The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-02-14

Inc antitrust conference now in ses.
sion at Chicago may or may not prove
to be a useful body. The events of the
next day or two will determine that
question. The resolutions forwarded by
that body to congress, together with the
character of the addresses delivered by
Gov. Lee, of South Dakota, and the
and more frequently of Minneapolis,
would certainly indicate that it's useful
ness is in serious danger So far as the
resolutions In question have reference to
the unbounded privileges which the i'm,
perialist administration proposes to con-
fer on national banks, there will be a
general concurrence in them; but when
they enter the debatabIe field of silver
and gold their effect must inevitably be
to rob the deliberations of the convention
of much of their value.
The objection which is already being
urged by the partisans of the adminis-
tration that the antitrust conference or
convention is a partisan body is, on gen.
eral principles rather amusing one. The
imperialists are quite anxious to run
with the hare and course with the
hounds on this subject of trusts There
trusts entertained by anyone who is
anxious to see the rule of Mark Hanna
and the members of the various Hanna
syndicates continue in national affairs
The trusts represent the strongest influ-
ence in national politics at the present
moment. No antitrust convention IS
worthy of the name which will not be
distinctively partisan in the sense of its
unqualified opposition to Imperialism and
its influence on national policies.
This is natural outcome of the posi-
ton into which the Republican party is
being forced. The smart politicians who
are trying so hard to save the party from
the legitimate consequences of trust
support and sympathy will find, through
many other channels besides that of this
convention, that the public sentiment of
the nation fully Identifies the national
administration with the trust cause.
There are doubtless many good men in
the Republican party who are alive to the
dangerous influence on American institu-
tons of the trust conspiracy. The G b e
believes, for instance, that the Hon.
Moses E. Clapp, of this city, is one Of
these. 1t believes that the chief basis OF
the hostility of the Republican bosses
of this state to Gen. Clapp is his we'll
most other forms of governmental in
iquity now sanctioned by Republican poll
ticians of the imperialist kidney But
Gen Clapp, and all Republicans like him,
will sooner or later be called on to make
their choice of being tarred with the
trust stick or relinquishing anything like
active advocacy Of the existing national
administration
What eminence can man attain In
the ranks of the party who like Gen.
CIapp, declares that the claim being put
1Ol NSslQ blcIl ZIG lIuSlS uO BOOu ny r.
ducing the cost of production to Ameri-
can consumers Is "the worst drivel that
ever dribbled from an added brain?'.
That is the sentiment imputed to Gen.
Clapp in the reports of his speech on
Sunday afternoon before the labor or
CARNATIONS Of st. Paul. No one will
claim, at least In general terms, that
Mark Hanna's is an added brain; and he,
the chief representative of an imperialist
administration, Is the first man of great
public prominence in connection with
that administration who put forward the
doctrine which Gen. Clapp designates
drivel The other advocates of the doc
trine are mere political parrots
No; the trusts are now, and are daily
becoming more and more, distinctively a
partisan issue. Upon that issue the
Democratic party can, if it will, win in
the forthcoming presidential election. 1t
may be driven from its antitrust moor
ings by the party madness of some and
the party treason Of others calling them