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

insist upon reasonable legislation and
then they will rely upon their power
to corrupt legislators and intimidate
executives to prevent the application
of any remedies which would interfere
with the trusts. Our motto must be
a private monopoly is indefensible
and intolerable,' and our plan Of at
tack must contemplate the total and
complete overthrow of the monopoly
principle in Industry.
The Remedies.
I'VE must not quarrel over remedies
We must show ourselves willing to
support any remedy which promises
substantial advantages to the people
in their warfare against monopoly.
Something is to be expected from the
enforcement of the criminal clause of
the Sherman anti-trust law, but this
law must be enforced, not against
few trusts, as at present, but against
all trusts, and the aim must be to i'm
prison the guilty, not merely to recover
fine.
What is fine OF thousand dol
lars, or even ten thousand dollars. to
trust which makes a hundred thou
Sdllu uOlLdIS Wits lIlc tklatl 10 ia PiO~
Hress? If the criminal clause is not
going to be enforced 1t ought to be re-
pealed. If Imprisonment is too severe
punishment for the eminently re-
spectacle gentlemen who rob eighty
millions Of people of hundreds Of
millions Of dollars annually, the lang
uage Of the statute ought to be
changed, for nothing is more calculated
to breed anarchy than the failure to
enforce the law against rich criminals
while it is rigidly enforced against
petty offenders.
But 1t is not sufficient to enforce
existing laws. If ten corporations con-
spring together in restraint Of trade
are threatened with punishment, all
they have TO do now is to dissolve
their separate corporations and turn
their property over to new corpora
ton. The new corporation can pro-
coed to do the same thing that the
separate corporations attempted, and
yet not violate the law. We need,
therefore, new legislation, and the re-
publican party not only fails to enact
such legislation, but fails even to
promise it. The democratic party
must be prepared to propose new and
efficient legislation.
Recent Investigations have brought
to light that nearly all crookedness re-
vealed in the management of our large
corporations has been due to the du-1
plicity of directorates. A group OF
men organized or obtained control of
several corporations doing business
with each other and then proceeded to
swindle the stockholders Of the vari-
Gus corporations for which they acted.
No man can serve two masters and the
director who attempts to do so Will
fail no matter how much money he
makes before his failure is discovered.
Many of the trusts control prices by
the same methods. The same group
of men secure control of several COM
peting corporations and the manage
ment is thus consolidated. 1t Is worth
while to consider whether blow may
not be struck at the trusts by a law
making it Illegal for the same person
to act as director or officer of two
corporations which deal with each 9TH
er or engage In the same general bus-
mess.
A still more far reaching remedy
was proposed by the democratic plat
form Of 1900, namely, the requiring OF
corporations to take out a federal IL
cense before engaging in interstate
commerce. If corporations were re-
CURED to take federal license the fed
eral government could then issue the
license upon the terms and conditions
which would protect the public.
Tariff and Trusts.
%, Ute r,,o a1n
allied to the trust question and the
reduction Of the tariff furnishes an
easy means of limiting the extortion
which the trusts can practice.
While absolute free trade would
not necessarily make a trust impos-
sible, stilliit is probable that very few
manufacturing establishments would
dare to enter into the trust IL the
president were empowered to put on
the free list articles coming into compe-
tition with those controlled by a trust.
While I shall taken occasion at an
early date to consider the tariff ques-
ton more at length, cannot permit
this opportunity to pass without ex-
pressing the opinion that the principle
embodied in the protective tariff has
been the fruitful source of a great deal
Of political corruption as well as the
support OF many Of our most iniquit-
Gus trusts.
4 zone Of the worst features of the
tariff levied not for revenue, but for
the avowed purpose of protection, is
that 1t fosters the idea that men should
use their votes to advance their own
financial interests. The manufacturer
;, kn
for him to vote for congressman who,
whatever their opinion on other SUBJ
jects may be, will legislate larger divi-
dends into his pockets; sheep growers
have been encouraged to believe that
they should have no higher aim in
voting than to raise the price of wool,
and laboring men have been urged to
make their wages their only concern.
For a generation the fat has been
fried out of the manufacturers by the
congressional committee
and then the manufacturers have been
reimbursed by legislation.
with the public conscience educat-
ed to believe that this open purchase
Of legislation was entirely proper, no
wonder that insurance companies have
used the money of their policyhold ers
to carry elections-no wonder that
trusts have fastened to purchase inn
from punishment with liberal
donations.
Tariff Reform.
There never was time when tariff
reform could be more easily entered
upon, for the manufacturer by selling
abroad cheaper than at home, as many
Of them have done, have not only