The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-09-17


MY contention is that there is a
vicious principle running through the
various policies which we have been pur-
] suing; that in our taxation we have been
imposing upon the great struggling
masses the burdens and government
while we have been voting the privileges
to the people who will not pay their
share of the expenses. Of the government.
Every unjust tax law is an indirect
form Of larceny. If we can secure a gov
eminent whose foundations are laid in
Justice and laws exemplfying the doc
trine Of equality before the law. and then
under such government and such laws,
wealth is accumulated to point where
II becomes dangerous, then we can meet
that question when it arises, and 1 am
willing to trust the wisdom of society to
meet every question that arises. and
remedy every wrong. I have faith that
these questions Will be settled land set
tied right, but I want to protest against
this doctrine that the trust is a natural
outgrowth Of natural laws. It is not true.
The trust is the natural outgrowth of IN
natural conditions created by man-made
laws. You cannot hide behind the doc
trine that it is here and you cannot get
rid of it. 1 believe that the American
people can get rid of anything that they
don't want and that they ought to get
rid Of everything that is not good be-
lieve that the Declaration Of Indepen-
dence was the grandest document ever
penned by human hands. The truths of
that declaration are condensed into four
tto+ oil
ated equal; that they are endowed with
inalienable rights; thaA governments are
instituted among men to preserve those
rights; and that governments derive their
just powers from the consent of the gov
erned. Such a government is impossible
under an Industrial aristocracy. Place
the food and clothing land all that we
can eat and wear and use, in the hands
of few. people, and instead Of being a
government by the people, it will be a
government of the syndicates, by the
lish such a government and the people
will soon be powerless to secure a legis-
lative remedy for any abuse.
II am not willing to place the Iaboring
men of this country absolutely at the
mercy of the heads of monopolies. When
you control the price that a man is to re-
ceive for what he produces, you control
the price that he is to receive for the
labor in the production of that thing.
Some people have tried to separate the
laboring man who works in the factory
from the laboring man who works on the
farm. I warn the laboring men in the
factories that when they join with the
mn 70 60
as the farmer is crushed the laboring
man will be crushed, and his ally will be
destroyed, in a test Of endurance, the
farmer will stand it longer than the
laboring man. The farmer was the first
man on the scene when civilization began
and he will be the last one to disappear.
But my friends, why should we try to
see who could hold out the longest in
suffering? For 100 years all nations have
looked to this nation for hope and in
struction. Let us settle these great ,ques-
tons that we have; let US teach the world
the blessing of a government that comes
from the people and let us show them
how happy and how prosperous people
can be-"
At the conclusion the orator resumed
his seat facing a sea of wildly waving
arms and storm of cheers. Three-quar-
tiers of the audience left when he had
finished.
James H. Raymond of Chicago followed
with an address on "Monopoles Under
Patents and the Industrial Effects There
Of" G. w. Northup, Jr., of Chicago,
spoke on practical Federal Remedies
for Industrial Trusts" Prof. David
Kinley followed Mr.. Northup with
reading Of the statistics and opinions
gathered in the answers sent to ques-
lions propounded to business and profess
siona1 men the country over in regard to
the effect Of trusts on wages and the
prices Of trust commodities. T. B. Walk
er of Minneapolis followed, speaking on
TRUSTS from a Business Mans Gland
point"
The conference then took a recess until
5 .. m.
The afternoon session opened with ad-
dresses by Attorney General T. S. Smith
of Texas and James B. Dill, who had a
hand in the framing of the New Jersey
trust law. A general discussion follow
ed which resulted in both Colonel Bryan
and Bourke Cochran taking the platform
w. D. Foulke Of Indiana made a short
speech, in which declared that he failed
to see that the remedies proposed by Mr..
Bryan in the latter's speech during the
morning session could result in the at
tatnment of the object sought for.
Colonel Bryan, who was sitting in the
gack part Of the hall. arose and amid
cheering started to reply. Before he had
uttered a dozen words. however, cries Of
Take the platform" came from all
parts of the hall. and with a smile he
did so. Mr.. Bryan said in part: 81 would
not occupy the time again but for the
fact that the gentleman from Indiana
(1r. Foulke) has referred to a plan which
7 suggested and am afraid that he does
not fully understand
My plan was this: First. that the
state should have the right to create
whatever private corporations the people
Of the state think best; second. that the
state hss.sor should have. the right to
impose such limitations upon an outside
corporation as the people Of the state
may think necessary for thesr protection;
third, that the federal government has.
or should have che right to impose such
restrictions as congress may think neces-
sary upon any corporations which does
business outside Of the state IN which Il
IS organized. In other words, I would pre-
serve 70 the people ot the state all the