The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-02-07
DEBATE ON TRUSTS
MORE INTEREST AROUSED IN
 SPEECHES.
MT. DeArmond of Missouri Closes Argument for the Democrats and MT. Littlefield of Maine
 For Republicans.

GoT xkcPUuAiChuS.
 Washington, Feb. 6.-General debate on the antitrust bill closed in the House shortly before 6 o'clock this afternoon. The debate had continued since 10 o'clock this morning. More interest was arohsed as it proceeded and the closing speeches by MT. DeArmond pem.. Mol and Mir. Littleheld. (Rep. Maine) were delivered to crowded galleries and full attendance on the floor.
 The closing, however, was devoid of clashes. The other speakers today were Messrs Lawrence lRep.. Mass.) Parker tRep.. N. J) Terrell (Rep.. Mass.) Jen- kins [Rep.. Wis.); Douglass Rep.. N. Y-); Henry Dem., Texas); Fleming (Dem.. Ga); Mcclellan Dem., N. Y.); Williams (Dem., Miss.), and Kleberg lDem.. TexasJ Tomorrow. far three hours. the bill will be considered under the five minute rule. after which the final vote will be taken.
 At the opening of the House Mir. Foss (Ills.) reported the naval appropriat tion Dill and the debate on the antitrust measure was opened by MT. Lawrence (Mass.) who took issue with Senator Morgan (Ala.) regarding the latters statement in a recent interview to the effect that neither party was in interest on the question.
 MT. Henry (Tex.) did not desire to fight legitimate corporations but believed that monopolies could and should be out lawed. The pending bill, he thought. did not aim at existing and admitted combi- nations in restraint of trade. MT. Jenkins, chairman of the Judiciary Committee. said the power of Congress
 was as limited upon this question as that of any common council in the cities of the United States. He declared there were no trusts and that the business of the country was carried on by corpora tions. He agreed. however. that the tax ing power of the government might be in- voked to suppress undesirable corpora tions.
 Mir. Fleming (Ga.) announced that he would vote for the bill but criticized the weakness of various sections, one of which he declared was to place corpora tions now in existence in possession of information about future corporations. He urged that section be made applicable to water transportation. He opposed the sec ton which prohibited the carrier from transporting trust made goods He was opposed to it because it placed the re- sponsibilite of determining what was trust made goods upon the carrier. MT. Gilbert (ky.) said his private opln- ion was that the bill was not only a homeopathic dose, but that it would do more harm than good. The Republican Party, he said, was now engaged in the same sort of desperate effort to destroy the trusts which characterized it in It's attempts for ten years to establish bimet- allism by international agreement.
 MT. Williams (Miss) replied at some length to the assertions of Mir Sibley (PaD a few days ago that ''the day of indivirualism and competition had pass ed"
 Mir DeArmond fMo), in closing the general debate for his eide, said he real | ized how difficult 1t was to deal adequate
 ly with the trust question. Human greed
 with he best human intellect at its
 command was not too easily baffled and l thef fefore a solution of the problem re-
 quired sincere and honest endea vor. He
 was one of those, he said who believed | that revision of the tariff could accom- | plish much. He did not believe that the | tariff sheltered all trusts. Still, if It would break the bones of any of the giant
 trusts, why, he asked, should not the | remedies be applied? Some of the other
 side, he said, openly admitted that the 1 tarin suouId De 4~,....,. ... par | ticulars. Why should not the bars be | let down if the tariff had been made a | sheltering place and breeding ground for | trusts. His side proposed an amendment | to clothe the President with power to sus- pend duties on trust made articles when | ever necessary to protect the public | Why, he asked, would not the other side | join in the enactment of the amendment? | Do you prefer. he asked, addressing the | Republican side, to trust the trusts rather than your own President?
 We are not seeking to destroy" Mir DeArmond said, but to preserve, to act | as bulwark to prevent the concentration and constantly multiplying monopoly which will finally crush out the Ameri- can individual
 MT DeArmond said the bill reported from the Judiciary Committee was quite q different measure from that originally intro drced by MT. Littlefied.
 When the gentleman from Maine start ed out" said he. he had blood in his eyes and toma ffa wk in his hand. But by the time he and his colleagues caught Up with the trusts they were smoking the pipe of peace. The sky was clear and the piekings were to continue good for the trusts" Democratic laughter
 
 If it was desired to do something effective, MT. DeArmond said the minority amend ment should be adopted. Corporations should be made amenable to local courts as individuals were. The taxing power of the Government should be used as 1t was to regulate State banks. The bank ruptcy law should be used to throw trusts into the courts If they violated the law.
 He believed. he said. that members should seriously strive to place an ef- feetive law on the statute books.
 The administration and the Republi- can majority in Congress" he said, will go far enough to satisfy the people that it seeks to do something for the peoples good. but net far enough to hurt the peo- ple's enemy
 MT. Littlefleld closed the debate for the majority He said that no one seriously believed with the existing constitutional limitations. that bill could be prepared that would fully and adequately meet the situation. But he believed the commit tee had presented a fair, reasonable and constitutional measure" and as such