Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1904-02-12

WASHINGTON LETTER
Feb. The principal subject Of po- !.
iti :al discussion in tho national cap
ital at the present time is the 90. ]
called Foraker bill, which aims to
relieve the trusts and the. mergers Of
any control or limitation by the.
government. ana IL everywhere re-
gsrded az the administration bid for
the support Of the great corporations
in the coming presidential election.
This bill shows the lack Of sincerity
on the part of the republican party In
their alleged fight against the trusts
as does nothing elsa that has come to
the surface lately. The administration
has been active in getting before the
people of the country and touching it.
self as an antitrust administration,
telling in aaring headlines in the good
republican papers how the Attorney
General was going to smash the trusts
to smithereens. It would like to get
the people to believe that it intended
to do something for them in the way
Of trust busting. but SO far he has on
" worked with his mouth and has
done nothing in the courts of the
country, notwithstanding the fact
that an appropriation of a half mill
ion dollars has been made for the
special purpose Of prosecuting the
trusts. The fund has not been used
and will not be for that purpose.
Senator Foraker, besides being the
Ohio manager Of the Presidents cam
paign for election to succeed himself,
Is, with the Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge,
his spckeemen in the U. $. Senate
and no man who knows how things
are done in Washington considers that
there would be the remotest posi- bill
ity of Senator Foraker Offering such
a bill without the Presidents direc-
ton.
Following. as it did, the visit to
Washington of the trust magnates,
whose merger and combines are men
aced under the Sherman law, the
Northern Securities merger, now
fighting for life in the Supreme court,
and the coal trust. brought to bay by
the suit started by William Randolph
Hearst before the Interstate Commerce
Commision-the significance Of SEN
ator Foraker's effort becomes manifest.
Not in years has anything happened
to bring J. Pierpont Morgan, 81. C.
Frick, J. W. Gates, President Cassatt
of the Pennsylvania Railroad and
President Stillman, of the Ma tional
City Bank, all to Washington together.
The presence Of Cassatt and Stillman
at the White House dinner emphasized
the view of the situation that the
F foraker Bill was the administration 8
tender in exchange for the help If the
trusts in the next election. Not in a
generation has bill introduced in
Congress PROVOKED such a feeling Of
alarm and indignation as this hss
done. Coming at a time when the
people are marshalling all that is left
to them of power to check the power
Of the rapacious combinations. and
when the worst Of these are under fire,
the proposition to undo all that has
been done for the protection Of the
country against these predatory or
ganizstions, the Foraker bill is donbly
alarming. and the fact that it is pre-
sented by the spokesman Of the Presi-
dent intensi6es the feeling of dismay.
The comments Of the democrats in
the Senate and House OF Representa-
tives indicate how clearly the danger
is realized and how unanimous is the
condemnation Of the measure among
those on whom will fall the burden
Of the fight to pr event the enactment
Of this measure into q law. The For
aker proposition is regarded as a
throwing aside, on the part of the re-
publtcane, any pretense OF opposing
the trusts and the notification that
prospective contributions Of Wall
Street to the republican campaign
fund are deemed Of more Importance
than the sympathy of the people who
are fighting for deliversnce from the
mergers and illegal combinations Of
railroads with the aggregations that
control production, such az the coal
trnst and the beef trust.
The Hearst candidacy for president is
receiving unprecedented comment at
present in the national capital from
the fact that many papers In this
country who have hitherto ignored
Mr.. Hearst's candidacy are now max
ing generous comments thereupon.
Qosno of tho narapn khak oook - Ia.