Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-10-30

York or Chicago paper from either
point. so far removed from any touch
with the feeling of the common people
of the United States.
The great papers do a great work.
OF that there is no doubt. But they
are not wholly free from the charge
of constituting in themselves 4 trust.
and, as it now has come to pass that
their owners are multimillionaires and
must hold investments in trust Sc
curities, so beyond doubt they are in
sensibly Influenced by the trust senti-
ment. Mr.. Bryan was not first to say
that the country press was the one to
which representatives of the common
people must look for aid. The rage
and Indignation of the metropolitan
press over his statement go far to
prove its truth.
The Trusts Against the Trusts.
There are some students of public
| affairs, some public men and econo-
msts who hold that the operation OF
| natural law will ultimately destroy
monopolies and by so doing break
| down the conditions which have Gre
ated the swollen fortunes which both
,, President Roosevelt and the leader OF
| the Democratic party regard as a
menace to the continued well being OF
| the republic. | am frank to confess
! that have not agreed with this view.
| 1t seems to me that legislation by
! both state and nation. and very drastic
| legislation at that. is necessary. AS
| the president himself said in effect,
one of these millionaire monopolistS
and stock jugglers in jail would be
worth hundred fines imposed upon
the corporation.
| Yet it is worth while considering
| whether the trusts are not going to
break themselves or, rather, whether
| the men who have got control of
them. in their eagerness to get rich
and their personal jealousies. will not
bring down the whole artificial fabric
in one grand crash upon their own
heads. All of the men concerned in
the traction trust of New York city
have turned against each other, and
Che revelations that they make about
each other have made the stock practi-
cally unstable and promise to engage
the attention of the courts for decade
at least. Only last week the effort OF
one magnate of a copper trust to beat
his rivals irf>Wall street resulted in
his being driven out of the banks he
controlled and his practical. though
possibly temporary. elimination from
the ranks of trust promoters. The
fall of HeinZe carried with him to 4
certain extent Charles w. Morse. VIII,
promoted and controls the ice trus
and the steamship trust. He too. has
been forced to resign from the direct
crate of every bank and trust com
pany with which he was connected
L. r. Thomas. also widely engaged il
schemes for monopolizing different in
dustries. has likewise been driven from
any connection with the string Of
banks that he controls. Fish and Har
: riman are now emulating the Kilkenn.
cats at Chicago. Perhaps it is tru,
that as these men go others quite q:
eager for power and for pelf will re
place them. But there is an old prov
erb as to what happens when person!
! of certain class fall out among them
: selves.
The matters to consider in the finan
} cial revelations of recent date are
: first, that the men whose fortunes arr
swollen beyond any reasonable bounds
have secured them by the use of thu
: small savings of the people paid int
+ savings banks and insurance compa
MES; second. that at no time have the!
; hesitated to evade or to break the Law
for their own profit; third. that thei
thought was never for their stocx
holders. but always for themselves.
Washington, D. c.
e WILLIS J. ABBOTT.
ni Take De Wits Little Early Rise
Y: Pills. Sold by all druggists.