The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-10-15
LODGE TALKS OF
STRIKE AND TRUSTS
OPPOSES PROPOSITION TO STRIKE
AT COMBINES THROUGH THE
TARIFF WAY TO STOP STRIKES.

BOSTON, October 5.-Senator Henry
Cabot Lodge took the opportunity, at
the meeting of the Essex Club yester-
day, held to ratify the recent State
nominations, to make a notable speech
dealing with the coal situation and
also with tariff revision. He expressed
earnest sympathy with and emphatic
support for the President in his eff
forts to end the strike, and confidence
that the party would be with him in
whatever steps he might take. Con-
tinuing, he said:
with the matter in the position it
now is, / do not wish to say what
think at this instant of the merits of
| the case as presented to the country
! this morning after the conference in
Washington. 1 feel rather strongly in
regard to the attitude taken by some
of the conferees but l do not think
it is the part of wisdom, while the
matter is still pending, to inflame feel
ing or aggravate the situation, which
is bad enough; but there is one thing
which l think we all can say, and that
is that the President of the United
States has acted in manner in which
all Americans, without regard to
party, will approve. The President will
not let the matter rest where it is.
aside from any economic question,
the coal companies of Pennsylvania do
not to-day stand in a position where
they can ask for protection, even If
they needed it. 1 think it is a painful
Illustration of the wisdom of what the
! President has been saying in various
speeches in New England and else
where in regard to the necessity of
some supervising regulation for what
are commonly called trusts.
There is no trust in the anthracite
region. There are certain large cor
porations which it is the fashion to call
trusts and there are certain large cor
porations in the anthracite coal fields,
and this strike shows the necessity of
some kind of supervision and regula-
ton of these great corporations which
produce the necessaries of life by the
National government. These great cor
porations are useful in business. They
are necessary to us in the economic
contests of the present time. They are
as essential to modern business as any
thing can possibly be. They are good
servants, but they are dangerous mas
ters.
There must be some power that can
control them in the last resort. There
is a cry to take the duty off coal-the
little duty there is, 81 cents a ton. l
should like to see Congress pass a law
authorizing the President to proclaim
the removal of the duty on bituminous
coal coming from Canada just as soon
as Canada takes off the duty from our
coal going to Canada"
Speaking of tariff revision, he said:
1.-The removal of the tariff on trust
made goods would be the most destruc-
tive to the competitors of the trusts
and least so to the trusts themselves.
We ned authority to supervise these
trusts. The greatest safeguard in this
country is publicity. If there had been
power in the hands of the President to
send a commission to the coal regions
and hear all there is to be said on Doth
sides, and that nothing could be done
until that was given to the public,
there would be no strike or lockout.
This would stop nearly all the strikes
and lockouts. We should have pro-
p per accounting from these corporations
that have an air of mystery about
them. To go about it by reducing the
tariff is a silly proposition"