The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-07-21
can Enemy of His Country"


The lines between Organism and
anti-Bryanism in the Democratic party
are rapidly shaping themselves and
soon that party will be in the throcs
of a determined civil conflict. The split
between Altgeld and Carter Harrison
in Chicago is one indication; another
is supplied in the thoughtful editorial
in which the Philadelphia Record, ad-
mittedly one of the ablest tribuncs of
Democracy in the United States, yes
terday pronounced Mr.. Bryan IAN enc
my of his country"
This editorial began by calling at
tention to the recent extraordinary
change which had come over the econ
omic situation in the United States
among other countries. whereby the
problem of the ages--how to produce
enough TO keep mankind from starva-
tion-has ceased to perplex and in its
place has arisen the problem of what to
do with the growing surplusage in pro-
duction. 1t went on to point out that
this new problem, so far from calling
for a programme of contiscation and
spoliation, called rather for more
equitable distribution, and it proceed
ed:
Legislation on the subject of trusts
is sadly needed-is imperativC-if we
are to survive as a free people; and
vet it is plain that it alone will not do,
and that we could better do without 1t
than have any more of the foolish and
wicked Kind already enacted by many
of the Western states. In some OF
these states it has been provided that
the people may legally become mora!
thieves, and need not pay for what
they have honestly received if it have
merely been secured from a very big
concern or combination. Such legisla-
ton will accomplish nothing but the
rotting out of the moral sense of the
people.
"It is also far from plain whether the
formation of great Oncerns-industries
combinations, what you Will-shOuld be
prohibited, or whether the best course
of the community would not be their
proper regulation. Cooperation be-
tween men is not merely civiization-it
is Christianity; and he is a bold man
who feels that he can safely check it
even though it become wholesale. The
present marvellous prosperity of the
United States certainly largely comes
from their increasing exports of mer-
chandise; and these are largely made
| possible by the fact that in CO.
operation we have so far surpassed the
world that in many lines we can pay
better wages and yet undersell all
councillors. 1t must be, therefore,
apparent that a political party which
| should Carelessly undertake a solution
Of this intricate and novel situation
might bring about a degree Of suffering
| which would hurl it from power for
years"
! The Record in some detail shows
| how the worst danger from the modern
| tendency toward industrial combination
| comes through the enormous power
! which it centralizes in the hands of
! few men at the head of these cOmbina-
| tions. a power which, when used un-
| scrupulously, to debauch legislatures or
! seize upon valuable public rights with
| out adequate public compensation,
gives rise to evils of a most far-reach-
! ing nature; and it concludes:
"It must be admitted that to find
solutions for the industrial problems is
the greatest need Of the hour if our Re
| public is to be safeguarded and our
people to prosper; that these prob
lens are not merely the paramount
and all absorbing issues, but that they
are so vital as to make all others triv-
| ial And yet the acknowledged leader
of the party which (by reason Of being
out of power) is best situated to take
them up fearleSsly, discuss them hon
estly and solve them thoroughly con-
tinues TO distress and divide that party
by insisting upon pushing to the front
a single issue of no great Importance,
founded upon fallacies, and which to
many who agree with him on much else
seems rank dishonesty. 1t is an issue
which the people spurned even in their
| distress, and one which they will as
certainly spurn again If it shall be
forced upon them in the prosperity
which has followed their wise decision.
For such an issue the whole future of
the people of this country is TO be en-
dangered, and the real party of the
people (anXious, more than anxious, to
unite and win) again divided and again
defeated. Mr. Bryan may be a leader,
but he certainly has proven himself a