The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-02-14
Antitrust Conference Recommends
that the Government Take the
Roads at Actual Value.
ANOTHER DAY OF 0RAToRY
EXTRACTS FROM A SCORE OR MORE
RADICAL SPEECHES.
One Man So Disgusted He Would Not
TaIk-Tilt Jerry simp-
son and Mr.. McQuirk.

Ddtc TIE TtSOlullOHS committee O1 the anti
trust conference tonight Decided to re-
port in favor of government ownership of
railroads and for their seizure on payment
of actual. value and without payment for
'watered stock or other fictitious values"
There was a sharp discussion in the COM
mittee n several tits between members
brought on by an effort to make the plat
form read as it had been drawn up, that
the government should sieze the railroads
on payment of actual value. And with
out payment for franchise values" IMAM
imous action was finally obtained by cut
ting out the words franchise values"
inserting instead the phrase "watered
stock or other delicious values" The COM
mittee also unanimously favored direct
popular legislation as a means of obtaining
the result.
The discussion in the committee room
far outranked the deliberations of the
main body Of the conference. lgnatius
Donnelly, John p. Altgeld, A. p. McQuirk
of Iowa and George Fred Williams urged
the ami to strike from the resolu-
tions proposed a statement that any pay
ment for railroads should be exclusive Of
franchise values.
This is a long fight" said Mr.. Altgeld.
land 1t will be years before We come to
the actual discussion of the proposition
on which we are to base payment. Let us
not cucumber the discussion with it now"
'If we had encumbered the proposition
to free slaves with a statement of what
we would do with them we would never
nave freed them" said Mr.. Donnelly.
Henry George, jr. however. took the
before the people, he said. Let US go
with the whole. plain truth and let them
judge of it,"
Jerry Simpson also favored this view.
with this question in Kansas His
declaration brought a warm tiff with Rep
~resentative McQuirk.
You are not the only one who has had
experience" said the latter.
We'll, I'm no spring chicken, any way"
replied the Kansas statesman.
Your feathers have all been plucked
already" retorted his Iowa opponent, to
which Mr.. Simpson eplied with the old
answer to the cOnundrum about building
dams by a mill site.
Many staroling statements were made
before the committee, among them one by
President M. L.. Lockwood, in which he
said that before the government owner
ship was finally secured, it would be nee
essary to impeach at least one justice
of the federal Supreme Court. The COM
mittee also considered a proposition to rec
ommend TO the attention of Congress Sem
ator Pettigrew's bill for government
ownership of railroads. but it vas voted
down.
The platform, as finally agreed to, de-
clares for government ownership Of all
public utilities and natural ~monopolies,
government money, the referendum and
direct legislation and the withdrawal of
all protective tariffs from all articles con-
trOlled by a trust.
A number of set speeches were heard at
the morning and afternoon sessions of the
conference. There was something of a
sensation at the morning session. After
the conference had accepted a resolution
condemning the financial bill and appoint
ing a committee to go to Washington to
protest against it, Amasi Thornton, of New
York, arose and notified the presiding
officer that he would refuse to deliver
the speech for which he was scheduled to-
day. Mr.. Thornton made no statement
on the floor regarding the matter, but in
an interview later he explained his
reasons for refusing to take further part
In the conference. Il was assured" he
said, that this was to be a nonpartisan
| gathering. 1 had that assurance over the
signature of President Lockwood of the
| Antitrust League, and l am certain that
he does not approve of the partisan reso-
luton against the currency bill. Mr.. Lock.
wood was not present when the resolutions
were adopted, m If he had been here they
might nave met a different fate. 1 have
| positively refused to address the confer
| ence and will not be further identified witt
it as / consider hat to-day's actor
makes it a partisan gathering"
The night session was in the form oil
a mass meeting, which was held at the
Auditorium and brought out some of the
strongest speakers among the delegates
including John p. Altgeld, Z. s. Monnett
Samuel NJ. Jones, John S. Crosby, Georgt
Fred Williams and Tom L. Johnson.
President Lockwood, of the Anti-trus,
League, said tonight: This is a remark.
able gathering in many respects. Every
delegate paid his own railroad fare here
and the speakers are all volunteers. The
league has not spent a dollar in promot
ing the movement. The delegates Travelled
many miles for a purely unselfish motive
This is not like a political convention a.
we have no promises to make or Offices &
give. We are here to fight for1 principle
/ firmly believe that this gathering is tn,
beginning Of a movement which will wipe
every malevolent trust from the country
within a few years. 1t is unfair to charge
that this is a political scheme planned
in the interest of any one candidate or Sc
of candidates. We AVE members OF al
parties and classes in our ranks and w,
are all working with unselfish motive.
for the betterment of mankind"
President Lockwood regrets that w. j
Bryan's name was mentioned in the dis
cuSsions and declares it was his intention
to keep politics out of the conference. /
has been decided to limit all future ad
dresses in the conference to twenty min
utes in order to get through with the pro
amm
SPEECHES OF THE DAY.