Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1900-09-27
MR.. BRYAN ON TRUSTS
He Tells of the Evils Of the sys.
tenn in Speech at
ST. Louis.
AND GIVES SOME SAMPLE CASES.
How Trusts Will Hurt the Travelling
Man, the Hotel Keeper
and Railways.
Decline of Farm Products-The Agri.
cuiturist the Most Important
Factor in Our National Life.

In his speech before the Commercial
Travellers association at st. Louis
William Jennings Bryan said:
The lament Of David over Absalom
is one of the most pathetic passages
of the Old Testament. The fact that
the son was in rebellion against civil
as well as parental authority did not
shake the fathers affection, and the
anxious query, rs the young man, ABB
salon, safer" fingers In the memory
of all who study the life of the great
Hebrew king. And, yet, the interest
has its parallel In the more than
100000 families which. make up the
American people
No language can describe q moth
er's love. or overstate the abiding In
t.eeii,esst which the fathef feels in the
welfare of his child. From the time
when the mothers life hangs in the
balance at the boys birth until the
death of the parents there is scarcely
waking hour when the son is not
present in their thoughts and plans.
1t is to this parental devotion, so uni
versally recognized, that / desire to
appeal on this occasion.
Appeal to Parental Devotion.
would call the attention of every
father and mother to present political
and industrial conditions. | would
ask them to anaylze these conditions,
investigate their causes and their ten
denotes would press upon them
this question: rs the young man.
Absalom, safer" Are you satisfied
with the possibilities and the proba
bilities which now open before your
SOM
Is he safe when foreign or do
nestle financiers are allowed to de-
termine the monetary system under
which he lives?
Is he safe when national banks con-
troll the volume of money with which
he does business?
Is he safe when the bond holding
class determines the size of the ma
tional debt upon which he must help
to pay interest?
Is he safe when by means of taxes
laid almost entirely upon consumption
he is compelled to contribute accord
Ing to his wants rather than accord
ing to his possessions?
Is he safe when corporate interests
influence as they do today the Selec-
ton of those who are to represent him
in the senate of the United Statesl
If he is n wage-earner, and you do
not know how soon he may be, even
if he is not now, is he safe when he
is liable TO be deprived of trial by
jury, through the system known as
government by injunction?
Is he safe, il laborIng man, when
he is denied the protection of arbitra-
ton and compelled to submit to such
hours and terms as corporate en-
ployer may propose?
The Reign of Monopoly.
But, desire to call special atten-
tIon to the growth of the trusts, and
to ask you whether your son is safe
under the reign of private monopoly
If you cannot leave him a fortune, you
can leave him something more valua-
Bile than money, viz: the freedom to
employ his own brain and his own
hands for the advancement Of his own
welfare. When there is industrial in
depence, each citizen Is stimulated to
earnest endeayor by the hope of being
able to profit by his own genius, his
own energy, his own industry and his
own virtue But when private mon
opoly reaches its full development each
branch of industry will be controlled
by one, or few men, and the
fruitsS of monopoly, like the
divine right of rule, will be kept
within the possession of few
from generation to generation. while
the real producers of wealth will be
condemned to perpetual clerkship or
servitude. When private monopoly
reaches its full development, your son
will buy the finished product at the
price which monopoly fixes; he will
sell raw material at the price which
monopoly fixes; and, il he works for
wages, he will work for such compen-
sation and upon such conditions as
monopoly may determine.
Charles r. Flint of the Rubber Goods
Manufacturing Co., in a speech deliv-
cred in Boston on the 25th of May,
1899, outlined the trust programme
the advantages to be derived from the
trust system he said:
Outline of Trust Program.
RAW material bought in large
quantities is secured at lower prices"
When, for instance, one man buys all
the wool, the price of wool will be low
cred and all who produce wool will
sell at the price fixed by the trust. A
large proportion of our people are en-
gagged in the production of various
Kinds of raw material, and they are
thus placed at the mercy of the COM
binations.
The second advantage is that
those plants which are best equipped
and most advantageously situated are
run continuously and in preference to
those less favored"
This means that factories can be
closed in the smaller towns and bust
ness concentrated In the large centers.
1t means. also, That whenever there Is
a surplus on hand, part of the factor
les can be closed. and the burden of
maintaining prices thrown upon the
wage workers. There are already scat
tered throughout the land idle plants
which stand as silent monuments to
the evils of the trust system.
The next advantage mentioned is
that I'm case of local strikes and fires,
A01-N0A = AWE VI CASCN ncAcs luuS DioF
venting serious loss.
This means that monopoly can alb
EoluteIy control the workIngmen, for
If strike occurs In factory In one
state, the factory can be closed down
indefinitely while the employees are
starved into submission. and, as the
trust can do the work In some other
factory without serious loss, it is quite
independent of the employees, and can
absolutely prescribe the terms and
conditions upon which they shall live.
The more complete the monopoly the
more opposed the managers viii be to
arbitration, because, in case of any con-
test between the trust and Its en-
ployes, the trust will have every ad.
vantage and the employees Will be per-
fectly powerless.
Another advantage cited by Mr..
Flint Is that There Is no multiplied
ton of the means OF distribution and
better force of statesmen with take
the place of a large number"
DrumDlers Dispensed with.
This is an intlmatIon that under the
trust system the travelling salesman
Will not be needed. When every retail
merchant must buy all goods of one
class from single company, the
work can be done by samples, and no
travelling men win be needed. There
will be no competition between differ
ont In cforfoQ baOauco oil ara tgn1ass ofte,