The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-06-01
That the Trusts Are a Fixture
in the Country.
is ONLY ONE REMEDY.
And That is the Government
Ownership of MOnOpOlies
Through the Initiative and
Referendum.

league Hon. T. J. Van Vorheis of IN
dianapohs spoke in favor of bimetallisn
and against trusts, after which ex-Gov-
ernor John P. Altgeld of Illinois was in
troduced.
The greatest enthusiasm prevailed
when the Illinois statesman arose to ad-
dress the convention; the delegates
arose to their feet waving their hats
and cheering Justify. He spoke as fol-
lows:
THE evils that result from the gold
standard have not been exaggerated or
overstated. Time has sustained the
bimetallist, and that man makes a
fatal mistake, who thinks that the
American people are ready to abandon
this cause, and inasmuch as the aban-
donment of the ratio practically
amounts to the abandonment of the
cause, that politician makes a fatal mis-
take who thinks that the ratio can be
abandoned without disintegrating and
destroying the Democratic party. For
every score of wealth Worshipipng gold
Democrats who would be brought to our
standard by such an abandonment of
principle ten thousand men of deep con-
VictiOns would leave US.
But the money question is not the
only great question that confronts US.
Calamities go in groups, and the gold
standard has brought with it a brood of
evils, each of which threatens the life of
the republic.
There is the great question of gov
eminent by injunction, a system under
which a federal judge, elevated to that
office by corporation Influences, strike
down the right of free speech and with
a contemptuous wave of the hand,
brushes aside the right of trial by jury,
that bulwark of English liberty, as the
mere request of a corporation agent.
The temptations offered by corrupt
capital being too great for the ordinary
a n fn n 10 Z &c IGV1f hot
long as these temptations are afforded
they will be effective. By the establish
ment of the system of initiative and
referendum the fruits of bribery could
be taken away, and thus the induce
ment to bride would be destroyed.
This is an age of concentration, of
the formation of great corporations, of
great trusts and of great monopolies
1t is found that by concentration the
cost of production can be cheapened,
and if the public got the benefit of this
1t might be a blessing; it would shorten
the hours of labor and advance civiliZa-
ton, but instead of that the benefit of
it under the Republican administration
goes to a few private individuals Who
by making themselves complete masters
of the market and having absolute con-
troll of articles of necessity to the peo-
pie are able to arbitrarily fix the price
of that article on the one hand and are
able to arbitrarily fix wages on the
other hand. In consequence of this
fact, these. mOnOpolies are not only
curse to the country, but are threaten
ing to overthrow our institutions for
they furnish the corruption funds that
are destroying us.
For quarter of a century both po-
litical parties have denounced corpora
lions, trusts and monopOlies Nearly
every state in the union has legisIated
against them. The federal government
has legislated against them, yet in spite
of this denunciation, in spite of all this
legislation, state and federal, they have
gone on multiplying. State legislation
has been found to be absolutely futile
because federal judges uniformly de-
clare it to be unconstitutional Fed
eral legislation has likewise been found
to be futile. The trusts are masters of
the situation
1t is evident that to simply go on
denouncing trusts is an insult to the
intelligence of the American people 1t
is the cheapest kind of political dema-
gogy. The experience of other coun-
tries, as well as a thorough considera-
ton of the question shows that it is
impossible to reduce many of these
monopolies back to their original eIe-
ment. They have come to stay, and
therefore, it is the mission and the DUTY
of the Democratic party to secure the
benefit of the monopoly for the public
Tor the people, that means municipal
and governmental ownership of all
monopolies which it is practicable for a
government as yet to control
1.-The politician makes a mistake who
thinks that by mere denunciation of
trusts you can fool a great number of
Democrats in 1900. The people want to
know what we propose to do about it,
Look at the situation from any stand
point and you will find that the socalled
gold standard Democrats are not earn
estly and heartily with US on any of the
great questions that now confront our
people. By affinity. taste, interest, af-
fliation and natural selection, they are
on the other side. The idea of abandon
ing principle and adopting some cheap
common cry, with the hope of thus
sweeping the country and getting Of
fees, even if it were possible to succeed
that way is unworthy of a moments
consideration at the hands of any man
who loves his country. But it would be
futile and if the national Democratic
convention of 1900 should adopt such
course it might as we'll issuea certificate
of election to William Mckinley. 1 hear
it said that we can not carry the coun-
try unless we get New York, and that
in order to get New York, we must
abandon our principles.
In the first place, L dispte both pro-
positions, and in the second place I
want to say that the time has gone by,
when the Democracy can carry New
York on a blear-eyed platform. The
rank and file of the Democratic party
in New York is aroused and it is as de-
voted to the principles of the Chicago |
platform as is the party anywhere in
this country and competent judges tell
me that Governor Roosevelt's election
was made possible by the vote of Dem
OcTdIS VINO preferred supporting an
open enemy, to a Democrat who stood
for nothing"
While Governor Altgeld was in the
midst of his discourse, Mr.. Bryan, who |
arrived in the city early in the evening, |
reached the theater and was admitted to
the stage by a rear door and took a
seat behind the flies where he awaited |
the conclusion of AItgeld's speeches.
After the speeches had been conclud
ed, Mr.. Bryan and the more disting
uished visitors repaired to the Gait
House where the banquet of the Young
Mems Democratic club of Louisville to
President James P. Tarvin was given.