The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1900-11-01
mr.. S.n1rn ons W. Trusts


The record Of Mr.. Simmons on
trusts began when he was & mem
Der Of Congress in 1887. Al that
time the farmers We're having their
fight with the cotton bagging trust,
and Mr.. Simmons introduced a bill
against the trust and tried to put
its goods on the free list. which IS
the method prescribed by the Dem
ocratlc National platform of 1900.
for destroying trusts. lie was -
years ahead of his party in the
method OF destroying trusts. As 4
result, the trusts used money in Mr..
Simmons district the next year to
defeat his election.
Mr. Simmons OH Trusts and Protection
NStract from speech delivered in
House Of Representatives May il, 1883.
Congressional Record. pages 4lS273t
Are there no discrimIua tons in these
laws calling for remedy:
Then, Sir. may ! be permitted to ask
how it is chat under and through them
a single manufacturing establishment IN
the State OF Pennsylvania employing
l.3l0 hands, makes a profit in one year
of S5o,o0o,u0O, while the 100000 labor
erS employed in our cotton fields made
last year only a profit Of S1iH00,puV:
that is to say, While one hand employed
by Pennsylvania manufacturer makes
him an annual profit of about 5000. 4
hand employed by Southern planter
makes him a profit Of only $50.
Mr.. Chairman, when the Great God
Father made this continent. and gave it
to the children Of men, he blessed it
with a fertile soil and SaluhriOus
climate. 1t yields to the touch of man
| as bOunteous d return as does any land
| under the sun. Our people have inner
tied from their fathers the virtues of
| industry, of frugality, and undauntel
| pluck. Equipped with these natural
and acquired advantages we ought not
to be afraid to meet III competition the
| products of the rest of mankind. But,
sir. it is not competition with foreign
labor which has loaded our farmes with
debts and mortgages. 1t is net compc-
| tition with foreign labor which is pro
| ducing strike and violence and Insured
| ton in our mines and factories. 1t is
! rather a lack Of competition, both at
| home and abroad
Let him turn what way he will, ouI
farmer is confronted ty this wretche ]
system of protection standing out like a
mighty wall against his progress
Trusts, syndicates and pools formed. and
rumors of trusts, sInulcates and pools t
| be formed. The atmosphere is full OF
| them. These are the latest inventions OF
a protected olisarchy to further enslave
to reduce the price of what the farmer
has to sell below the natural line Of sup
ply and demand, and to raise what he
has to buy above the natural line of sup
ply and demand.
In the great struggle for political as
tendency in this country the farmer:
| and the laboring masses are going t
take 4 greater interest than ever before
They are going to demand to know from
| -,A,, hn of ,l,tr
tons and trusts have received thei
right and power to suspend the natura
| laws. They are going to demand f
| know from whence the originatOrs o
these combinations and trusts have re
ccived their right and power to suspend
the natural laws. They are going t,
demand to know from whence these mel
have received their right and power t,
thus cOnhScate, Tor Il IS nothing but con
tiscation of their property to their PR
vate use. And when they discover, a
they will discover, and as they are al
ready discovering, that these hostile OF
Glniza tions and the outrages which the.
are perpetrating upon the people arr
the direct outgrowth of protection, an
that they would be impossible as rul
but for the restraints which that SyS
tenn enforces upon free and fair comp
titiOn, they will rise in their sovereign,
against the men and the fiscal pole.
which has thus delivered them into tn
!. hands of their enemies.
| When the reduction of tariff dutie
shall have made these trusts and comb
: nations impossible; when free comp,ti
: ton shall have brought the prices of tn
necessaries of life down to the naturA
line Of supply and demand; when thi
cheapening of the necessaries Of life an
the free introduction Of raw material
shall have reduced the prices Of on
manufacture and thereby omen to thcr
the doors of the markets OF the world
the Iaborers in our mines and factoric
and fields VIII become the happesr an
most c0ntented and the most prosperou
in the world.