Omaha daily bee., 1899-10-29

men he needed.
Real source of Prospcrity.
The real source OF our prosperity, barring
The fact that in this western country we
have had abundant crops, is the more mo-
mentous fact that the national credit and
the credit OF all states, corporations and In
dividuals has risen immensely within tho
past three years. Everywhere in this state
fatm mortgages can be negotiated at from
to per cent. In eastern Nebraska farm
loans are offered as low as per cent. The
prime cause for this cheapening of money
is not because the volume OF money has In
creased enormously, but because there Is
greater confidence in the stability OF our
financial system and confidence in the abil-
ity of the American people to redeem their
pledges and In their willingness to meet
them without reputation or scaling OF their
debts For myself, l do not believe that
the silver question cuts very much Of fig
ure in the present campaign | have simply |
touched upon this subject in passing because |
the leaders OF the opposition still lay great
stress upon the Chicago platform and insist |
that they are going to continue the fight |
for free silver, although 1t has ceased to be |
live issue. II they were in position to |
revive this issue they would simply bring |
about an era Of stagnation, more excitement |
more uncertainty, followed by the closing |
Of the great workshops and factories.
The Trust Problem.
The next subject that Colonel Bryan is so
anxious to discuss at the present time is that
of trusts. So far as the trusts are con-
cerned we all concede that they are bad
that the trusts are more or less harmful, by
destroying competition and, of course, by
raising prices and, worst Of all, by stock wa
tering and the issue of fraudulent securities,
thus laying the foundation for all the panics
that we have had, for l contend that the
panic of 1893 was primarily due to the CO.
lossal quantity of trust securities that were
issued and fioated about in the markets of
the world and used in many instances as
collateral in banks and savings Institutions
When the general collapse came these worth
less securities carried down the banks and
destroyed the savings institutions, robbing
the people and consequently causing general
commercial ruin The question is, what
are we to do with the trusts and how do we
propose to deal with them?" Back in 1895
national antitrust conference was held in
Chicago of which l was a member and
| chairman of the committee on resolutions.
In that conference we contented ourselves
| with recommending only three propositions,
: very simple in their character. We have had
| another conference on trusts much more
| largely attended in Chicago very recently.
| Colonel Bryan and myself were both men,
bers of that convention, which remained in
session four days, discussing the problem
| in all it's bearings Now, then, what did
| Mr.. Bryan recommend? He recommended
| first, that there should be license
issued by the national government
to every corporation engaged in
! interstate commerce and that no
license should be given to any corporation
known to be part Of a trust. He recon-
mended that the states should exclude all
foreign corporations from doing business in
the state that were in combination or
trust and, third, he recommended the taxa
tion of corporations engaged in trust COM
binations so as to compel them to dissolve
the trust. Now let us look at the PROPOSE
tions one by one. In the first place 1t is i'm
practicable and would be found impossible
to carry out the first proposition Of licensing
corporations by the national government
without a constitutional amendment Mr.
Bryan himself admits that a license law
would probably be hung up and finally de.
clared invalid by the federal supreme court
and that then a constitutional amendment
would have to be passed by congress and
!, ratified by the people of the United States.
Bryan's Demagogy.
With such prospect before him why did
Mr.. Bryan make that recommendation? VIII,
, didn't he take the other view, the view ex.
pressed in the platform OF the republican
, party OF Nebraska, that a national conven
tion be called by the states to revise thu
constitution Of the United States and adap
o 1t to present conditions so that We may b,
4 able to enact needed laws without goin,
u through the farce of years of detention il
the two houses. but going straight to th
" m QrlY in, fhn phN rfact l.
y does Mr.. Bryan ask lis to wait and put of
r FOR years and years to come the remedie
which he proposes, for he knew full wei
that the first condition OF his proposition
was that congress should pass an interstat
g commerce license law? He knows that tn
G senate Of the United States is not likel
to pass such a law under the pressure tha
. is constantly being brought to bear upon
= by the corporations. He knows that If
!. does pass that 1t will take at least eghtee
~ months to two years before 1t gets to tn
L president; he knows that it would probabl
be hung up in the courts within thre
= months and that it would take about fiv
u years before the supreme court of the Unite
= States would declare that that law is invalid
II He knows, Furthermore, that we would the
l. have to have constitutional amendmeI
y which would take another two to five year,
a agitation and work before we could inaugu
1t rate his licensing scheme Is 1t not NANTES
N that his proposition is sheer buncombe In
l tended merely for campaign use and not tc
r. practical effect to destroy the trusts? CoIon
10 Bryan's next proposition Is that we sha
IS exclude all corporations that are in a tru
8 from doing business in the states. Let n
II call your attention to the utter impract
g bilty OF that proposition Take for examp
" the glass factories of the United States, whiC
TX are all in combine or trust. Suppose N,
10 braska should say that no glass factor
l. shall do business in Nebraska; they wi
e, say, very good, we do not car,
t. you can go without glass in your window
le il you want to; you can go without lamp
J. you can go without glass tumblers, b.
II If you want glass come to and pay Fl
ID 1t. There are thousands Of other articl
al Of commerce absolutely essential to our pc,
pie which we cannot manufacture at hon
A and the idea that We could exclude Il
ov manufacturers OF these articles from doll
~ business by building a Chinese wall arouI
~ ~ the state Is simply childish; we never CT
~. 20 do it. because we will only freeze ourselv
NC out and do them no harm.
NC Impractical Remedies.
~ The third proposition of Colon
~ ~, Bryan is to kill the trusts
III excessive taxation. That is also II