The Minneapolis journal., 1902-10-14
TRUSTS And TARIFF
Senators Spooner and Quarles of
Wisconsin Discuss the Prin-
! r cipal Political Issues.
Uniformity of Control a Remedy
Advanced by the Latter
i Two Big Meetings.

milwaukee,, Wis, Oct. 14.-United States
senator John c.. Spooner last night made
MS nrSt speech Of the republican cam
palgn In Wisconsin at Schltz Park in this
city, speaking under the auspices of the
hatlonai republican congressional commit
tee
crowd of 5000 people turned out in
urench1ng rain to hear him. He received
4 tremendous ovation. During the course
OF MS remarks he paid magnificent
trloute to President Roosevelt Speaking
or trusts Senator Spooner said:
Trusts are the outgrowth and the in
eV1table outgrowth of modern progress.
they are evolution. and men talk about
them as they pleaSe-theN are here. They
are here to conserve the public interest
II they will. They are servants of the law
and OF the people. AS servants they are
nexpressbly useful. AS monsters in any
field Of industry they are not to be toler-
ated at all. for the American people will
have no masters, either in politics or In
business They do not always come about
In an unnatural way or to stifie competi-
tion. They come about to enable a COM
petttor to meet competition.
Now, gentlemen, do you think these
so-called trusts, with their enormous cap
italization, are due to the tariff? Our
democratic friends tell you so. We have
had tariff now for over sixty years and
come within tho last ten years, In pro-
tected industries A great many Of them
have come since 1897.
'They followed the over production and
strife for business which followed the
panic and the paralysis of trade in the
years from 1893 to 1897. The Standard Oil
company was the strongest and greatest,
or may fairly be said to have been the
leader. Did the tariff cause that my
denocrat1c fpiapISo
did, because petroleum was not on the
dutiable list and never has been, except
coming into this country from any cOun-
try which imposed a duty on ours. That
was done on high grounds of public policy.
Where the Danger Lies.
There Is danger in these combinations
II they become so powerful that they
absorb the industry In a country so that
they are at liberty, If they choose, to fix
prices as they will and become positive
menace.
What help is there for it in this coun
try? We cannot stop them at once. If
you would have the power to stop them
tomorrow, in five days from to-day there
would not be a bank open IN any city
In the United States and there would not
be factory open, or large establish
ment engaged in any industry. | have
been of the opinion that the laws Of COM
In the end conquer them and protect the
people. I may be wrong about 1t, al
though there are rea sons why think am
not.
Take the sugar trust. 1t was cor
poration which controlled SO per cent Of
the sugar refred in the United States.
That, c~c would suppose would be a
monopoly but it so conducted it's business
that it invited competition, for wherever
capital finds field where it can exploit
with profit 1t never fails to enter it and
for the last few years, as you know, there
has been between the sugar trust, as 1t is
called and the independent retlneries. as
fierce and bitter a competition as has
been known in this country. 1 do not
propose to make an argument for pro
tective tariff. It. has argued it's own way.
If ever a policy has vindicated itself. it
has I am not talking about schedules,
but the principle of protection and its
operation.
Tariff to Cover the Difference.
I'VE have vastly prospered. Our in
dustries have been stimulated they have
developed, they have challenged the ad-
ministration, almost the fear, Of the world.
! am in favor now, as l have always been.
and always expect to be. of imposing a
tariff duty upon competitive products
coming from the other side to this coun-
trv. which will cover the difference in
the labor cost over there and the labor
cost here.
Conditions are constantly changing.
Duties Of a year ago may be too low or
too high. So fast as it can be done with
out disturbing the industries Of the coun-
try. paralyzing by its uncertainty our
commerce or our manufactures, the tariff
may safely and wisely be revised, but
when it IS revised, it ought to be revised
by It's friends
Senator Spooner closed by appealing to