Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1902-10-02

whole country is on the verge Of a fuel panic
not a muscle of that soulless combination
is moved and not a word of Cancellation es-
capes the lips of its managers.
These men have formulated the terms
on which their workmen may return to
their toll. They can accept or starve; that
is their Only choice.
What l have said of the two examples
to which l ave referred is largely ap-
plicable to nearly 800. similar combinations
of greater or less degree.
las heretofore stated, while all seem to
realize the danger to the great mass of our
people which this new departure In our
business methods threatens, we are hope
lessly divided in seeking a remedy for it.
Two Views of the Tariff.
For gene. atoms the American people
have been divided, on the question of the
right or the wrong of a protective as dis
tinguished from a revenue tariff, but 1t Is
only In recent years that the trust evil has
entered into a discussion of that question.
The teachings of democrats logically
lead them to believe that our protective
tariff system has made the organization of
these trusts possible, and so long as 1t Is
continued they also believe it will furnish
a defensive breastwork behind which they
can find shelter from every shaft that could
reach a vital part.
1.-THE course of reasoning by which this
conclusion is reached is easily understood.
They say truthfully that the conceded OBJ
ject of a protective tariff Is to exclude from
our market goods of foreign Manufacture
which, If permitted to be imported, would
be sold'in competition with home manufac-
lures and hence reduce the price of these to
the same level at which foreign goods of
like quality could be bought. That so long
as we maintain a tariff wall that shuts for
eign goods out Of our markets there is no
possible way to prevent home producers
from combining by either express or i'm
piled agreements and fixing the price at
which their W products shall be sold.
1.-THE futility Of legislation, other than
tariff reduction, in restraint of such action
Is to them demonstrated by the fact that
the great bulk of our trusts have been
openly organized in the face of antitrust
laws carefully prepared and Incorporated
into the statutes of the nation and many of
the states.
Remedy Through the Tariff.
"They insist, therefore, that inasmuch as
the plain object of these combinations is to
destroy competition among themselves
and thereby become able to fix their own
prices upon whatever they produce there is
but one remedy for the evils they threaten,
and that is to take down the wall that shell
tiers them and compel them to compete with,
the world at large.
I'm this view / heartily concur, as l do in
the old and revered democratic doctrine
that a tariff which is nothing less than a tax
on consumers can rightfully be laid for one
purpose only, ard that to raise needed rev.
enue for the use of the government.
But, as old as tina doctrine is and firmly
rooted in the democratic faith as it has be-
come, it must always be interpreted in the
light of conditions as they exist when 1t is
to be applied.
"In the absence of circumstance requir-
ing a different Interpretation a demand for
an immediate reduction in our tariff sys-
tenn to a revenue basis would naturally be
understood to mean a demand for a general
revision of our tariff laws and a reduction
Of all their schedules to a common level
that would produce needed revenue only.
This, however, is not as l understand
the Interpretation democrats at the pres
ent time put upon that demand.
at must be remembered that it Is made
in the presence of new conditions, in the
bright glare of which it must be construed.
Host of Unique Evils.
"To the mind of a democrat, at least, this
country is threatened with unique and over
shadowing evils.
IN the presence of the great combina-
lions that have been and are being organ
lied in our industrial pursuits he reads the
| ~" hioil VI INDEPENDENT CllUIl, lD6 CIuSI-
ing in the youth of our future of a manly
hope to stand at the head of some business
enterprise and, with brain as well as Drawn,
lead 1t upward to success; the whitening
away of a great army of leaders who have
stood at the pilot wheels of our industries
and made the whole world wonder at Amer
ica's business success, and, looking out into
the future, he sees in the place of these a
single individual, whom the world dnbs a
l 20 ntoip re Iplnctry hnInalaI ,,,tl o~o
blems of authority that cost a million a
year to support, leading behind him great
columns of detected men who never dream
of a better place, but come and go at one
mans beck.
"And, turning from visions like these, he
sees the wealth that millions are made to
earn at the feet Of men whose hands were
never stained by toll, and then is it any
wonder that he asks: Is this the result OF
law?
And who are the men that we see and
speak like this? You, who would cad or
drive them, call them the common herd, but
In among them are millions of men who
drank from their mothers breast the milk
of human kindness that makes every mar
a brother, who learned at his fathers knee
his Bible faith, the equality of man before
the law.
Aim at Heart of Trusts.
ITO the worshipers of protection let me
say it is not the fetish you have maze YOU
god these men are after now. An evii
greater than that must be dealt with first
1t IL the heart of the trust they would reach
To do this you know the wall that shelters
1t must be battered down at the place
where 1t is concealed.
"If this should reduce our tariff system
below q revenue basis they would help tt
build 1t higher whenever or wherever &
trust is not sheltered behind 1t.
"This is the present day doctrine of a tar.
If for revenue only, as / understand it
and as | shall interpret it If | go to con
gress.
do not understand me that l would d.
nothing more. There Is not a missile any
human being can invent I would not hell
TO use If l could to drive these monster!
from every inch of our soil and scatter
them at once into their component parts.
Every measure, VIII tever it may be an,
wherever it may originate, that would hell
to accomplish this would have my utmos
and never-ceasing support.
at is unnecessary to extend this lette
, farther. The creed of Iowa democrats i
plainly written in their state platform
with every line and letter of that instru
ment my heart and conscience alike are il
full accord. HORACE BOIES."
lille iosPSllty VI q PeoPiS 1
commonly judged by the amount O
their wealth in the savings institu
5 tions. 1t means a vast deal more thai
t the money deposited in the othe
banks. The money which they hol'
r is that which is handled in the our
of general trade and is most usual.
the property of capitalists and bust
ness men. The money in the saving
$ institutions belongs to small depos
Y itors and investors, who have saved |
out of their wages, and, therefore
! where there is plenty of money j
e such repositories, it mean everythini
o for the people. On the other hant
| trusts and corporations and capitalist
!, may have vast sums in the other banks