Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-02-14

A Sharp Discussion and Numerous
Tilts-Direct Popular Legislation
Also as a Means of Secur-
ing Desirable Ends-Much Good
Accomplished.
CHICAGO, February 13.-After a
heated debate the resolutions commit
tee of the antitrust conference tonight
decided to report in favor of govern
ment ownership of railroads and for
their seizure on payment of actual value
and without payment CT ''watered stock
or other fictitious values" There was
a sharp discussion dn the committee and
several Tits between members brought
read as it had been drawn up, that the
government should seize the railroads
ON payment of actual value and with
out payment for franchise values"
Unanimous action was finally obtained
by cutting out the words franchise
value" inserting instead the phrase
'watersd stock or other fictitious val
ues."
The committee 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. Ignatins
Donnelly, John P. Altgeld, A. P. Nc
Quirk, of Iowa, and George Fred Will
liams urged the committee to strike
from the resolutions proposed a state
ment that any payment for railroads
should be exclusive of franchise value.
This is a long fight" said Mr.. Alt
geld, land it 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 dis
cussion with it now"
IF we had encumbered the PROPOSE
ton to free slaves with a statement Of
what WE would do with them we would
never have freed Them" said Mr.. Don
nelly.
Henry George, Jr., however, took the
other side of the question "We are
going 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,
declaring that he had had years of ex-
perience
With This Question I'm Kansas.
His declaration brought a warm tiff
with Representative McQuirk. "You
are not the only n who has had ex>
%perienoe,' said the latter.
well 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 replied with tine
old answer to the conundrum about
building dams by a mill size.
Many startling statements were
made before the committee, among
them me by President M. l.. Lock-
wood, in which he said that before
the government ownership was finally
secured it would be necessary to i'm
peach at least n justice of the fed
eral supreme court. The committee
also considered a proposition to rec
ommend to the attention of Congress,
Senator Pettigrew's bill for govern
ment ownership Of railroads, but it 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 mas meeting which was held at
the auditorium and brought out some
delegates including John p. Altgeld,
~ q -,N& T@~ T~~A- II C@z
by, George Fred Williams and Tom L..
Johnson.
President Lockwood. of the Anti
Trust League, said tonight:
This is a remarkable 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 promoting the
movement. The delegates Travelled
many miles for
A Purely UnseIfsh Motive.
This is not like a political conven-
ton, as we have no promises to make
nor offices to give. We are here to
fight for a principle. l firmly believe
that this gathering is the beginning
of a movement which will wipe every
maleyolent trust from the country
within a few years. 1t is unfair to
charge that this is a political scheme
planned in the interest Of n one
candidate or set of candidates. We
have members of all parties and class
es in our ranks and we are all work
ing with unselfsh motives for the bet
torment of mankind.
President Lockwood regrets that w.
]. Bryan's name was mentioned in the
discussion and declares 1t was his in
tention to keep politics out of the con-
ference. 1t has been decided to limit
all future addresses in the conference
to twenty minutes in order to get
through with the programme.
Thinks Freer VIII Win.
Special to the Register.