The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-10-23
FOrcible Speech TO a Large Audi
ence at the West End
Coliseum.
LAB0RlNG MEN ENLIGHTENED.
How They Are Deprived of Their
Independence by the Great
Combines. Fostered by
Republicanism.'

spoke last night TO an audience OF $3.50 at
the Nes. End Coliseum. The meeting was
held under the auspices OF the Bryan and
Dockery WorklnEmen's Club, and Mr..
Reeds speech dealt particularly with trusts
and the baneful results to the working
classes
Mr.. Reed is one OF the most eloquent
speakers I'm the State, and he arraigned
the trusts and the Republican policy. which
affords them aid and support, in a vigorous
and icrcible manner. which won him the
earnest applause of his audience.
At the conclusion of his speech, Mr..
Reed received an ovation. With enc accord
the audience rose to its feet and gave him
three hearty cheers. and then swarmed
upon the platform TO shake hands with him
and congratulate him. Later, a reception
was given him at the Jefferson Club.
James j. Butler. congressional candidate
for the Twelfth District; James W. Folk.
nominee for Circuit Attorney; w. JEFF Pol
lard and Michael ]. Gill also addressed the
meeting.
Mayor Reeds Speech.
In the course of his remarks touching
trusts. Mayor Reed said:
l-aborins men, you who earn your
bread by the sweat of your brows;
you who have spent years in becom-
ing skilled in some branch of me-
liberties? Are not your rights more closely
affected than those OF any other class OF
our citizensf a skilled mechanic, who, IL
he Is discharged by one employer car tind
work with any one of hundred other men
engaged in the sane business, is an inde-
pendent man. If his employer does not pay
him fair wages. or mistreats him i'll any
way, he can obtain employment at his craft
from other men engaged in q ike business.
But where all of the various institutions
engaged in manufacturing the particular
thing in the making OF which he Is skilled
are brought under one general management.
then if he is discharged, he must either
starye or be forced into some line OF busi-
ness where his hand has neither skill nor
cunning. Under such circumstances he
ceases to be a free man.
In the past there was no class Of citi-
zenS more Independent than skilled me-
chanic: to-day conditions are rapidly be-
ing brought abour whereby II is no longer
necessary to blacklist an employe, because
there is no danger of his finding employment
elsewhere, for all the institutions in which
he may hope TO find employment are being
centered under one head. and discharge
means ruin. Under sucn circumstances no
man is a free citizen. II his employer cuts
down his wages; if his employer insults him: !:
unreasonable number of hours, pray what
remedy has that man left him2 If he quits
his Job there is no other for him. II he re-
sents the Insult. discharge awaits him. II
he Is not suited with the hours of work
he has the option 10 accept them or cease
work altogether. When this condition OBJ
try. So longsas the laboring man is inde-
pendent. so long as he can find work at the
hands OF any one OF a number of employers.
so long as he can assert his rights without
fear, he may be trusted to form in the fu-
ture. as he has in the past, the great heart
and brain and strength Of our American
means ruin, and who. though his heart may
resent his injury, still as he lifts his hand
TO assert his right. sees rising before him
the face Of his wife and his children, will
bow his head and submit to the yoke.
Battle for Independence.
'Lahoring men, this is a battle for your
Independence, for your rights as citizens.
struggle for your very existence, ana every
man who carries a dinner-paii to his work
In the morning: every man who tolls with
his hands; every man who earns his bread
by the sweat Of his brow. ought to engage
in this struggle as he would engage In a bat
tie for the very existence Of his home. For
1t Is struggle for his rights, his liberties.
his very existence
''Isut these trusts affect not alone the la
boring man; They affect the independent
classes of people. Let US take an iilustra-
ton. few years ago there were hundreds
OF independent butchers scattered all ovA
hamlet had meat markets conducted by
men who bought their cattle from the farm
ers direct. slaughtered themselves, and
placed them upon the market.
To-day the great Beef Trust Of North
America has driven all of these indepenj-
ent butchers. or practically all of them from
business. The methods pursued have been
the methods of all trusts. Going into q
small village, they have said to the fnde-
pendent butcher: Buy your meat. If he
in competition with him, and sold the nm
est quality of meat for less than he could
Possibly place It upon the market. In
bis business ruined and himself bankrupt
and then. having forced him to retire from
. n <ay
beyond what it had previously been. This
has been carried on systematically through
dependent butcher has. for all practical pur-
poses been driven from business.
The same methods are being pursued by
the great trusts controlling other lines of
business They are establishing their
in the various cities, and how long
VIII IT be until. instead of the independ-
branch stores Of some trust, operated by
some hired man and the independent mer-
chant will become a thing of the past.
Even the banks of our great cities and
villages may be crushed, and undoubtedly
win be crushed by the same methods. 4
of 8 few of the large banks
Goulds, Rockefellers and Car
negies, could. in a few years. absolutely
control and run the banking business of the
banks not in the combination. The audacity
lief
In tnc Sr1p OF the Trusts.
1.-The Steel Trust dictates terms even to
the Federal Government. II was proven in
an investigation In Congress last winter
that, while they were holding our Govern
rient up for S6a5 for every ton of steel
plates for battleships, they were selling the
same materials to the Gar Of Russia for
s2.5 per ton. When they Will, without hes
itancy, undertake to dictate to the United
tates. and successfully carry out their pi-
ratical schemes. what Is to become Of the
common people?
Even the great corporations of our cities
have felt the oppressive force of their iron
hands. The Metropolitan Street Railway
Company of New York City Is capitalized
Institution, and vet the manager of that
corporation stated in public interview
a few months ago that his company was
about to place new rails upon our streets;
could obtain them; that the managers OF
this institution had enormously advanced
the price; that, in addition to that. they
had told his company that unless the order
the price would be advanced 10 per cent
further. He said the worst of II was, they
kept their word. SO his company was COM
PEELED to pay thousands upon thousands of
dollars simply because 1t had the temerity
to not obey the dictates of this monopoly
by placing an order at the exact time It
demanded.
..If, then. say again. the Federal Gov
ernment and these mighty institutions can
be thus coerced, what is TO become of the
plain. common people? There is but one
OF two propositions before us-either the
people must by law destroy theee trusts or
be by these trusts destroyed.
1.-The very existence of the Republic is at
stake, for when the common people are
robbed Of the means Of livelihood. with IL
goes their Independence. and when the IN
etroyed. then the Republic falls"