
made. Men will fight it as they fought
Mckinley and with precisely the same re-
) suits. ! believe it TO be the beginning of
practical sense to understand that the new
2 combinations can in no sense be perman-
emily smached. The party which proposes
= to do this, in the sense of absolutely check
ing them will have plenty of leisure to re-
gret it The real problem, immediate and
: imperious, is how to regulate and guide the
2 new force that stands merely for the latest
nations are to work Tor the public as well
a as for private good three things, two of
them now largely under the voters con-
troll, must be brought about.
! "First-As absolute publicity of meth
] DDS and accounts as the largest Mass
achusetts corporation has to submit to-
r "secohd-Every artificial advantage given
by the tariff must be removed
"Third-Railroad discrimination shall not
be allowed TO these combinations.
t Whatever the future may have in store
r we are not yet ready for state control
4 of railways. For the immediate future
Ia decade or so) the best intelligence must
go to this special evil of railroad discrim-
ination. The trust plus special railroad
hn har han
: because ii makes directly for that wider
Q economic inequality that is already perl
enough.
Given an absolute publicity of fact an6
one feature of danger-over capitalization-
:. is already half met. If the trust movement
>, spreads, as now seems likely. by far the
e larger part viii go to the wall from sheer
h speculative bravado. The people mean
II while will be rapidly educated, and, above
: all, the banks will he swift to learn the
lesson, and to refuse to underwrite If tht
= venture is too impudent in its risks ONLY
: those trusts Will survive that are prudent
a ly organized and deal with a produc
which lends itself to the conditions i'm
l. posed by the new combination"
Il The committee on permanent organiza
ton met after the afternoon adjournment
s | of the conference.
William Writ Howe of Louisiana wa
) selected chairman of the meeting and afte
Y a hot discussion was elected permanen
i chairman of the conference, though three
= vice chairmen, each to preside during ON
e day, Wtre elected. 1t was happy solution
q of what at one time promised to be a split
e No one was willing to allow a permanen
II chairman to be appointed to preside at al
II sessions, lest he should favor some faction
l. II was urged that the chairmanship shoul,
: change at each of the nine sessions Tn
" chairman and vice chairmen method o
" disposing of the question was hailed witt
u applause. The vice chairmen selecte,
J. were:
n Thursday. Dudley wooten Texas: Fri
l., day, Mayor II. 5. Johnson, Colorado; Sat
l. urday, S. p. Corliss, New York
9 Ralph NJ. Easley was selected as per
. manent secretary.
s. After vainly trying to solve the alestio,
l. of q committee resolutions the com
Al mittee adjourned until evening
re The opening of the evening session wa,
= delayed for some time pending the repor
IL of the committee on programme and or
ganiZation. AT $50 o'clock. President Hea,
IN introduced Governor q. w. Atkinson, O
West Virginia.
After Governor Atkinson had conclude,
his speech Congressman John W. Gaines
l. or Tennessee, presented the report of TN
IF committee on organization and programme
he and IL was adopted unanimously
% Chairman Head then introduced the ner
- manent officers of the conference
al In accepting the gavel from Presiden
Head, MIR. Howe confined his remarks +
m thanking the conference for the honor con
ferred upon him and promising to Dresid