Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-08-31

s. i
much reduce even If it did not entirely
remove the probability of a strike"
Mr.. Bryan favored the eight-hour
day.
Continuing he said:
The Silver Question.
''Thus far have dwelt upon sub
jects which may not be regarded as
strictly PARTISAN but l am sure That
you will pardon me If IN this presenceI
Betray my interest In those policies for
which the democratic party stands. l
have not had a chance to make dem-
ocratic speech for almost year. and
no one--not even a political enemy
could be so cruel as to forbid me to
speak of those policies on this occa-
sion. Our opponents have derived not
only partisan pleasure, but also parti-
san advantage from the division caused
In our party by the money question.
They ought not, therefore, begrudge
us the satisfaction that we find in the
fact that unexpected conditions have
removed the cause of our, differences
and permitted us TO present united
front on political issues. The unlocked
for and unprecedented increase in the
production Of gold has brought vic-
tory to both the advocates of bimetal-
lism-the former keeping the gold
standard which they wanted and the
latter securing the larger volume of
money for which we commended. VIZ
who favor bimetallism are satisfied
with victory If the friends of mono-
metallism are satisfied with theirs.
And we can invite them to contest of
zeal and endurance in the effort to re-
store to the people the rights which
have been gradually taken from them
by the trusts.
Corporations.
THE investigationsl during the last
year have disclosed the business meth
DDS of those who few years ago re-
sented any inspection Of their schemes
and hid their rascality under high
sounding phrases. The Investigations
have also disclosed the source of enor>
nous 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 success to
contributions secured from the trusts.
The great corporations do not contrib
ute their money to any party except
for immunity expressly promisedI or
clearly implied The president has rec
commended legislation on this subject,
but so far his party has failed to re-
spond. No important advance can be
made until this baneful influence is
eliminated, and hope the democratic
party will not only challenge the re-
publican party to bring forward effec-
tive legislation on this subject, but will
set an example by refusing to receive
campaign contributions from corpora
tions, and by opening the books, so
that every contribution of any consid-
cradle sum may be known to the public
before the election.
The great majority of corporations
are engaged in legitimate business and
nave nothing to fear from hostile Leg
islation. and the officers should not be
permitted to use the money Of the
stockholders to advance their own po-
litical opinions Contributions should
be individual. not corporate, and no
party can afford to receive contribu-
tions, even from individuals, when the
acceptance of these contributions SCI
cretly pledges the party to q course
which 1t cannot openly avow. In other
words. politics should be honest, and
political conditions in America
If they do not presage Improvement in
the conduct of campaigns.
Trusts Paramount Issue.
while many differ as to the relative
Importance of issues, and while the
x,fl IL,
lines upon which the coming presi-
dental campaign will be fought,
think it is safe to say that at present
the paramount iskue in the minds of a
large majority of the people is the
trust issue. / congratulate President
Roosevelt 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 embarrass-'
ment to him that the platform upon
which he was elected was filed with
praise of the republican party's rec
ord rather than with promises Of re-
form, even the enthusiastic support
given him by, the democrats has en-
abled the champions of the trusts to
taunt him with following democratic
leadership. He has probably gone as
far as he could without mourning the
hostility of his own party. The trouble
is that the republican party is not in
a position to apply effective and thor
ough going reforms because, it has
built up thru special legislation the
nrxy, oh ,ayli IN,
Gated.
What Arc TRUSTEE &.
Before any intelligent action can
be taken against the trusts. we must
have a, definition of a trust. Because
no corporation has an absolute and
complete monopoly of any important
product, the apologists for the trusts
sometimes insist that there are in real
ity no trusts Others insist that it is
to legislate against such
trusts as may exist without doing in
jury to legitimate business. For the
purpose Of this discussion it is suffi-
Gent to draw the lime at the point
where competition ceases to be effective
and to designate as a trust any corr
poration which controls so much of
the product of any article that it can
fix the terms and conditions of SALE
Legislation which prevents a mon
opoly not only does not injure legiti-
mate business but actually protects
legitimate business from injury. We
are indebted to the younger Rockefel-
Ter for an illustration which makes
this distinction clear. In defending
the trust system he is quoted as say
ing that. as the American E;eauty can