The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1906-09-04

tray my interest in those policies TO
| which this Democratic party stands
/ have not had an opportunity to max
| Democratic speech for almost
| year, and no one--not even politica
enemy-could be so cruel as to for
bid me to speak of those policies on
| this occasion. Our opponents hav
derived not only partisan pleasures
but also partisan advantage from the
division caused In our party by the
money question. They ought not
therefore, begrudge us the satisfac
tion that we find in the fact that un
expected conditions have removed the
cause of our differences and per-
mitted us to present united front
on present issues.
THE MONEY QUESTION.
"The unlocked for and unprecedent-
ed increase in the production of gold
had brought a victory to both the ad-
vocates of gold and the advocates of
bi-metallism-tbe former keeping the
gold standard which they wanted and
the latter securing the larger volume
of money for which they contended.
We who favor bi-metallism are salts
fed with our victory IL the friends of
monometalEsm are satisfied with
theirs, and we can invite them to a
contest of zeal and endurance in the
effort to restore to the people the
rights which have been gradually
taken from them by the trusts.
The investigations which have been
in progress during the past year have
disclosed the business methods of
those who a few years ago resented
any inspection of their schemes, and
hid their rascality under high sound
ing phrases. These Investigations
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 before, namely, that
no party can exterminate the trusts
SO long as it owes its political sue
cess to campaign contributions Sc
cured from the trusts. The great cor.
porations do not contribute their
money to any party except for i'm
munity expressly promised or clearly
implied. The president has recon-
mended legislation on this subject but
so far his party has failed to respond.
No important advance can be made
until this baneful influence is elimin,
ated, and | hope that the Democratic
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
sum may be known to
the public before the election. The
great majority of corporations are
engaged in legitimate business and
have nothing to fear from hostile
legislation, and the officers should not
be permitted to use the money of the
to advance their own DO
litical opinions. Contributions should
be individual, not corporate, and no
party can afford to receive contribu-
tons even from individuals when
the acceptance of these contributions
secretly pledge the party to a course
which it can not openly avow. In
other words, politics should be honest
and | mistake political conditions in
America if they do not presage i'm
proyement in the conduct of cam
paigns.
CONGRATULATES ROOSEVELT
While men may differ as to the
relative Importance of issues, and
while the next congress will largely
shape the lines upon which the com
Ing presidential campaign will be
fought, | think it is safe to say that
at present the paramount issue in the
minds of large majority of the peo-
pie is the trust issue. | congratulate
President Roosevelt upon the steps
which he has take 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 adj
vance he has made. 1t has been
great embarrassment to him that the
platform upon which he was elected
was filled with praise of the Republi-
can party's record rather than with
promises of reform, even the enthusi-
astic support given him by the Demo
Gratis has enabled the champions of
the trusts to taunt him with following
Democratic leadership. He has prob
ably gone as far as he could without
mourning the hostility of the leaders
Of his own party. The trouble is that
the Republican party is not in a po-
sition to apply effective and thorough
going reforms because it>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 a definition of a trust. Because
no corporation has an absilute and
monopoly of any important
product, the apologists for the trusts
insist that there are in
reality no trusts. Others insist that
it is impossible to legislate against
such trusts as may exist without do
ing injury to legitimate business.
For the purpose of this discussion it
Is sufficient to draw the line at the
point where competition ceases to be
and to designate as trust
amy corporation which contlbls so
much of the product Of any article
that it can fix the terms and condi-
tions of sale.
Legislation which prevents a.
mot onlu daac not ;,,s,,,o