Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1900-01-18
The Trust Question.

1
reached an acute stage, and can nc
longer be ignored by party leaders.
The Democratic party under the lead
ership of Bryan will make no attempt
at evasion, but will seek to apply the
proper remedy in a Constitutional man
| ner. The Republican party on the
other hand, is so effectively under the
control of the trusts that it will, al
most, only make a hypocritical decla
ration upon the subject, and again at.
tempt to deceive the people by pre-
tending to oppose trusts while in fac,
it will be working in their interest
The professions of opposition to a gold
standard by the Republican party
while it was in fact working for the
establishment of gold standard; its
apparent solicitude for an international
agreement for the coinage of silver fol
the purpose of getting the votes of the
people and the opposition of the pres
ent administration to internationa
agreement when such an agreement
seemed probable, reveals the hypocri
sy of the party and demonstrates thai
no confidence can be placed in any
| professions it may make upon the trust
question. The party of the trusts de-
nouncing trusts will too strongly sug.
gest Satan rebuking sin to deceive any
one who does not wish to be deceived.
The recent announcement of the
American Woolen Company that prices
of clay worsteds for the coming season
will be increased 40 per cent. is in
| keeping with the general advance that
| is being made in the price of articles
| controlled by these monopolies or in
| dustrial despotisms. The announce
ment has been made by the worsted
combination that the price of clay
| worsteds for the coming year will be
as follows: For II ounce goods, 81. .25,
against 80 cents year ago; 16 ounce
goods, 81 .574. against $1.10; IS ounce
$1.721. agaiast $1.20. The advance in
the price of kerseys ranges from 20 to
40 per cent. Iron has doubled in
price, and paper is advancing SO rapid
ly that it is difficult to predict where
the rapacity of the combination will
ultimately find it's check.
These facts do not admit of parley-
ing. To the extent that monopoly is
able to do so, it is putting its hands
into the pockets of the people and
plunderlng them, and will only cease
so to do when deprived OF the power to
continue the work OF plundering by
being dethroned as menopolies.
Greed for gain and lust for power
have their roots deep In the human
heart. Self-restraint is not one of the
graces vouchsafed to man. Law and
order result from the willingness of
man to accept restraints in order that
he may enjoy security through others
being restrained. Therefore, it is as
impossible for the trusts to curb the
passion for gain, that begot them, as
for man to lift himself by his boot
strap. The trusts are rampant in the
land. Their power to absorb the
wealth of the nation is uncurbed. Self
interest makes it necessary for them to
control the government. The most
effective way to do this is to control
the political machinery of the two
great political parties of the country.
But when they fail to control both par
ties as in 1896, they are then driven to
unite their forces in support of one.
They we'll understand that when the
government passes into the hands of a
party that is opposed to monopoly that
their power to plunder will soon be
brought to an end.
1t is sickening to read the drivel that
is daily printed in the monopoly or
gans, penned by subsidized editors and
college presidents, about Industrial
evolution and the economies of the
great Industrial combinations. It is
nauseating to listen to Republican
politicians, first admitting the exis-
tence of these great monopolies, and
that they are menace to the people,
and then seeking to subdivide them
into the good and the bad. only to find
in the end that there are in reality no
bad ones. The most dangerous of all
arguments, however, are those where
In it is proclaimed that trusts and
monopolies are but manifestations of
the law of evolution, growth, and pro-
gress; that they are natural, and have
therefore come to stay.
This argument is calculated to dis
courage and disarm the victims of
monopoly and cause them to surrender
10 despair. The slightest investiga-
ton, however, will readily make it
clear to any rational mind that such
argument is utterly without foundation.
The men who are playing so strong a
game, for stakes of such bewildering
magnitude, succeed because they are