Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-09-04

from his task Dack TO MS DeQ Is 10 Qe-
prive the family of his companionship
society of his service and politics oi
his influence.
Thus far have dwelt upon subjects
which may not be regarded as strictly
Ipartisan, but / am sure that you viii
pardon me l. in this presence / betray
my interest in those policies for which
the Democratic party stands. / have
not had an opportunity to make
democratic speech for almost veal
land no one. not even political enemy
could be so cruel as to forbid me tC
Ispeak of those policies on this occa.
sion. Our opponents have derived mo-
only partisan pleasure, but also par.
tisan advantage from the division
caused in our party by the money
question. They ought not, therefore
Ibegrudge us the satisfaction that we
find in the fact that unexpected con-
ditions have removed the cause Of oul
differences and permitted us to present
a united front on present issues. The
unlocked for and unprecedented in
crease in the production Of gold has
brought victory to both the advocates
of gold and the advocates Of bi-metal-
lism, the former keeping the gold
standard, which they wanted, and the
latter securing the larger volume OF
Il
who favor by-metallism are satisfied
with our victory IL friends Of mono
metallism are satisfied with theirs
and we can invite them to contest
of zeal and endurance in the effort to
restore to the people the rights which
have been gradually taken from them
Iby the trusts. The investigations
which have been in progress during the
past year have disclosed the business
methods Of those who few years age
resented any inspection Of theil
schemes and hid their rascality under
high sounding phrases. These investi-
cations have also disclosed the source
/ of the enormous campaign funds which
have been used to debauch elections
and corrupt the ballot. The people see
now what they should have seen be-
fore, namely, that no party can exter-
inmate the trust so long as 1t owes
| It's political success to campaign con-
tributions secured from the trusts
The great corporations do not contri-
butte their money to any party except
for immunity expressly promised OF
clearly implied. The president has re-
commended legislation on this subject
but so far his party has failed to res
pond. No important advance can be
made until this baneful influence is
eliminated and I hope that the DEM
ocratic party will not only challenge the
Republican party to bring forward ef-
fective legislation on this subject but
will set an example by refusing to re-
ceive campaign contributions from
corporations and by opening the books
so that every contributor of any con-
siderable sum may be known to the
public before the election. The great
majority Of corporations are engaged
in legitimate business and have moth
ing to fear from hostile legislation and
the officers should not be permitted to
use the money Of the stockholders to
advance their own political opinions
Contributions should be individual, not
corporate, and no party can afford to
receive contributions even from indi-
viduals when the acceptance Of these
contributions secretly pledge the party
to a course which 1t cannot openly
avoY. In other words, politics should
be honest and I mistake political con-
ditions in America if they do not pres
age improvement in the conduct OF
campaigns.
While men may differ as to the rel
ative Importance of issues, and while
the next congress will largely shape the
lines upon which the coming presi-
Dental campaign viii be fought, think
Ii Is safe to say that at present the
paramount issue in the minds Of a
large majority Of the people Is the trust
issue. / congratulate President Roose-
velt upon the steps which he has taken
to enforce the antitrust law and my
qualification Is not lessened by the fact
that he has followed the Democratic
rather than the Republican PLATFORM In
every advance he has made. 1t has
been great embarrassment to him that
the platform upon which he was elect
ed was filled with praise Of the Re-
publican party's record rather than
with promises Of reform. Even the en-
| thusiastic support given him by the
Democrats has enabled the champions
of the trusts to taunt him with follow
ing Democratic leadership. He has
probably gone as far as he could with
out incurring the hostility Of leaders
of his own party. The trouble Is that
the Republican party Is not in posi-
ton to apply effective and thorough
going reforms because 1t has built up,
| through special legislation, the very
abuses which need to be eradicated.
Before any intelligent action can be
taken against the trusts we must have
definition of a trust. Because no cor
poration has an absolute and complete
monopoly of any important product,
| the apologists for the trusts seem to
insist that there are in reality no trust
Others insist that it is impossible to
legislate against such trusts as may
exist without doing injury to legiti-
mate business. For the purpose Of
this discussion 1t Is sufficient to draw
the line at a point where competition
ceases to be effective and to designate
as a trust any corporation which con-
trolls so much Of the product of any
article that 1t can fix the terms and
condition of a sale.
Legislation which prevents a mo-
nopoly not only does not injure legit-
innate business but actually protects
legitimate business from injury. We
are indebted to the younger Rookie
feller for an illustration which makes
| this distinction clear. In defending
| the trust system he Is quoted as say
| ing that as the American Beauty rose
| cannot be brought to perfection with
| out pinching the ninety-nine buds sc
that the one hundredth bud can re-
ceive the full strength Of the bush, sc
great industrial organizations are i'm
possible without the elimination of the
smaller ones. 1t is cruel illustra-
ton, but presents perfectly accurate
| description of trust methods. The
Democratic party champions the cause
Of the 80 enterprises which are men,
aced: they must not be sacrificed that
| one great combination may flourish.
| There must be no mistaking Of the
issue and no confusing of the line OF
battle. The trust as an institution
will have few open defenders. The
policy Of the trust magnates will be
to insist upon reasonable legislation
and then they will depend upon theii
power to corrupt legislatures and In.
timidate executives to prevent the ap,
plication of any remedies which vii
interfere with the trusts. Our motto
must be "a private monopoly Is inde.
fensible and intolerable," and oul
plan of attack must contemplate the
total and complete overthrow Of the
monopoly principle in industry.
We need not quarrel over remedies
| We must show ourselves willing tc
| support any remedy which promise:
substantial advantage to the people ir
their warfare against monopoly
Something is to be expected from the
enforcement Of the criminal clause Of
the Sherman antitrust law, but thi:
law must be enforced, not against
few trusts, as at present, but agains
all trusts, and the aim must be to I'M
prison the guilty, not merely to re-
cover a fine. If the criminal clause !:
not going to be enforced 1t ought t(
be repealed. If Imprisonment is toe
severe a punishment for the eminen
gentlemen who rob eighty millions o
people of hundreds of millions or dol