The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1900-05-03
stee, rrust,. Brutal Action.

who have to make use OF its product for
fencing. issued a peremptOry order
closing down twelve Of its mills sit
uated I'm Illinois, Indiana. Ohio and
Pennsylvania At the headquarters of
the amalgamated association of iron,
steel and tin workers In Pittsburg, II
was estimated that the loss to work
ingmen would aggregate about $110,-
600 a week. The Chicago Times-Her-
aid gathered reports from the mill
towns themselves, which indicate that
about 6,35O men were thrown out of
employment and loss of about $685.
600 in wages each week Is incurred.
Col. John W. Lambert, one Of the di-
recting officials Of the trust, explained
their shutdown with the characteristic
insOlence and brutality Of the typical
trust magnate, thus: Our company Is
running its business without any need
of explaining. We shut down and open
our mills when We see fit"
No well-regulated mind nor any con-
science not completely Ossified by the
persistent pursuit Of mOney-making to
the exclusion OF all other ideals, will for
a moment accept the theory that a
business which employs nearly 1000
men, a business upon the continuance
Of which the livelihood Of probably 3d.
600 people is Immediately dependent, is
the sole concern of a few individuals
who, by methods familiar to corpora
ton managers. have seized upon Its
control. The people as a whole have
some rights In these premises. The ma
ton cannot honestly remain silent and
supine while the domination of cor
pOration over the lives and happiness
of a great body Of Industrious men and
their dependents is thus wantonly and
brutally abused. In this specific case
different explanations are given for the
shutdown. 1t is said that it was
caused by OverprOductiOn, yet all
through the West farmers and mechan-
les have been stopped from satisfying
their wants for the products Of this
monopoly because its managers have
repeatedly increased prices until they
have reached almost the prOhibitOry
point. If there is any oversupply Of it's
product in the market, it is because the
prices put upon It are such that the Or
dinary consumer is driven to all sorts
Of expedients to avoid purchasing. 1t
is claimed by others that the true rea-
son for the shutdown was that the rul-
ing spirits in the trust, one of whom, by
the way, John w. Gates, is Republi-
can aspirant for a United States Sena-
tOrship, have certain plans for manipu-
lating the stock market which the shut
down will further. This is possibly
true, but 1t only lays emphasis upon
the folly and the criminality Of permit
ting the control Of q great and neces-
sary industry in the United States to
pass into the hands of a small body Of
men, men who would not have gained
control Of 1t II they had not possessed
the instinct Of gamblers and who nat
urally utilize their control to further
their gambling transactions.
The reason the 1900 employees of the
American Steel and Wire Company are
suddenly and arbitrarily thrown out Of
work is because one single governing
board controls the employment of all Of
them and controls the industry in
which all are engaged. If the twelve
mills involved were operating as cor
porations should operate, Independent
ly, one or two might shut down, but the
others would continue. Indeed, it Is
most unlikely that any would shut
down, because the mill SO doing would
be in danger Of losing its trade to those
which remained in continuous opera
tion. II, therefore, the existing anti
trust law had been enforced against
this mOnopOlistic corporation, not only
would the farmers not be compelled to
pay extortionate prices for their fenc-
ing, nor the mechanics mulcted Of ex-
tOrtionate sums for wire nails and
metal rods. but the working men now
out Of employment would still be in en-
joyment Of their wages, their families
would be living in comfort and the
dependent upon their custom
would not suffer.-Willis J. Abbot.
The Issue IL Plain.
"The issue Is not obscure. That lib
erty is safe only where power is curb
ed; that, left to his own unrestrained
will, man is prone to abuse his power;
that to add political power to his nat
urai power increases his temptation to-
ward and augments his capacity for
mischief; that in recognition of this
fact the founders Of the republic made
the federal government one of strictly
delegated powers: that federal power is
bound down by the chains of the fed
eral constitution; that each department
Of the government must find its war
rant for every attempted exercise of
power In the express grants of neces-
sary implications Of the constitution;
that the oath of the federal officer binds
him to observe with equal fidelity the
powers granted and the limitation and
restraints on such powers; that the
Congress can send its power to our out
ying territory only by virtue of the
and that to send federal
power there and yet withhold the limi-