Omaha daily bee., 1902-09-07
SENATOR LODGE ON TRUSTS
Discusses Them at Close of State Campaign
in Maine.
FAVoRs SUPERVISION AND PUBLICITY
10 DO Away with Duties nm Trust
Made Articles Would, lie Thinks,
BE only Furnishing Instead of
Regulating the takers.

PORTLAND. Me. Sept. 6.-The state
campaign was ended tonight by the re-
publicans with a big rally. at which sena-
tor Henry Cabot Lodge Of Massachusetts,
was the principal speaker.
He gave his attention to the trust ques-
tion. In opening be urged his hearers to
continue in power the republican party.
Referring to the war in the Philippines
h said he believed the embers OF insur-
rection still shoulder in Springfield, Groton
and Boston" He said that the subject
most in the minds Of men was that Of
trusts and that the president had recently
said some strong, wise words upon the
subject. Senator Lodge said that the
president was not at liberty, as he was,
to discuss II from a party standpoint. He
described the trust in a technical way
and said that to 95 per centlof them there
was not the least objection. To undertake
to destroy them by rash legislation, he
said, would bring on at the present time
the most disastrous business panic that
could be imagined. He said that undoubt-
edly the great combinations present GER
tain dangers and certain evils and that
at present the dificulty was in distinguish
ing among the corporations.
He had been asked: What are the evils
OF the trust? ?" and he had replied that they
can easily be enumerated. First and more
serious is that there is a great popular
suspicion about them. Somewhere there
ought to be some means of a state con-
trolling what Il creates. He said this
was an evil, because under this govern
ment he did not believe that anything q
creature Of the government should be be-
yond the governments control. There had
-aa.A~1l . - 11.~ Tho
trust question, and chief Of these was legls-
lation. Reckless legislation would be de-
structive to property.
Would he Only Punishment.
Another solution proposed is that OF
sweeping away the tariff duties on articles
that n trust makes. He said that that
sounds easy, and would be punitive, no
doubt, but the most 1t could do would be
to reduce profit. Some trusts would suffer
and Senator Lodge said that he would like
to see the Meat trust punished that way.
The Steel trust, he said, is organized to
compete in every market of the world,
while many other companies having been
built up under the protective tariff, would
be dealt a death blow should the tariff
be removed. You may reduce the profits
Of the Steel trust" he said, but you leave
IL masteF OF tue ueiu. II you pooh ou tue
DUTY on wooiens, the Wool trust would
probably close every one Of fits mills"
Senator Lodge thought the methods Of
regulating trusts by putting them into the
control Of the public through the govern
ment is the silliest remedy ever suggested.
He thought the first remedy is supervision
and publicity and the latter is the first
thing to seek. In this connection Senator
Lodge referred to the suits against the
railroad merger and the injunction against
the Beef trust. In conclusion, he said
that this country wants to retain pros
perity and at the same time meet the
question Of trusts. He said some means
must be found to bring them within the
law-not to ruin them, but to regulate
Thorn. to make the public understand them,
to remove the mystery and the dlscon-
tent.
PORTLAND, Me-, Sept. Sat the close
OF the state and congressional campaign
tonight the republican leaders assert that
they will r~e-elect John f. Hill on Monday
by about 5000 plurality. Two years ago
Governor Hills plurality was $4,000, but at
that time there was much more interest
In the contest than there is now. as 1t
was the year of the presidential election.
1t is generally conceded hat all four
Of tho republican congressman will be re-
elected. The legislature, as usual, will be
easily republican, although the democrats
expect to make gains in both branches,
especially In the house.
The principal interest in the election
centers in the four counties where the
issue is enforcement of the prohibition law.