The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1902-07-10
SENATOR NELSON'S Address,
Opening Gun of the State Campaign Fired by the
Senior Senator. 49,

to the par value Of the bonds deposited.
and by permitting the establishment of
banks with only $4,000 capital in the
system AND bringing nsr1sy banking facilities
near to the homes of the people.
This act extinguished the silver heresy,
The ref refunding o Of III the debt a provided for
in the act has proved great success.
On the 31st of May, 1902, our bonded
1855, $40, $50 was in the new bonds, thus
reducing our. interest charge by several
On the 14th of March, 1900 when this
act was passed, there were in existence
3.611 national banks. with capital of
$6l6 ,3OS, O35 and with an outstanding cir
culation Of 1854 4o2, 730, and on the 10Th
of May this year there were 4,494 banks.
with capital Of 1916 ,926, 695 and a circu,
lation Of $357. 115, 1856. of which banks $40
the act. 1t thus appears that there has
IN se oap pit and s,Sa. IN circulation
Our treasury is in the most prosperous
nations.
The fiscal year ending yesterday closed
with surplus of revenue over expendi-
lures of $50, 900, in round numbers,
and on the 3Oth day Of June. 1902. there
current liabilities, and over and above
the $15O,O0O, 900 gbld redemption fund, a
balance of nearly 5000, 10000;
were debtor nation. suffering with gold
Withdrawals to Europe, and had great
difficulty. and had to borrow. to maintain
the gold redemption reserve.
Since those days. under Republican aus
pices, we have become creditor nation,
the Of has
center center Of the ' world. Money is pientier
apa soday our
mates the financial and industrial world.
Under the leadership OF Washington we
der the leadership Of Mckinley and
Roosevelt we have gained our industrial
and financial independence.
questions pressing the, American people
in recent years, and at the present time
is that of trusts and monopolies, and how
to regulate and control them so as not to
become oppressive and our masters. We
are living in the midst Of an economic
and industrial revolution. Old methods,
scale have given way to new methods
on an enlarged and more concentrated
scale.
The tendency of the age is combination
and concentration, and where the chief
object of this Is to lessen the cost of pro-
duction so as to cheaper the most to the
suppress competition or check the reduc-
ton of price to the consumer. the public
will not be injured and has no fair
ground for complaint.
SSNSAAASS
one form or another an absolute mono
poly, or nearly such, shutting off all sub
stantal competition, is in its very es--
sence menace and danger, because of
human selfshness and human greed COM
mon to all, as it places the public at the
mercy and under the heels of single
the subject of lan absolute monarch,
however gentle, kind and humane he
might be, because we would be in his
power, subject to his whims and his ca
times.
Charles ]. Bonaparte, the eminent law
yer of Baltimore, at the great confer
TENDER, 1899, clearlysstated the case, and
the distinction in the following Ian
guage:
freedom of competition, the consumer
will benefit by the reduction in the cost
of production thereby. causedi if the COM
bination creates a virtual monopoly the
consumer will not ordinarily benefit by
the decrease of cost; on the contrary
the tendency of such a combination is TO
cost of the product
The Republican party has not been I'M
mindful of it's duty s...
TO PROTECT THE AMERICAN
PEOPLE
from the dangerous consequences of
monopolies so far as the same can be
done by legislation. In 1890, during the
administration of President Harrison,
/ both
branches, the so-cailed Sherman anti
trust law was enacted, prohibiting monop-
olies and combinations in restraint of
trade, in interstate commerce, which law
is substantially the only anti-monopoly
legislation on our federal statute books.
In passing upon cases brought under
this law, the supreme court of the Unit
ed States has, in substance, held that I'M
der the Federal Constitution congress has
no power to regulate combinations or
monop9lies in manufacture as distin-
guiShed from combination or monopoly in
traffic, and no power to regulate or con-
troll combination or monopoly in other
than interstate traffic and that the pow
ers or regulating combinations or mon
opolyt IN manufacture and local traffic
rests with the several states and not in
the federal government.
,o From this it is apparent that the act of
$3.50 has substantially exhausted the pow
er OF congress in the premises; and it is
far from affording adequate relief. There
are Iorty-nve states in the Union, no two
or them with similar anti-monopoly legis-
latlon, and some of them with none at all.
A combination or monopoly in production
ana J., manufacture. affecting the welfare
OF the entire country, can thus exist I'M
checked and untrammeled in any one of
the states, from which the people of the
other states ; suffer and against which they
oftentimes difficult to separate the con-
sequences and effect of local traffic from
monopoly can inflict were limited to the
state under which It exists and has its
seat. then there would be no harm in
leaving 1t to the exclusive control of such
state, but where such a monopoly extends
its operations throughout the entire coun-
try, then 1t is evident that the scope Of
the relief and protection ought to be CO.
extensive with the injury and harm that
can be done. -
A monopoly, national in its scope and
consequences, should for the protection of
control: Whoever seeks to enjoy national
protection and national advantages should
also submit to national inspection and
regulation. Protection in such cases
should be mutual. -
In the light OF these facts that these
necessities, clear to those who have stud
led the subject. and with view Of giving
congress ampler power TO control mon
opolies and hostile combinations, the j,I-
dietary committee of the house Of repre-
sentatives, in the Firry-sixth congress-.
reported a joint resolution proposing the
following amendment to the Constitution
of the United States:
Section 1. All powers conferred by this
article shall extend to the several states,
the territories, the District of Columbia,
and all territories under the sovereignty
and subject to the jurisdiction of the
Sec. g. Congress shall have power to
define. regulate, control, prohibit or dis
solve trusts, monopolies or otherwise
The several states may continue to ex-
ercise such power in any manner not in
conflict with the laws of the United
States. ~
Sec. 8. Congress shall have power to
enforce the provisions OF this article by
appropriate legislation.