The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-05-14

nlS tAVofs the men at the head Of the
missouri delegation cast about for a sat
isfactory substitute.
BRYAN's CLOSEST FRIEND.
The finger Of destiny pointed to William
Jennings Bryan But before the forces
which were to swing the nomination to
Bryan were set In motion the consent OF
one man not politician was considered
necessary. This man was NJ. C.. Wetmore.
When he consented to abandon Bland for
Bryan the thing WAS as good as settled.
A short time after the Democratic con-
yention occurred that famous conference
In Wetmore's apartments. In the Planters
hotel, when the campaign was mapped
out. Mr.. Bryan, Senator Jones and Gov.
Stone, Of Missouri. were present. Sew
eral times during the summer the opera
tions of the Democratic national COM
mittee would have ceased but for a timely
check signed by Wetmore. After Bryan's
defeat Wetmore took him, Jones and
Stone to a shooting box IN Arkansas.
where ways and means for continuing
the fight were agreed upon. This famous
conference lasted week Those on the
inside believed Wetnnbre to be individually
the most influential man IN the Demo
cratic party today, although he has never
held political position
It will be seen, therefore, that Wet
more's declaration of war against the
trusts Is not the vaporAng Of impotency.
He can set in motion influences which
will make a great political organization
Jingle through ali its members. With his
brains, determination and wealth, he Is
an opponent whom even the greatest ag-
gregations Of capital may dread
You want to know my reasons for sell
ing my stock in the Liggett & Myers To-
bacco company to the trust? [ will tell
you without reserve. and 1 want to make
t1a Nat, hot rUil a
the slightest possibility of being misun-
derstood," said Mr.. Wetrnore to the Her
aid correspondent yesterday.
DENOUNCES THE TRUST
'I have been consistently and unalter-
ably opposed to the trust system ever
since it had its origin in this country
some years ago. When 1t became evil
dent that the Liggett &C. Meyers plant
was going to pass under the control OF
the trust I was approached and offered
salary If I would remain at the head of
the company In this city. 1 declined the
offer because / am opposed to trusts and
to the system generally.
"'For several years combination and
consolidation have been in the air. Many
OF the largest industrial concerns in the
United States have been combined under
one management and the process is going
on at an alarming pace The consoiida-
ton of the tobacco interests is but
single instance of many.
''I consider that the trust system is
more dangerous to the country than any
thing that ever confronted it. 1t is open
iy admitted by the men engaged In pro-
noting and engineering these colossal
combinations of wealth that the day of
the Individual manufacturer and dealer
and producer is past. that a new order
of things has developed, and that be-
hind all this pooling there is great eco
nomic force which no longer leaves 1t
possible for an individual or small COM
pany to succeed in business.
81 do not believe that such is the case.
but If 1t Is the demand for action to stop
the growth of such action is all the more
urgent Something ought to be done to
prevent It's further development. 1t Is
gathering strength day after day.
I'm reality, however, the whole thing
is prompted by greed and cupidity, and
not by economy There never was war
fought that so graveiy menaced the wei
fare of the people or the nation as the
commercial combines called trusts, amas-
sing into a few hands, as they DO the
tremendous power OF almost unihntteo
wealth. knowing as I do the awful pow
er of these pools. / do not consider that
the Civil war was as dangerous TO the
institutions of the country as this sys-
TEN.
MORE IMPORTANT THAN FINANCE.
"Of vastly greatly Importance 10 the
people than the financial issue Is the
question of trusts. 1t should be made the
leading Issue Of the next presidential
campaign. and everything possible should
be done to stamp out the evil before 1t
grows to proportions that will enable 1t
to throttle the people. think the peo-
pie may be relied upon to settle 1t. and
settle 1t right, as they have ultimately
settled every important question that
has been presented to them fer settle
ment.
"At the rate things are going now 1t is
easy to see that after all of the industrial
concerns are consolidated into trusts gov
erning and controlling everything in this
or that line of trade, 1t does not require
q great stretch of imagination to conceive
that these trusts will be consolidated an
der one management. This would fix the
control OF all commodities and the power
to name the price of everything in COM
mon use
Anybody who knows anything about
the power OF wealth knows that such