Evening star., 1902-09-01
TRUSTS AN ISSUE
The Feeling Particularly in
New England.
FARMERS PROSPEROUS
BUT THEY ARE NOT THE ONLY
FACTOR.
People Are With the Preident, but
Party Leaders Against Him
on Trust Question.
FARMERS PROSPEROUS
Special Dlspatch to The Evening Star.

1
Issue defines itself IT VIII be a big one. II
won't take shape till the preside ntial cam
paign, then look out.
These are the opinions formed during the
last two months. They arc wayside notes.
mentally made in tourneyng about through
the strip Of land embraced I'm the region
bounded by the Mississippi and the Ohio.
The great lakes the White mountains ana
the Atlantic seaboard. This does not cover
all the country, but the area Included is
wide enough to give fair idea OF what IS
in the minds of the people.
Frequent absence had left me out of
touch with current issues IN the United
States, and partly IN Ignorance of recent
industrial growth. Ii was mainly to get in
line again that in moving about I sought
to post myself on the drift Of public senti-
ment AT first there dld not seem to Re
much of drift. In the ", 81 was noted the
vague feeling Of fear for the future and a
wish that mething might be done 10 keep
the combinations from becoming too strong,
yet a lack of vitality in any definite anti
trust movement. This was the clearest
among the farmers.
1 think it is true not only of the great
agricultural west but of the east also. II
is in the industrial and commercial centers
that the talk of the need for a ,mody for
the trusts is less vague, more st ady. and
even passionate at times. II not the chosen
ers are certainly the favored ones. So they
think little and talk less Of the opp.essions
of the corporations. Nor do they agree
with Mr. Bryan that it is seeming pros
perity." They feel ii ana re- ach out for ii
and share the best Of il among thtm-
selves.
The Farmers Are Prosperous.
A New York Gnancier, who keeps a close
watch on political and semi-po!!tlcal agita-
tions in their effects on values. asked me
my opinion and / gave him the results Of
my observations, as stated above. with
some additions. The dependence of the
west on a sing,e crop is past. The failure
Of one staple no longer means agricultural
depression. The mortgages are paid off,
the farmer has money in the bank on which
the interest. because Of pientifulucss. is so
small that he is letting his sons have it to
go to British Columbia and Manitoba to
buy farms for themselves The trolley. the
telephone and the rural post Office delivery
have ended the isolation which was spe-
cially bad in the years OF crop failures, be-
cause it caused broodng. and broodlng
caused political revolutions that resulted I'm
granger legislatures which. in turn. struck
blindly, but always ineffectiVely az the cor
pcrationS. Now, as 1 noted in reading the
program for several grange meetings. the
topics are either entirely social ana literary
or else relate TO ensillage, subsoilinE. new
varieties Of alfalfa ana better means for
the semblance Of an existence in some see
items, its leaders, when they go TO the well
of discomfort from which they once drew
their inspiration. find 1t dried up and come
away with empty buckets.
Nor do the rural good times exist alone in
the west. The east has part in them
which, if less bOuntecUs, is because that
part of the country was not carved ont by
nature for a farm such as the Mississippi
valley. An acquaintance told me about some
Of the rocky hills around Albany which were
his patrimony and which. when in New
York, he called his farm lie kept II for
the family associations and did not mind
meeting the annual deficit cut Of the pro-
ceeds of a good paying business. But Ia.
his surprise the rocky hill slopes and a little
patch of level land began to pay two or
three years ago. and now he talks of his
dividends from his agricultural properties.
In New England l should judge that the
abandoned farm has about run its course
topic of discussion, ana perhaps as
reality also. In a corner of New Hamp-
shire, where a few years ago during a short
drive across the mountains. I saw half a
dozen deserted farm houses. recently in re
peatiug the trip l noticed that all of them
were occupied. Moreover. their occupants
seemed to be living off the land and not off
summer boarders. Several of the old houses
even had new coats of paint
In the west It is difficult now to find
farm dwelling, barn or clubhouse that has
not been freshly painted, and / suggested
to the New York financier that as one OUT
perity the paint industry might have been
led into overproduction. He laughed as he
replied that the farmers might save il by
putting up new granaries and paintings
them. Then he told me that from the in
formation gathered by himself ne was sat-
isfied the farmers Of the United States could
stand series OF crop failures and not be
hurt. THE farmer is content" he said.
and long that is so all antitrust
agitation is vapor. We shan't worry about
it"
Antitrust Spirit Alive.
While my own view coinc;ded as TO the
contentedness of the farmer. il was not
possible to agree that he is the only factor.
When they get under way the Industrial
forces move much more rapidly and less
than the agricultural forces and
evidence grows that the antitrust spirit
in the industrial centers is alive. Proof OF
this was given me in Cleveland by one OF
the men engaged in the iron and s;eel trade
At that time he was engaged in some new
combination which later saw in the news
papers had been perfected He had much
to say of modern industrial development
and of community of interests and had no
faith in legislation, but al the end OF a long
talk he said: Il don't know what is going
to come of ii. We have TO combine to save
ourselves from bigger combinations one
day the fish with the biggest nav win
swallow us all. We can't help ourselves"
In Pittsburg j was shown the splendid
new office buildings and other enterprises
into which the steel kings have put Their
earnings, and was given an insight into
some of their projects for keeping their
capital employed. which would mean keep
ing labor employed, and thus benefiting the
whole community. The Pittsburger who
was my host was sure that his city had
been an enormous gamer from the combina-
lions, and he gave what seemed to me con-
elusive reasons for his belief that the ola
industrial conditions never
could return. He deprecated ignorant at
o. o o. la Ion laxr 1,xx Ill
when l did not dissent from his view that
The trusts had accomplished great good un-
Ter the control of broad-minded and pro-
sress!ve capitalists he paused and whis-
pered: But 1t terrifes us TO think what
might happen if the wrong men got con-
.rol."
Here were two individual Views In cities
where the iron and steel industry is CEN
.ralized. While skentical ahnnf Iee.isl tin,