The Farmington times and herald. (Farmington, St. Francois Co., Mo.) 1902-1905, 1902-12-25
information as to Trusts.
Indianapolis state sentinel;

One of The Seutinel's Republican
admirers. O., oue who admires
the iearlessness aud ability with
which II discusses pablo questions,
bat who is unhappily befogged by
republican sopbistry and misrep'
reseutation--one who realizes the
evils Of republican misgoyernmeut,
bat accepts republican pretense
that it cannot he improved-writes
to The Sentinel in search Of light
He says:
Ii you or any Of your party can
study out a hill that will kill all
illegal trusts aud not kill all Others
that are outside Of trusts aud mon
Opolies you will confer an evelast
ing obligation on every Republican
that las thimbleful Of brains
You have said that il your party
was put in power il would smash
all trusts. Now please put your
plan in black aud white, and make
il 10 plain that Republican,
though u fool eau understand it,"
The Sentinel comes to the relief
Of this unhappy neighbor who has
fallen among thieves, and has been
persuaded that thieves are needful
to his happiness. For, to begin
with. let it be understood that
there are no trusts, from the point
Of public discussion, that are not
illegal. \ trust as uniformly un.
dcrstood-as defined by the Sher-
man antitrust LAWS combina.
ton in restraint of trade. II NAV
be- in the form of n cot, Ioration,
but II is not necessarily 80.
Whatever lis form, IL is unlawful.
Aud now this poor, benighted i'm.
beetle asks whether you can sup.
press a law. breaking trust without
destroying law.abiding business
whether you can punish fOrgers
without hurting writing teachers
whether you can suppress crime
without destroying virtue.
How can YOU do in First. en-.
force the law Republicans tell us
in one breath that nothing can he
done, aud in the next they point 70
the injunction asked by President
Roosevelt agaiHs: she beef trust
aud promptly granted by the cunrt
but whose open violation 10y the
beef mSgnates goes unpublished.
Whyi The antitrust law makes
participation in trust IA criminal
oifcnse. No effort Is made to pun.
ish the Offenders. Whyf the
antitrust law provides for the con.
fscation Of the goods of a trust in
transit. NoGe are conhscaied.
WHY
Second Stop the discrimiua.
ton IN freight rates. That is one
great support Of trusts now, aud
has been for years. II would help
all legitimate business TO stop il,
for that is the very mode by which
the lawless trusts get advantage OF
lOw'2biding competitors, underselI
them, and drive them out Of bust.
ness. II would be a blessing, not an
injury, TO every law.abiding mer-
chant and manufacturer if the in.
terstnte commerce law were amend.
ed, aud enforced. But although
Republican congresses have been
petitianed by merchants and man.
ufauturers' associations, railroad
commissions, farmers associations
aud others, TO do this, they have
uniformly refused.
Third. Remove the tariff on
trust controlled products. This
would harm nobody. Take an il.
lustration. All the anthracite coal
in the country is controlled by n
trust. There is a tariff of 81 cents
n ton to keep out foreign coal.
The trust collects that 81 cents
from the consumer on every ton il
sells II pays the miner 5l115 cents
a ton for mining the coal. and
pockets the other l5H cents.
Vino would be hurt by the removal
OF that dutyf What manufacturer
would be injured by cheaper coalf
What mans living expenses would
be increasedi And yet there are
punk headed idiots who say you
cannot remove the duty without
ruining the country. Aud as long
as there are enough Of them, in