The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1900-09-15

troll the industry of the nation.
PARTIES ATTITUDE TOWARDS
TRUSTS.
What is the attitude of the parties on
this question?
The Republican party, in its platform,
pays tribute to the virtues of the trusts
and extols their value in extending our
foreign trade. 1t adnlonishcs them to
better behavior at home, it is true, but
the real position of the party on this, as
on other questions, is best defined by its
chairman and acknowledged leader, Mr..
Hanna. He defined the party's position
on this subject, as read from a dis
patch to the Pioneer Press, under date
OF Oct. 10, 1899: The Democrats say
am fraud to talk about trusts. am
not going to talk about them. This
combination of capital for one purpose
and another is not a political question
at ALL 1t is business proposition and
ought not to have been brought into
politics." And then he continues: "The
so-called trusts are not new; they have
been found in England and Germany as
tar back as 200 years and are increasing.
Therefore, from business standpoint
OF view, the foundation of these combi-
nations, in one sense, is a step forward.
The Democrats would have us believe
that they are terrible anacondas that
would swallow lis up. However, if the
trusts are menace to the country, what
party better than the Republican party
will give us relief"
Yes, my friends, we do believe that
the trusts are anacondas, and we believe
they will consume the substance of our
people; that they will undermine the in
dependence of our citizenship, and de-
! stroy the opportunities that ought to
exist for the individual in free coun-
try. On this point ex-senator Wash
burn used the following language in an
interview in the Chicago Times Herald
Sept. II, 1899:
When was a young mani am
now sixty-eight-I had the world be-
| fore me, and there was absolutely fair
field for me. Take all OF our most sue
cessful business men OF today and their
| experiences were like mine. They en-
tered the race without handicap, and
| their grit and capacity won. Now, this
building UP of trusts puts stop to fair
and equal opportunities for the young
men of today. The young man Just out
OF college has no opening, as rule. He
cannot begin business on his own ac-
count against organized capital He
must join the procession; he must con-
tent himself with being a mere clerk,
and the chances are that he will never
get any further because there are so
many in his class. This makes the stu
alton serious one, and | am sorry for
the young man of today l have stud
led the situation, and l am sure OF what
am saying"
HANNA's DEFENSE OF TRUSTS.
ask you, young men in this au-
dience, whether this statement is true or
not. But" say Mr.. Hanna, from a
business standpoint of view the forma-
ton of these combinations is in one
sense step forward" This may be true
from Mr.. Hanna's standpoint. 1t may
be true from the business standpoint of
Mr.. Rockefeller; but is it true from the
business standpoint of the farmer, of the
merchant, Of the mechanic, or of the
man in any occupation who lives by the
labor OF his hands or OF his brain?
Let us see what this organized in
dustry' has accomplished, for instance
for the farmer, who is a great producer
and the foundation OF the wealth and
prosperity of this state. He produces
for the competitive market at home and
abroad. There is no trust to govern the
prices of what he sells, and, in the ma
ture of things, there cannot be; but
every article that he buys, from the
matches on the shelf to the coal in his
stove and the lumber in his barn, from
the salt on the table to the fencing for
his stock, is controlled by the trusts,
and the prices of these commodities,
and hundreds of others, are arbitrarily
fixed, without reference to market value
or cost of production.
Taking the farm value of bushcl of
wheat as worth at an average through
out Minnesota 10 cents less than the
Minneapolis cash price, ten bushels
would buy, at the wholesale prices
quoted by the Commercial Bulletin, the
official trade journal of Minneapolis
jobbers, the following goods on the
dates named:
Kerosene oil minnesota state test),
Jan. I, 1893, 1o1 gallons; Jan. I, 1899, 20
gallons; Jan: 1, 1900, So gallons.
Granulated sugar, Jan. 1, 1893, 157
| lbs; Jan. I, 1899, 118 lbs; Jan. l, 1900,
! 1o4 lbs.
Common salt, Jan. I, 1893, o1z bbls.;
Jan. I, 1899, 6H bbls.; Jan. I, 1900, S
| bbls.
Lumber (16 #. 2x4). Jan, 1893. 723
feet; Jan. I, 1899, $50 feet; Jan. /, 1900,
418 feet.
Wire nails, Jan. I, 1898, 4 1-3 kegs;
Jan. I, 1899, 3 Is kegs; Jan. I, 1900, ~
kegs.
Barbed wire Common painted), Jan.
l, 1893, 435 lbs; Jan. 1, 1899, $40 lbs.
Jan. I, 1900, 1873 lbs.
The above figures are based on the
wholesale prices of oil, salt, sugar, lum-
Der, nails and barbcd wire at Mime
apolis. Freight, handling, and retailers
profits would probably make these ar
ticles cost, on the average, at the farm
about 20 per cent more, and the amount
of each of these articles which ten
bushels of wheat would buy would be
CORRESPONDENCE less. Ten bushels Of
wheat, like any other product, are
worth what they will buy. The prosper
ity of the farm is not measured by the
volume of its product, nor even by the
market value of the product, but by the