Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1900-05-25
DESTRUCTION OF CRIMINAL TRUSTS.

Wlen the people Lave soCuIeu COA
troll of the machinery of government by
electing their own Senators they will
have to use it for the improvement OF
their condition. And first they will
have to deal in good earnest with the
subject of trusts.
Never before in the worlds history
has an industrial revolution progressed
with such appalling velocity as has
that which is Transforming the United
States from a nation Of independent
equals into nation of few employers
and mass of hired men. In some OF
it's respects this revolution is harmless,
and even bene6cient. The trusts have
taught us the lesson of organization of
industry. The advantages of concentra-
tlon of capital and labor are not to be
sacrificed. We can never 60 back on
the time when every individual was a
separate atom, persuing' his lonely
cource with no connection with any
other.
But the trust, which has in it's powers
for good, contains also the most por-
tentous powers for evil. It has new
kinds of robbery. new kinds Of bribery,
new kinds of murder, new kinds of
crime of every description, and all
raised to superhuman degree.
The criminal law will have to be re-
vised to meet these new conditions, and
to scope with forms of crime more for
midable and more destructive than
anything dreamed Of when it was
framed y
When the common law grew up a
theft was person who surreptitiously
pocketed something, usually of trifling
value. They used to hang him if he
took more than three shillings worth.
A briber was one who ''tipped' a voter
or an official with a few coins. A MUIR
derer was one who killed an individual
enemy. The machinery Of our courts
is organized to punish offences of this
sort A burglar who climbs into a
window at night and goes through the
pockets of pair of trousers commits
one of the highest crimes known to- our
law. Yet he is an absolutely insight
ticant offender compared with the new
class of Titanic criminals with which
the law has not yet begun to deal.
The Steel and Wire Trust can deprive
six thousand men of their livelihood in
day, take $14, 4,oOo, 900 from the pockets
of investors and transfer it to the men
in the ring. All the burglars in Amer
ica could do as much. Yet it is not at
all certain that this crime can be
touched by the law as 1t stands. The
dispatches from Chicago nonchalantly
remark: "Mr Gates is not worrying
about what the papers say about him
cares nothing abou, the Noonan reso
luton before Congress, and says: I dc
not care to say what I intend to do "
In the place of the old fashioned bribe1
who used to offer member the Legis
lature $500 in greenbacks for his vote
we have now the Nepoleonic trust
magnate who simply gives quiet tiI
on the stocks that may make the fav-
ored recipient of his confidence $780,
900 richer in an hour.
In place of the vulgar murderer who
sneaks up behind single victim with a
sandbag we have corporations coolly
computing the value of human life
and killing their thousands with pois-
oned beef, adulterated beer and un.
guarded grade crossings.
Our whole legal system has been
built to deal with small matters. It can
do we'll in handling retail transaction
But to ask it to cope in civil and GRIM
inal proceedings with the gigantic con-
siracies that are overshadowing the
Government is like trying to lock a
cattle ship through the Erie Canal.
Once the Roman world was infested
with pirates, so that instead of being
an occasional nuisance these marauders
became a terrifying danger. They
formed greet fleets and swept the Med
1CerIduedu, pAAAdS1A6 CoAIAAoACC, OAoA1S
ing peaceful sailors, and ravaging
the shores. At last it became evident
that the old methods of preserving the
peace had broken down, and the Rom
ans dignifed the pirates by making
them the objec,s of a regular war.
They organized great fleets of their
own, gave Pompey unlimited powers,
and in due. time they swept the pirat-
ical hordes off the face of the sea.
There is similar crisis here. Crime
with us is no longer an affair of the
police court. 1t is an affair Of war.
The leagued enemies of society are
more powerful than the defenders of
the law. 1t is time for this nation for
its own salvation as Rome made when
she sent Pompey to the East. We
must enlarge the scale of our laws to
keep pace with the growth Of our GRIM
inals as we are enlarging our dry docks
to keep pace with the growth of our
ships.
DESTRUCTION OF CRIMINAL
TRUSTS.
Let Democracy put that in its plat
form. and then when it is in power let