Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1902-12-18
WILL POSTPONE REFORM.
Lukewarza President and Trust-Con-
troIled Congress VIII Leave
Trusts Undisturbed.

II hEnNi III lIt IdHhc VI lnt ItDuDll-
can party on the trust and tariff issues
has resulted in the triumph of the
Hanna faction. Let well enough
alone or do as little as possible, is 10
be the programme in congress, and
not a vigorous reform of abuses which
vas promised before election.
1t has been fondly hoped that Presi-
dent Roosevelt would add the weight
of his great office to the side of the
people and urge reform. But to the
great regret of all who believe in equal
rights to all and special privileges to
none" the lukewarm recommendations
in the presidents message is a victory
for the do nothings. Strange to say,
there is no specific recommendation in
the whole message for a law to pre-
vent the eXtortions of the trusts or the
subsidies granted them by the protec-
tive tariff. 1t is not the production Of
the strenuous Roosevelt, but the glit-
tering g~eneralities of the anxious poll
tician, intent on pleasing all factions
and especially the strongest.
If Mr.. Morgan or Mr.. Rockefeller had
been president and had written the
message or decided upon its contents
1t could not have been more conserva-
tive, and the intention made more evil
dent that no legislation of consequence
will be attempted by congress. The
financial kings of Wall street, through
their senatorial and congressional al
lies, appear to have, by the force of
numbers, deluded the president into
the belief that there is great danger
of disturbing the business of the coun-
try, if any reform is even attempted.
The presidential chariot has been
hitched to the iuggernaut of Wall
cries of distress of those under their
feet. The presidential recommends
ton for the tariff commission has for
weeks been the demand of the prin-
cipal Wall street organ, it being well
known that the procrastinating work
ings of such a body would hinder rather
than accelerate reform. In fact Presi-
dent Roosevelt emphasizes this when
he says: "The unhurried and unbiased
report of this commission would show
what changes should be made in the
various schedules"
"Unhurry'' is just what Wall street
and the trusts desire. Furthermore,
the president has been led to believe
that reforming the tariff by removing
the protection that allows the trusts
to sell their products cheaper to for
eigners than to Il people, would be
wholly ineffective" Thus the beef
trust, the coal trust, the steel trust and
the hundred other trusts, as far as the
tariff is concerned, are to have free
rein to continue their exactions. But
President Roosevelt recommends that
the duty on anthracite coal be repealed
though he acknowledges that such an
amendment would only be of service
in such a crisis as was produced by the
coal strike. He does not recommend
that bituminous coal should also be
free; though that would be of greater
benefit in regulating the price of fuel
at all times.
Regarding the power of congress to
regulate the trusts, the president is
evidently in an uncertain mind and
makes no specific recommendations or
suggestions. He, however, acknowl-
edges thatitmay benecessary to amend
the constitution to give more power
to congress.
1t is safe to say that the present con-
gress will pass no legislation that will
in~juriously effect the trusts or relieve
the people from the exorbitantly high
prices of the necessaries of life that
the protective tariff now allows the
trusts to impose. An attempt will be
made in the next congress to amend
the antitrust law and some change or
addition may be accomplished, in view
of the approaching presidential cleo
ton, but that any legislation that will
regulate the trusts in the public inter
est, or prevent them from eXtorting all
the present laws will allow, is hardly
possible, unless the whole power of
the administration should, by some
miracle, be thrown on the side of the
people, and this President Roosevelt
evidently does not intend to counten-
ance.
Thus the issues are joined between
the democrats and the party in power
and the financial battle will be fought
in the national campaign of 1904. Who
can doubt the result? On the one side
will be the great mass of consumers
who find their incomes sguandered to
fill the pockets of the trust magnates.
On the other side is the republican
machine with it's Wall street allies.
The machine is discredited in some
states even by the voters of the party
it represents and would be discarded
by the voters everywhere, if the con-
tributions and official patronage were
not so largely used to maintain it. Yet
in spite of a lukewarm president and a
trust controlled congress reform is
certain and the longer it is postponed
the more radical will be the remedy.
Coal on the Free List.
When President Roosevelt was on his
N-,, 10 ~-J--