The Forrest City times., 1900-10-19
What Is Going On in the National Struggle for Political Su-
 premaey.
ADMINISTRATION AIDS THE TRUSTS.
brosperity of the Trusts is an Un- disputed Fact-Labor Oppressed by the Combines-Repubii Indif- ference to the Workingmen's Troubles.
fsnecial correspondenee.l

"ln thls poiltlSaA St4 us .et "AeAt ehS lsue is the prosperity of the country, te must brush everything else aside.
 Now. what Hanna really meant was hat the republicans consider the pros erity of the trusts the chief issue. To insure that everything else must be brushed aside.
 But he literally and unintentionally ndorses the democratic position in hying that the prosperity of the whole ountry is the issue The democrats pntend that we have had trust pros ,erity and not that of the whole people. h fact. the masses have been heavily Assessed in order to pile up trust mil Ions.
 There isn't any doubt about the real Ky of trust prosperity. When the wire hust makes s15, 1000, ,O0o in six months it s prosperous. But in order to do that t doubles the price of barbed wire to he farmers and closes five factories. throwing thousands of men out of york.
 The republicans believe in encourag- ng this sort of trust prosperity. It loes not matter to them that the work han and the farmer have less than be- bre the trust was organized.
 Trust Prosperity.
 The coal combine is prosperous. It las a monopoly of the anthracite coal If the world. By working it's men long tours and at low wages it secured the largest output of coal this year that sas ever known in the anthracite field. Recently it has advanced the price of soal two dollars ton to the consumer. The advance alone nets the coal trust 100000 a week.
 How about the miners who dig the oal out of the earth? They are not prosperous. In fact, they have been 10 near starvation that they recently vent on strike. Then public attention vas called to the awful conditions un- Ter which the coal combine forced its hen to work. An average wage of go ients a day. Only 1s0 days of work ast year. The miner furnishes his own slasting powder at $2.5o a keg. He ould buy it for 90 cents from anybody but "the company"
 The miner never sees dollar of cash rom one end of the year to the other. He is forced to trade at the "company tore" There he pays from 40 to 60 per cent. more than even the trust prices on necessaries in the open mar ket
 If his family is i'll the miner must patronize the company doctor. He even ives in the company hut, by courtesy tailed house.
 The miners strike caused the whole country to draw the contrast between The prosperity of the coal combine and The starvation of its employees.
 The republican party has made 1t flear that it favors trusts. In four tears President Mckinley has not ac- auired courage enough to interfere with any trust, no matter how illegal IT unjust its transactions.
 Hanna's Fears.
 Now Hanna fears that the miners strike will defeat the republican party next month. He is trying to patch up T compromise which will send the men back to work until after election.
 Unfortunately for MT. Hanna's plans. The miners want their union recognized If any concessions are to be made. They know that if the operators deal with them as individuals all conces- nons are likely to be revoked immedi- ttely after election. If an advanced wage scale were signed there might be soms hope of permanency.
 In any case, the operators will make the consuming public pay the bills. If the miners go back to work this week at a ten per cent. advance in wages the public will still be charged with the 25 per cent. advance which went into ef- Feet immediately after the strike was declared.
 Bryan has called attention to the de- plorable conditions under which the miners work. The democratic press has 10 successfully put before the public The justice of the miners demands, that Hanna is forced to assume a sym paihy for the men which he does not feel.
 Even if the strike is settled before s.eetion, the public will not forget mat the coal combine is still doing o1A'nsss at the old stand. The people
 aht to replace Mckinley by presi- ssut ~ho win look out for the welfare 0f the masses.
 Republican Indifference.
 4he horklngmen's Political league, 7. Ne" York, has just passed resolu- 'IoIs calling attention 10 the indiffer- snee Of Hanna and other republican ,eaders to labor troubles in the past .our years. They declare that his in 'efest In settling the miners strike at ms une Is a purely political one.
 Aney are entirely right Hanna has a."ays been the enemy of organized 'aoor. He wrecked the Lake seamen's union' or Cleveland. by his arbitrary ana unreasonable attitude toward men wno were only asking living wages and Tar conditions of labor. IL is too late Tor Hanna to pose as a friend of the la-