Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1899-10-25

OFFICE IN TRIBUNE BUILDING.
WEDNESDAY, OCT. Is, 1899.
.nEea1,o.s. AND ALTERATIONS.
We may be in error in our sugges-
loo and If we are we hope the editor of
the WILLMAR TRIBUNE will correct
US, but all the evidence points to the
conclusion or the suggestion that the
platform of the pops next year will be
along the line of anti-expansion, anti
trust, anti-sound money, anti tariff,
anti-prosperity, anti-republicanism, in
short, it will be and must be an anti
platform, negative declaration.
They have nothing to affirm, they are
merely necessary party of opposi-
ton. As an opposition party the
pops have their mission to perform
and we presume they will perform it
to the best of their ability. But, hon
est, now, where can they expect to
stand on any question of national i'm
portance except the trust question
which the republicans are as anxious
to have remedied as the pops are.
Come, now, Bro. Lawson, give US
some insight into your national views,
If you have any.-Willmar Argus.
The TRIBUNE is always ready to
give whatever information it can to
those sadly in need of it. The task of
enlightening the Argus editor is an
especially pleasant one, as he never
stops to argue about anything we say,
but quietly digests it and asks for
more. Such bland, childlike conf
dence must not be imposed upon, and
we shall be extra careful in answering
Bro. Wharton's queries.
Yes, we are, to some extent, a mega
tive party. The party out of power
must necess arily be so if it is any
thing at all. If it agrees with the
party in power it has no excuse for
existence.
We are anti-expansionists because
we believe that the same moral laws
that govern Individuals should gov
ern nations. 1t is considered wrong
for a man to use brute force to wrest
from another man his possessions.
Why should it not be so considered
in nation? We claim TO be Chris
ton nation; yet in our dealings with
the Philippines we violate every prin-
ciple laid down by Christ: ''Love thy
neighbor as thy SELF" ''Do unto 9TH
ers as you would have others do unto
you." Read those great precepts
carefully, let them sink into your
mind until they become the guiding
principle of your life; then take gun
and go out to shoot Philippinos-if
you can.
But we are not only q negative
party. We have something to affirm.
We affirm that the United States
should positively assure the Philip
pinos their independence as soon as a
stable government had been estab-
lished, and should help them to estab-
lish such government. Is this posi-
tive enough to suit you?
We are antitrust, and we are hon
est about it, too. We believe that q
combination of capital that puts into
the hands of a few persons the power
to dictate prices is dangerous. But
that is not all. It makes men merely
cogs in vast machine, takes away
their Independence, and thus threatens
the foundations of our government.
It removes all Incentives to independ-
ent activity in the young man. He
has to bow to the trust if he wants a
chance to work.
We affirm that the government has
a right to interfere to protect the in
dividual from soul-less combination;
that all laws which give these corpor-
ations advantages in keeping up prices
must be modified. That, Unnecessary,
the constitution shall be amended so
as to give the government power to
regulate the trusts. We recognize the
trusts as an evil to be grappled with
and suppressed. What do the repub-
licans propose? Last spring some OF
the republican papers, alarmed by the
rapid organization of trusts, and rec
ognizing what potent argument this
would be for the opposition party, be-
gan spirited attack on the trusts.
Most of them proposed to remove the
protection afforded by the tariff, on
all articles controlled or manufactured
by trusts. The Pioneer Press was the
especial champion of this proposition.
But events soon proved that the re-
publican party was not going to hurt
it's best friends. With trust man for
vice president, a trust attorney for
Encouragement, another corporation
lawyer as secretary of war, corpora
ton attorney appointed to the supreme
court, and Mark Hanna as the Great
Mogul of the party, anything the re-
publicans could say against the trusts
would be taken in Pickwickian
sense, and cause merriment In fact,
they saw they were only aiding the
opposition by talking against trusts,
for the people were willing to believe
that the trusts were as bad as the re-
publicans painted them, but they
doubted the power Of q trust-ridden
party to remedy the evil. Then the
great gold democrat Bourke Cochran,