The representative., 1900-04-12
BRYAN LOGIC
Bryan Would License Trust. to Rob
the People, While POpulIsts Would
NatiOnalixe Them for the Bene-
Mt Of All the People,

Nationalist Them for the Bene-
Mt Of All the People. -
Now, speaking of trusts, Mr.. Bryan
referred to them as so bad thing that
the president felt 1t necessary to de-
nounce them in his message last Decem-
Der" and then unetuously added: "but
the president did not recommend rem
edy'-as if he, Mr.. Bryan, were quite in
n0cent OF the fact that many are saying
the same thing of him. For his recon-
mendation that the government license
the trusts, control them by some COM
mission arrangement, does not strike
many as remedy for the evils of trusts
at all, but rather as lodging the ques-
tion: But, epitomizing, not unfairly,
the trust portion of the presidents mes
sage Mr.. Bryan went on: "A Repub-
lican congress listened to the reading of
the message, and then proceeded to
establish paper money trust, which
gives the people larger chance of in
jury and to the banks larger oppor-
tunity for profit than any other trust in
existence" And yet this paper money
trust that Mr.. Bryan denounces would,
under the law, be licensed by the nation
al government and it's power over the
issue OF paper money, it's power to ex-
pand and contract be restricted and
limited by said government. And it is
licensing Of trusts by the national
government that Mr. Bryan proposes as
remedy for the trust evil. In short.
the very remedy that Mr. Bryan has to
Offer to curb the evils of trusts. and
keep them under control and superyis-
ion, is here applied to the prospective
paper money trust" and thus licensed
as it is, thus subject to control. he de-
nounces 1t as the worst of trusts. In
so doing he denounces his own remedy
which, in truth, can hardly be regarded
as proposed by one seriously opposed to
trusts. Yet Mr.. Bryan fails to see the
righteousness of the position he places
himself In, fails to see that he has dug
a pit in which to catch his enemy and
into which he has fallen himself He
arraigns President Mckinley for de-
nouncing the trusts and offering no rem
edy for that which he denounces. But
ne himself Is In the same boat. His ar
ra1gnment OF President Mckinley. de-
served as it is, rebounds, for it fits him
who utters it equally as well as him II
was intended for.
10 talk OF licensing trusts is trifinx
with evil. The trusts have come. some
as the product of industrial evolution.
from the fact that great combinations
have made possible the introduction OF
economies in production; some as the
product of special legislation, largely
the granting of franchises exclusive by
their nature; some as the result OF rail-
road determinations forbidden by the
law, but which the law has been pow-
erless to prevent And so arising. the
trust question must be treated with
some regard to the manner in which
the trusts have arisen. Those that
have arisen in the third way, in railroad
can be dealt with ef-
,ectively. properly by the government
.aking possession Of the railroads and
outing an end to the evil of discrimin-
ation SO destructive to the first right OF
he American people, the right to an
of opportunity. Those that
lave arisen in the second way can on,v
'e treated successfully by the national
state and municipal governments TAX
ng back the public franchises they have
'iven away and which they have a COM
non law right to do; those that have
lrisen in the first way and that abuse
heir power, the power that comes with
concentration and that ought to benefit
he general public, must be taken by the
'eople as they see the necessity and that
hey may enjoy the benefits OF the in
ustrial evolution going on around them
nd to which they are Of right entitled.
In conclusions: We want a paper
money trust, but we want the govern
nent to be the trustee-the trustee for
II the people.