The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-10-21

years, and most of that during repub- lican rule. The advance of slavery was stopped and then abolished, American institutions were saved, bonds paid in gold and in the last congress alone the war tax of s110, ,000, 900 was removed and the great Philippine bill, arranging the matter Of civil government of those isl- ands settled, and the isthmian canal bill passed. This was the record of a single congress. There is also some diff ference between the condition of the country in the four years of democratic rule from 1893 until 1897 and the last five years of republicanisn. In the first four years we borrowed $262, ,0O0, 900 to pay running expenses. In the last five years we fought a wan in 1898 and bor- rowed only $20O,O00 900 to carry it on and had surplus at its close. Then the republican party abolished the surplus war taxes and the treasury surplus was larger than before the war. The money was borrowed at per cent. and not at 4. The credit of the United States was higher than that of any other nation in the world. This affords a presumption in favor of the party at the head of the government and to them must be given the credit in a great measure for bring ing about these conditions.
 There is no need of voting on past is- sues, they only serve as guide. What we ought to vote on are questions which have to do with our present and future. The republican party is one of progress, and as such it stands ready to meet all questions of the day The 1 democratic party is groping about try l ing to find issues which will answer. They have abandoned free silver and now fall on their old friend, the tariff, and clamor for free trade. They de- | nounce trusts and claim that they can l be arragned by having free trade. There is a great cry about the revision of the tariff. The trusts are a subject l uppermost in the public mind. They are great combinations of capital which | have grown gradually for the past ! twenty years, but have grown more in ' the past six years It is true that more trusts have sprung up during the six years of republican prosperity than in the four years of democratic diversity 1 The more trusts the fewer soup houses They are the product of modern econ-
 omic conditions. The superior organiz- l ing power of the American people l makes them greater than in other countries. There is no such thing as a
 trust" technically speaking. Superior organiza tions of capital enables them | to compete bettle in foreign markets
 and to produce cheaper. Combinations | of capital are new evils with which we must deal. They are useful servants | but dangerous masters. We must deal
 with them temperately and wisely. The
 people must be assured that the great power is not to be used to their harm.
 The policy of the republican party is by direct legislation working to the regu- 1 lation and control of the trusts. There
 is law on the statute books known as 1 the Sherman law looking to the regula- | tion of trusts. The democrats have done nothing in this line but fill their
 platforms full of words relative to this
 great question. They have no law on I the statute books. This law is being enforced by republican president and only last year he caused the attorney
 general to institute two actions, one
 against the merger of the Northwest
 and the other against the so-called
 Beef trust" This was in accord with
 the provisions of the Sherman, anti
 trust law. passed by republican con- 1 gress and signed by a republican presi-
 dent. The question is whether further
 legislation is necessary. The republi-
 can policy is to extend by getting great CT control if necessary Provision for
 a public accounting and some provision
 to prevent stock watering should be
 made. The greatest of these and other
 suggested ways is by publicity The
 difficulty Is how to reach them. They are created in one state and transact
 all of their business in another. The
 creator should have some control of the
 created. The present condition Is some thing which should not be. No combi-
 nation or corporate body should be be-
 yond the reach of the law. The dem-
 ocratic policy is to take all of the du-
 ties off the many articles made by any
 of the so-called trusts. This sounds
 simple and 1t is easy to put it into a
 platform. That is one thing, but to
 place it on the statute books is another.
 The democrats say, make all goods free
 which come into this country and are
 like those made by trusts. This would
 be impossible for there is not single foreign thing in the eyes of the law
 which is identical with domestic goods.
 The speaker then at some length
 clearly demonstrated hpw futile would be the efforts to smother the trusts by
 taking off the tariff duties. Competi-
 ton would be stified and the smaller
 producers would be entirely stamped
 out. There is no such thing as prac-
 tical free trade.
 Striking at the tariff does not regulate ! or control it simply furnishes meas ure to bring the democratic party back