Omaha daily bee., 1902-07-25
ANorHER PRopHEr or ETiL.

Mr.. Villas Of Wisconsin, who was in
President Cleveland's cabinet and at
that time prominent in the councils Of
the democratic party. is another prophet
Of evil. To him the outlook for the
country is gloomy and the only hope Of
the people is in the democratic party.
The great peril, in the opinion OF Mr..
Villas, is In protection Of course. That
policy, he urges, is responsible for the
combinations and the people must strike
1t down. That was the advice of his
party in 1892 and the people needed 1t
and elected a democratic president and
congress. The result is not forgotten.
Industrial and commercial disaster came.
During the ensuing three years 1t has
beer estimated that more than 100000
people were unemployed and nearly an
equal number were employed only part
Of the time, while wages in every de-
partment Of industry were reduced.
Never before in u history was there
such a period Of financial and business
decentralization.
There were trusts then, the real thing,
but the democratic party did not at
tempt to interfere with them. On the
contrary it favored In its tariff bill Of
1894 one of the most obnoxious Of them,
the Sugar trust. 1t enacted no legisla-
ton against the trusts and, 1t made no
effort to enforce the law enacted by n
republican congress. The administra-
ton Of which Mr.. Villas was a member
declared that law to be defective and
inadequate and treated 1t as . dead
letter. 1t Is true that there has since
been a great growth Of combinations,
but the Wisconsin statesman Is perhaps
aware Of the fact that there are also
combinations in England, where there
is no protection. Mr.. Villas should also
know that while the combinations have
been multiplying here there has at the
same time been a steady growth OF In
dividual enterprises and that these are
more numerous today than eight years
ago. The attempt to suppress industrial
competition has thus far failed and 1t is
the Judgment Of some Of the most astute
political economists that 1t can never be
entirely successful. Mr.. Villas fears that
all agriculture win be helplessly en-
shared, las 1t already is 30 no small ex-
tent" How ensnared7 Has there ever
been a time when the agricultural PRO
ducers Of the United States were as a
whole better OF than they are at pres
ent1 All the products OF the farm CON-
mand good prices and q ready market
Farm lands throughout the west have
materially advanced IN value In the last
few years and there is today an active
demand for them. Tens Of thousands of
western farmers are out Of debt and
have money on hand who i've or six
years ago were paying interest on mort
cages and found 1t diflcult to do that
Striking down protection in order to
destroy the trusts would be much
harder on individual industrial enter
prises than upon the combinations. In
deed it is doubtful IL it would have any
| serious effect upon the latter, but there
is no question that 1t would be damag-
| ing 30 the former. The republican plan
is not to destroy, but to regulate. 1t
proposes governmental supervision of
the great combinations, not q policy of
extermination that would be disastrous
to all industries and immeasurably
harmful to labor. One would rae the
industrial structure, which has cost 80
much 70 build up. The other would pre-
serve 1t under regulations that will in
sure It's sound and healthy expansion.