The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1902-11-06
Democratic Insincerity.


In his last message to Congress Mr..
Cleveland called attention to the insult
ficency of the antitrust law, and ex-
pressed the opinion that it could not
be made effective. He said: The fact
must be recognized, however, that all
Federal legislation on this subject may
fall short of its purpose because of the
inherent obstacles and also because of
| the complex character of our Govern
ment system, which, while making
Federal authority supreme within its
sphere, has carefully limited that
sphere by legitimate bounds that Can
not be transgressed That was Mr..
Clevelands position regarding the trusts
| in 1896, and it is still his position and
that of his party. They have only one
remedy for the trusts, and that is free
trade. The so-called remedy is the
main object of their ambition, and not
the regulation of the trusts. Free trade
would no more affect the trusts than it
would all other enterprises.
Never before has Tammany sent such
remarkable body of "silk stocking
delegates to a State Convention as it
did few weeks ago, when Lewis
Nixon, at the head of the shipbuilding
trust, gathered together as Tammany
delegates a body o. trust promoters,
Napoleons Of finance and millonaires
to represent Tammany at the Saratoga
Convention. Among those delegates
were John G. Carlisle, who is now an
attorney for some Of the greatest trusts
in the country; August Belmont, Col.
John A. Mccall, James Il. Woodward,
Franklin Bartlett, j. Edward Simons,
Ashabel Fitch, James Stillman and a
long list Of other bank Presidents,
financiers and other trust magnates.
These men are all close friends of
Grover Cleveland and were among his
most ardent supporters when he was
President of the United States. They
were influential in the Chicago conven-
tion of 1892 and helped to adopt that
platform which declared that the
Federal Government had no const-
tutional power to enact protective tariff
legislation, and also declared the op-
position of the Democratic Party to
the trusts, and yet President Cleveland
enforced the Sherman antitrust law
only against labor organizations, and
against great combinations of capital.
The position of the Democrats is in
marked contrast to that Of the pres ent
Administration. President Roosevelt
in his first message to Congress ga d:
Corporations engaged in interstate Com.
merce should be regulated if they are
found to exercise a license working to
the public injury. 1t should be as
much the aim of those who seek for
social betterment to rid the business
I'll - ~; 81 q RI rid tho
entire body polite of crimes of violence.
Great corporations exist only because
they are created and safeguarded by
institutions; and it is therefore our
right and our duty to say that they
work In harmony with these institu-
tons. That has been President Roose-
veIt's position ever since he became
observation-disclosures in his message to
Congress, in his speeches on the stump
and in his executive actions, by in
strueting the Department of Commerce
to proceed against the Northern Securi-
ties Company, the Beef Trust and the
railroad combinations in the West which
were granting rebates to favorite
customers. This Administration has
| compelled the railroads to cease grant
| ing secret rebates and 1t has compelled
| the Beef Trust to suspend its combi-
nation for the purpose of maintaining
the prices of dressed beef. 1t has begun
suit against the Northern Securities
Company and the Attorney General Is
confident that the Government will
win that suit. The Attorney General
simplifying the Presidents ideas upon
the trust question, has in his great
spe ech at Pittsburg shown clearly that
Congress has not exhausted its con-
stitutional power In the passage of the
Sherman Law, but 1t can amend that
law so as to reach the trusts under
their present organization as it did
effectively as then organized, compell-
ing them to change their plan of or
ganization.
The trust magnates of New York
understand this situation. They are
helping the Democrats because they
desire a Democratic House as the most
effective means OF preventing President
Roosevelt's denominations from being
made effective by legislation. They
can depend upon the Cleveland Democ-
racy to do nothing to aid President
Roosevelt.-B0ston Journal.