Daily inter mountain., 1900-12-17
MONDAY. DECENI BIER II, 1900.
ABOUT TRUSTS.

When the president in his recent
Iessage. suggested that congress act
somptly in the matter of restraining
ae operations of certain kinds of trusts
( id not mean that the work should
le commenced Within twenty -four hours
+ the assembling OF congress. as some
# our esteemed contemporaries pretend
o believe. L is we'll known that the
present congress is already confronted
With more business of a pressing char
tcter than it can possibly hope to COM
,lete. The subject of trusts is so vast
md intricate and Of such direct inn
2ortance to the industrial interests OF
he country, and calls for such careful
craftsmanship that possibly many
months will elapse before it can be set
led to the satisfaction of the people.
o far, no public man has suggested a
3!an for the practical regula ton of the
rusts IN such way as to conserve the
yood and eliminate the bad, for no man
5 fool enough to maintain that all trusts
re injurious. Many business orsaniza-
ions called trusts are of great public
alue, as they control enterprises which,
tithout proper organization, could not
.ompete with foreign rivals without re-
'ucing wages to the foreign level. With
III his talk, Mr.. Bryan himself did not
xplain how he proposed to prevent the
nganization of trusts or how to regulate
nose already organ!zed When he was
4 congress he formulated no scheme to
nat end, nor did he ever report back
0 the house two antitrust bills intro
uced by other members and referred
a committee of which he was chair
nan. There is no doubt that some trusts
buse their power and should be sup
ressed or restricted in their operations,
Jut the man or the newspaper that ex-
tects congress is going to enact an anti
rust LAW fair to all interests, with no
more considera ton than would be given
. a pension bill, is either ignorant of
he intlicacies of the question or Simply
gapital at the expense of the party in
1ower.
Will I,o Ial
.ettled right. 1t will he settled by the
epublican party, for the democratic
Yarty never did and never will settle
nything except it's own political hash"
let our esteemed democratic eontempo-
"aries have patience. If a law to smash
very trust We're to be rushed through
2ongress, do the local democratic organs
aalize What would happen in Montana
begin with? Over near Helena are
ne works of the Helena Smelling and
refining company. 1t employs about
90 men. 1t treats the ores from mines
n the Coeur d'Alenes and elsewhere,
which probably employ fully 1000 men.
t is owned by the American Lead Trust
which also owns the Great Falls. Omaha,
irant, Pueblo, Salt Lake, and several
,uher silver-lead smelters. The Helena
plant is the only enterprise In Montana
)wned by a trust. Do the democratic
1rgans want it closed down? Do they
want congress to close it down? Dc
hey want the legislative assembly mex
month to enact additional anti-trus
legislation to close it down? Do the,
desire Attorney General Donovan, whel
worn in, to begin proceedings under TIL,
present or future law to close it down?
The last campaign in this state wa
ought on the trust issue to some ex
-ent. The fusionists promised an
threatened to smash all trusts in tn
state. There is only one here-that i
the Lead trust. What is the fusio
legislature going to do about it? Wi
the fact that the Hon. Joseph X. Tool
was attorney for that trust cut an
figure, and would he sign a bill to smas
it? Let the democratic organs thin
about those things.