Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1903-03-04
Republican Trust Busters.

that Congress has been engaged upon,
most of it being Intended to befog the
minds of the voters instead Of enlight.
ening them on what has been and is tn
tended TO be accomplished toward con-
trolling the trusts.
There has been conflict between the
Senate and House OH the measures that
should be enacted and the Senate has
won, as all the legislation on the trust
issue that has been passed or will be
enacted by this Congress are Senate
bills. That is ominous of how little tile
new laws Will really do against the
trusts, for 1t is conceded that the Re-
publican leaders In the Senate are all
under obligations to combines and cor
porations, and are therefore unlikely to
pass laws that will injure their friends.
Some weeks ago the trust attorneys
visited Washington and conferred with
the administration trust-busters, and
the legislation that has SO far passed
and is proposed TO pass Congress is the
result of this consultation between the
trust attorneys and the Republican
leaders.
The legislation is as follows: An
amendment to the bill creating the De-
partment of Commerce, which provides
there shall be Il bureau Of corporations
which shall investigate the combines
except the railroads-,lnd shall report
to the President from time to time, as
he shall require; and the information
so obtained, or as much thereof as the
President may direct, shall be made
public" Also to publish useful iiffor-
nation concerning corporations" as
shall engage In interstate commerce.
These are the famous publicity" pro-
visions upon which the President has
set SO much store. Yet the only publicity
required by this law is to publish ''uses
full information" or MS much infOrma-
tion as the President may direct. That
publicity will be useless may be KNOWN
by the three years efforts in that line
by the Industrial Commission, which
published nineteen large volumes con-
about trusts and corporations, yet no
law has ever been based upon these
facts, and the trusts have Increased and
multiplied since the publication of this
information. The Interstate Commerce
Commission has likewise Investigated
and published all the facts about the
railroads for sixteen years, but 1t has
never curbed their rapacity nor pre-
vented the public from investing in
their watcred stock. Publicity may
even do harm by publishing useful in
formation" that the trusts want to have
made pubic. The statistical bureau of
the various departments Of the Govern
ment have for many years been pub
fishing useful information" that has
been prop and aid to the continuance
of the protective tariff, and IN fact has
persistently rejected all that would ex-
pose It's enormity and fallacies. So
much for publicity.
The next law on the program Is to
advance trust suits In the courts. This
is Attorney General knox's particular
! pet and is certainly needed, for the
suits against the beef trust and the rail
road merger have been dragging along
since last spring, and are still in their
initial stages. But it will require more
than law to advance trust suits. The
great necessity is an Attorney General
who is real trust-buster; but SO far,
no Republican President has appointed
such an one. Indeed, Mr.. Knox himself
was attorney for the Carnegie Steel
| Corporation, and can hardly be expect.
| ed to expedite the law against his
friends. Mr.. Knox complained that he
had not been furnished with sufficient
funds to adequately fight the trusts
so the Democrats have forced al
amendment to the legislative and judi
| cial appropriation bill giving him $500,
COO for that purpose. This bill has beeI
hanging fire in conference for some
weeks, perhaps because of this amend
ment not being looked upon with favol
/ by the Republican conferees.
The last and the most eXtraordinar!
trust-busting bill is the one to proven
rebates by railroads, which Senator El
kins is sponsor for. 1t is not intended
that this bill shall hurt the corpora
tons; it was probably drawn after con
situations with railroad attorneys, AM
Senator Elkins. being corporation
man himself and noted as n friend o
the combines, is hardly likely to hav,
pushed bill through TO take none,
out of the Golfers of the great railroa,
mergers. The bill contains a clause re
;t,,i,, nj al Of h, Int
state commerce act, and that alOn
would indicate that the railroads an,
combines favored it. for they eyidentl,
fear that an administration who woul,
enforce this provision may be electe,
in 1904. This they do not mind, but In
prisonment would be unbearable to
trust or corporation magnate.
All this shows that the so-called ant
trust legislation is farce enacted t
again fool the people by trying to max
them believe that the Republicans NJ
trust-busters.
Who Has Held Up the People?
The strike commission has permitte
the operators to present testimon
against the miners and has delivere
Incidental lectures to the miners O
the subject of their responsibility t
the public and their duty to mine a
the coal possible. The miners den
that they have limited the output q
the mines and assert that the operator
have done so. Fair play demands tina
the miners have their opportunity t
question the men at the head of til
coal combine. Whether the miner
have been misrepresented is n questio
of minor Importance, however, con
pared with the right of the public
know who has been working the holt
up game in the coal market-Philade
phia North American.
Roosevelt and the Trusts.
President Roosevelts opposition to T.,
moval of n tariff protection from til
trusts, as stated by him during the +,
cent campaign, was on the ground tbt
email Industries rOmnetiur with Ill