The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1902-07-26
STONES SPEECH AT INDIANAPOLIS.
He Reviews the Recent Platform Declarations Of the
Indiana Democracy.
MONEY QUESTION TRUSTS, AND CoLoNIALIs
Democrats Everywhere Stand for the Constitution as
Well as the Flag"

The following speech was recently
delivered by Hon. w. Stone before
the Editorial Association Of Indiana.
After reviewing the money question
at much length and with great clear
ness, he says;
TRUSTS.
The frOwning menace OF the Ma
tional Bank Trust brings to view the
whole trust question 10 its larger and
more general aspects Is the trust,
so.called, an evil? We have them,
God knows, in superabundance. They
are fast absorbing-have already
absorbed-most Of the important in
dustries Of the country. Are they
good things or bad things? If they
are good things, they should have the
public sanction. Ii they are bad
things, hurtful to the public welfare,
they should be suppressed; and they
can be suppressed If they are contrary
to law, public policy and public right,
unless they are mightier than the
government itself. The first question
is, Are they good things or bad
things? The trust is monopoly, pure
and simple, pronounced and undis-
guised. The confessed purpose Of its
being is in most cases to destroy, and
in all cases to limit competition. This
is accomplished by combination in
some form of the more powerful con-
Germs in a given industry, and by then
crushing out the weaker ones. Monop-
oily gives control Of production and
prices. To a greater or less extent,
depending on the circumstances Of
each case, it controls the price Of
what it buys, and to still greater
extent controls the price Of what it
sells. Competition is made practically
impossible. The moment a trust is
formed it has possession Of the
market, and even men Of capital and
business experience associated to-
gether can not enter the field except
at a disadvantage, and they know If
they do enter the field it would be
from the start a war for the survival
Of the strongest--always, at best, a
losing war, and so the bravest and
strongest fear to incur the hazard OF
the contest. II this be true Of strnpg
men associated, how much more is ii
true that mere individual competition
is absolutely impossible. In the
presence of the trust. individual enter
prises withers and falls; it cannot
hope to prosper; it is powerless to
stand Wherever the trust enters,
individual and independent enterprise
is driven from the field The trust is
Industrial force concentrated, with
monopoly as its aim. Itwould fail Of
It's object if competition we're per-
mitted. A trust without monopoly
would be like the play Of Hamlet
with Hamlet out. Is monopoly, then,
a good thing? The common law has
inveighed against it for a Thousand
years, and the public policy Of enlight-
ened nations is arrayed against it.
1t limits production, it fixes prices, it
curtails employment, it regulates
wages and throttles enterprise III
we aIe to conclude that monopoly is
good thing, we must revolutlonze all
our theories OF law, and economics
and government II we are to con-
clude that it is a good thing, we must
throw to the winds the concurring
opinions OF the worlds greatest pub-
Iicists aud law-gIyers, aid reverse the
universal Judgment OF mankind III
we are to conclude it Is a good thing,
then we are on the threshold Of a new
era I'VE are in the act Of founding a
new civilization. Hanna and Beyer-
idge may not know ii, but when they
teach US that the trustis gO9d thing
they are teaching US the philosophy
OF socialism They tell us that the
trust Is a natural evolution OF trade,
and they hold it to be beoeiicentl
commercial force But this evolution
of trade, II sanctioned, but opeus
the way 70 IKE evolution of
society; for II the tAlst priaciple is
10 obtain in commercA, why not 10
government II scofe Of great pri-