The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-09-30

Senator Dollfver took up the issue OIL
trusts, on which he said some very interesting
things, as follows: Now, / claim TO have
as much prejudice against a trust and a
monopoly as anybody ought to have. L
have an old Yorkshire friend that always
tells me that no man has a right 10 De
robbed, and that is so, and no nation mas
a right 10 allow its people TO be robbed,
and If the trusts which our Democratic
brethren are talking about all the time are
robbing the American market-place there
must be found some protection against 1t
for the American people. But the longer L
mediate about 1t the less disposed | am TO
look for protection, either at Washington
or indianapolis. When you come 20 think
about IL it is hardly probable that the good
Lord who made us and put seventy millions
OF US here left us no other protection than
an act of Congress or a joint resolution or
the State Legislature. and the bottom fact
is that there are laws in this universe more
effective for the protection of the market
place than any possible provisions OF ma
tional or State statutes.
LAW OF COMPETITION.
lone of these laws, a law which has not
yet been repealed, is the law Of competition
by which ii may be absolutely said that
that no man and no corporation can be
great enough TO long enjoy an exorbitant
profit in a free market-place without the
interference of his friends and neighbors.
lApplausel / do not intend to argue that
at length, because a great many people be-
lieve that the Democratic party must be
called upon to save the American people
from the extortion of the trusts and COM
bines that fill the country. now l have
made up my MIND that the Democratic
party in the first place has nc disposition
to take any effective action in the interest
of the American people in these matters
and / get that idea from the fact that last
winter we gave the Democratic party an
ample opportunity to put itself on record
in favor of an amendment to the Constitu-
ton of the United States which would give
the Congress the power to define and regu-
late these trusts and combinations, and
every Democrat in the House of Repre-
sentatives, except five, voted against 1t
while every Republican in the House ex-
cept one voted in favor of 1t. Applause
Not only is the Democratic party not dis
posed to do any thing against the trusts,
but in my Judgment they have not got the
wisdom, or / might more plainly say the
sense to do anything. IGreat laughter and
applause.]
Now that is a mean thing to say and l
would not say it if 1 did not know it was so.
Last winter We had up in the House OF
Representatives a number of questions
that gave me an opportunity to size up the
capacity of the Democratic party to handle
the trust question. There is In the House
a very smart man by the name of Jim
Richardson.
A SMALL MONOPOLIST.
HE is somewhat of a m~onopolist himself
when it comes to a matter of books and
literature [Great laughter and applause],
but he is the leader of the Democratic
House of Representatives, and 1 guess he
must be the smartest man there. AT any
rate he was the permanent chairman of
the Kansas City convention and is now
the chairman of the Democratic national
congressional committee, so that If there
is any smarter man among them there ]
don't just now recall it. Richardson and i
served on the same committee, and this
resolution of his which / hold in my hand
was referred to the committee on ways and
| means, and that is how / happened to get
hold of it. / have the official print of it.
He got warmed up on the subject of trusts
and he proposed to deal one death blow 10
the sugar trust n so he introduced this
resolution. / don't want you to forget
that he is the Smartest man among them
the leader of the House, and If the House
should be Democratic the speaker of the
next House. 1t reads: Whereas, a monop-
oily exists among sugar manufacturers and
III consequence enormous profits are being
realized, therefore, be it resolved, that
from and after the passage of this resolu-
ton all kinds of sugar, molasses and every
thing entering into the manufacture of
sugar shall be admitted free from Porto
Rico and Cuba.
Now mark what he Is doing. He was
trying to knock the breath out of the
sugar trust and he does it by relieving it
II vi III itCSSSlly vi pdy ll6 dulltS On liz
sugar and molasses that they are now i'm
porting from Cuba and Porto Rico. Laugh
ter and applause.1 Last year the Ameri-
can sugar trust paid into our treasury
| $14, OOO,O as duties on sugar and molasses
brought here by them from Porto Rico and
Cuba. and Jim Richardson in his anxiety
10 kill THIS trust deliberately proposed to
pound the thing to death with twenty-dol-
lar gold pieces taken out of the treasury
OF the United States [Great laughter and
~applause.1
ALLUsION TO JONES.
Now, there is in the Senate Of the
United States a very great man by the
| name of Jones. ILaughter.] He is the
chairman of the Democratic national COM
mittee, and he is a senator of the United
States, and my personal situation requires
me to believe that nobody could get to be
a senator of the United States unless he
is considerable of a man Laughter, and
therefore you will agre with me that Jones
must be a good man and a great man, and
| cratic campaign committee and has beer
since 1896, and he is a good deal of a
| monopolist himself. GLaughter.1 L am told
that he is one of the chief organizers and
stockholders of a trust that has got Sc
odious in the cotton belt of the United
States as to make him almost Objectionable
as the leader of the army of Democracy
marching against this monster. Laugh
teri At any rate, you will admit that he
must be about as smart a man as they
have. Well, last winter we were debating
in Congress a very simple proposition. The
| President recommended that we take from
the treasury of the United States two mil
lion dollars that had been paid in there or
Porto Rican imports and pay IL back to
the treasury of the people of Porto Rice
in order to relieve their distress and helI
them in the midst of their m~isfortunes, and
while the Senate was debating that humane
proposition Senator Jones got up and Of
fered an amendment. / have 1t here in my
hand, the official print of the amendment
Now, mind you, Mckinley wanted to take
1t out OF our treasury and give it back &c
the unfortunate people of Porto Rico. but
Jones said: That all duties collected w
TO this date upon articles imported into
the United States from Porto Rico since
the 18th day of April, 1899. shall be re.
turned to the persons from whom they
were collected [Great laughter and ap-
plause.l Well, now, they were collected
from the American sugar trust-S1 900, 0G
of the two millions, so the secretary OF
the treasury says. Either that company
or its brokers had bought in practically al
the imports that had come here from Porto
| Rico, and they were at that time suing
the United States in the District Court OF
the Southern district of New York TO re.
| cover back what they had paid, on the
in Indiana, that the Constitution follows
the flag Laughter and applausel, and
| everybody else knew that they had paid ii
in and were trying to get ii back by a law
| Suit-everybody except Jones [Great laugh
Jerl and while we were wrestling with the
humane proposition of giving that money
10 the treasury of Porto Rico, Jones