Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1905-07-14

thar Shea was his 14-year old Office
boy on $6.50a week. Ryan weathered
the storm all right, is young yet and
has so millions and is still a'coming,
as they say on Wall street.
GAS for Morton. who calmly adj
mitted giving rebates was a bad
practice and that he had done it
because he did as the Romans did;
what President Roosevelt said is good
enough for me. Roosevelt said Nor
ton was all right. But whether the
president meant be was all right
enough to run the 100000 Equitable
policy-holders Az millions as lieuten-
ant for the frenziedest of frenzied
fnanciers is something must leave
to our good president to answer"
Lawson then dwelt upon the
phenomenal prosperity of the coun-
try, saying, that though surplus of
billions had been earned the plain
people have not gotten it.
"This is no fancy picture, men and
women of Kansas; no wall of
pessimism, no wolf cry to needlessly
alarm, but a blunt statement of
actual conditions. You are not free,
you are not equal only as these men
allow you to be.
'.Surely; you say, these Rockefellers
and Carnegies and Armours and
Rog erses are men of greater than
common mould, surely they have 100
arms and 1000 legs and eyes, the
thews of Samson and the wisdom of
Solomon. You sac them and 10, they
are but as other men, only meaner,
more cruel, more cowardiy. Machi-
avellis in their trickety, Judases in
their treachery, Apache's in their
cuelty."
Lawson described modern methods
of stock jobbing. How companies are
capitalized at value far in excess of
their true worth, how the stock is
hoisted up, sold to the people and
then hammered down and taken back
by the system, which then has both
the victims money and his stock. How
the people must pay high prices to
the corporations so the latter may
earn dividends on inflated values. He
raped the Life Insurace companies
for permitting the use of funds for
such purposes and arraigned those in
control for taking a rake-off for them
selves besides. He eulogized Fresi-
dent Roosevelt, an able and fearless
bold to conceive and
strong to execute and hero to every
man, but helpless Gas a bull in
balloon, bound by 1000 threads
the senate the party's inter-
est, and gratitude and all the thous
and intangible Influences which the
great money power can weave around
any individual"
Lawson sees no help in the courts
for "the great corporations do not
hesitate to suborn perjury, bribe
jaries and pay judges for favorable
decisions" Municipal and federal
ownership he said was a will-o'-the-
wisp. at is rattle and a rubber
ring" he said. ''for the country to
play with. If Rogers and Rookie
feller we're starting all over again,
they would ask nothing better than a
world in which all the banks, railroads
and manufactures were in the hands
of the government, because they
could steal them easier, quicker,
cheaper and more safely from elected
than from individuals ow-
ners. The house is onsfre. be-
lieve it can be saved. But if those in
the upper stories conclude to drop
from the windows on the municipal
and federal ownership grass, let
them try their luck"
A solution of the life insurance
problem he said would be to have
the federal government take over all
the assets, convert them into cash,
put it in the treasury and stamp a
guarantee across the face of every
nolicu Each roI;cu holder anoa q aaz