The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-10-16

races and lands. holding them by force for the
rapid wealth they may bring. with perhaps the
occasional glory, success and sacrifice OF war; a
wondrouslv luxurious life into which the fortunate
few shall enter, an accumulation OF nagnihcence
which for a term will charm and dazzle, and then
the shadow Of the awful question whether human
natcre has changed and the cid Law, that history
repeats itself, has lost its force. whether the as
cending splendor Of imperial power Is to be fol-
lowed bv the descending gloom of luxury, decay
and ruin.
The other of a nation where the spirit Of the
pilgrim and the Huguenot remains the living and
controlling force, affirming that the Declaration OF
Independence, the farewell address OF the Father CT
His County and the Monroe doctrine shall never
pass into $lnocuous desuetude; de,oting its ener-
gies 10 the development of the inexhaustible re-
sources of its great continental territory; solving
the problem of universal personal and political
liberty, Of q government by the consent Of the
governed. where no king, no class and no race
rules. but eacn individual has equal voice and
mower in the control of all, where wealth comes
only as the compensation for honest toll CT hand
or brain, where public service is private duty; a
nation whose supreme value TO the world hes not
in its power. but in its unfalllng loyalty TO the
high ideals Of its youth. its forever lifting its
strong hand not to govern, but to protect the
weak. and thus the bright shining which ~brigthens
more and more into the fadeless and eternal day.
From the Mouth of an ASS.
The other night in Chicago Mark
Hanna, following the example of Ba-
laam's ass, opened his mouth and
smoke. and unless l miss my guess the
Republicans will regret Marks grafton
only once, and that will be until the
end Of the world.
Mark said, Il would like for Mr.. Bry-
an or any other Democrat to tell me
what a trust is"
Now. | am a c~omplaisant sort Of man
and always like to accommodate peO-
PIE, ever Mark himself, when search
ing and aching for information. A
trust is a criminal conspiracy for the
sole purpose of robbing the people, and
the owners and managers Of a trust
ought to be treated in the same man
ner in which other robbers are treated.
| hope his plain, blunt, u~nvarnished
definition will satisfy Marks craving
for knowledge.
Then. Mark having set his tongue go
ing, made this astonishing declaration:
q believe there is not q trust in the
United States.' Now. if that is true l
would like to ask Mark or any other
Republican 4 few questions:
Pointed Questions.
"a If there are no trusts in the Unit
ed States, why do the Republican lead
ers, such as General Charles Henry
GrOsvenOr Of Ohio, constantly boast
that the Republicans passed the Sher-
man antitrust law? CO. What sense is
there in %legislating against an evil that
does not exist? CO When congress
passed that law, were the Republicans
in earnest or We're they merely follow
ing their usual custom and playing a
bunko game on the people? ca IT there
are no trusts. why did the Republic
ans put 4 milk and cider. good Lord,
good devil. sore of antitrust plank in
their platform at Philadelphia? 90
Did Mark ever heal of the Standard
Oil company. which is always cited,
even by Republicans themselves, as
the most successful trust in existence?
Co. Did he eve hear of the anthracite
coal trust, which has just starved 15O.-
900 honest and industrious men into
striking for living wages? O4Has
he ever heard of the barbcd wire trust.
which has raised the price of barbed
wire SO high that farmers have almost
quit using it? 80 Does he not know
that the sugar trust has SO increased
the price of sugar in the fOurth year
Of the reign Of William. the first king
Of the United States and emperor of
the Philippine Islands, that we now
get five or six pounds less for a dollar
than We did before his imperial maj
eSty assembled the throne? co. Finally,
if Mark does not know of these and
divers other trusts, is he not more in
accent than the babes in the wood?
An Absurd Statement.
1t may eem prcsumptuous in me to
answer Marks challenge, but my ex-
cuse is that his defiance was directed
not only to Mr.. Bryan himself, but to
ANY other Democrat" Consequent
ly l have Il right to furnish him the
information he seeks.
But Mark makes the absurd and
untruthful statement that every law
against trusts, national or state, has
been the product Of Republican law
makers and the credit is due to the
Republican party" There is not a syl-
liable Of truth in that statement. When
| was in the legislature in 1889, l had
the honor, as chairman of the commit
tee on criminal Jurisprudence, to re-
port the first Missouri bill leveled
against the trusts. Under it Attorney
General Grow broke up the insurance
trust and compelled the insurance com
panies to pay $4,000 Of fines into the
state treasury. Now, II there are no
trusts in the United States, as Mark
asserts, will he please inform an eager
world how the trusts could enrich the
state treasury of Missouri by that
handsome sum?
With a g~raciousness and liberality
that do him honor, Mark says 81
have no objections to the Democrats
opposing trusts" Thanks, Marcus,
thanks for granting US permission to
do that which we have been doing
for. 10, these many years without your
permission. But if there are no trusts,
as you assert. would it not be about
as wise and profitable for Democrats
or anybody else to oppose w~itchcraft
as to oppose trusts?