The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-02-14
ANTITRUST
CONFERENCE
in CHICAGO
Proposes Government Ownership of
the Railroads Of the
Country.
AGGREGATION OF ODDITIES.
Several Lively Tits 1ndulgsd in
Jerry simpson Declared BE Was
No Spring Chicken.


CHICAGO, Feb. 1s.-After a heated
debate the resolutions committee OF
the antitrust conference tonight de-
cldsd TO report in favor OF govern
ment ownership Of railroads and for
their seizure on payment Of actual
value and without paymen. OF water
ed stock or other fictitious values"
There was sharp discussion In the
committee and several Tits between
members, brought on by an effort to
make the platform read as It had been
drawn up, that the government should
seize the railroads on payment Of actual
value and without payment for fran
chIse values" Unanimous action was
finally obtained by cutting out the
words franchise values" inserting in-
stead the phrase "watered stock or
other fictitious values"
The committee also unanimously IA
vored direct popular legislation as
means Of obtaining the result,
The discussion in the committee room
far outranked the deliberations OF the
main body Of the conference. Ignatius
Donnelly, John p. Altgeld. A. P. Nc
oulrk, Of Iowa. and George Fred
Williams urged the committee to strike
from the resolutions proposed q state
ment that any payment for railroads
should be exclusive Of franchise value.
This is long fight" said Mr.. Att
geld, 'and 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 encountered the PROPOSE
tlon to free slaves with statement of
what we would do with them We would
never have freed them said Mr.. Dom
nelly. Henry George. jr., however, took
the other side OF the question. 'We are
going hsfass ~; gppis. =. az Let
us 90 With the whole. plain truth aud let
them Judge OF IT."
Jerry Simpson also favored this view,
declaring that he had had years Of ex-
perience with this question in Kansas
His declaration brought a warm till
with Representative AIcQulrk. "You
are not the only one who has had exs
perience." said the latter.
"Wen. I'm no spring chicken, any
way" Seplied the Kansas statesmaR
Jerry No Spring Chicken.
'Your feathers have ali been plucked
already" retorted his Iowa opponent
to which Mr.. Simpson replied with the
old answer to the conundrum about
building dams by mill site.
Many startling statements were
made before the committee. among
them one by President NJ. L. Lockwood,
in which he seid that before the gov
ernment ownership was finally secured
It would be necessary to impeaeh at
least one justice OF the federal supreme
court, The. committee also considered
proposition to recommend to the at
tention OF Congress, Senator Pettl-
grew's bill for government ownership
Of railroads, but II was voted down.
A number Of set speeches were heard
at the morning and afternoon sessions
Of the conference.
The night session was In the form Of
a mass meeting, which was held at the
Auditorium and brought out some OF
the strongest speakers among the del
egates. Including John p. Altgeld. F. S.
Monnett, General Jones, s. H. Crosby,
George Fred Williams and Tom L.
Johnson.
President Lockwood, of the ANTITRUST
league. said tonight:
This Is n remarkable gathering In
many respects. Every delegate paid
his own railroad fare here, and the
speakers are ail volunteers. The league
has not spent dollar promoting the
movement. The delegates travelled
many miles for n purely unselish mo-
tive. This Is not like political con-
ventIon, az we have no promises to
make or Offices to give. We are here
to fight for principle. firmly he.
lleve thnt this gathering is the begin
ming OF movement which VIII wipe
every malevolent trust from the coun-
try within few years. 1t Is unfair to
charge that this is a political scheme,
PINNED in the interest Of any one can
dldnte or set Of candldatcs We have
members OF all partieS and classes In
our ranks, and we are all working with
unselHsh motives for the betterment of
mankind"
President Lockwood regrets that w,
j. Bryan's namS was mentioned in the
discussions, and declares that II was
his intention to keep politics out of the
conference. n has been decided to
limit all future addresses in the confer
ence to twenty minutes In order to get
through with the programme.
woLsE1EY's APPOINTMENTS