Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-09-18
RICH NOT GUILTY
frederick Weyerhaeuser Scores
Muck Raking Campaign
Against the Wealthy.
BIG OIL FINE IS DEN0UNCE D
Declares Conditions Result from Survi-
val of Fittest and No Permanent
Change Can be Made.

Frederick Weyerhaeuser, the lumber
king, formerly of this city and now OF
St. Paul, presided over a meeting of
the Musser-Sauntry Land and Log COM
| pany at Muscatine yesterday, which
was attended by F. G. Denkmann, S. S.
| Davis, r. B. Davis and w. II. Marshall
of this city. The party went down on
the steamer F. Weyerhaueser. While
in Muscatine Mr.. Weyerhaeuser con-
scented to talk for publication on the
trust busting campaign of the present
national administration:
| Judge Kenesaw NJ Lands was a
fool for imposing that S29,000,000 fine
upon the Standard Oil company ana
John d. Rockefeller" Mr.. Weyerhau-
ser is quoted as saying, HE can impose
all the fines he wants to. but, mark my
WORD, Mr.. Rockefeller will never pay
Icent.
1T is an outrage the way the wealthy
men of the country are attacked. You
hear of trusts here and you hear of
trusts there. What does it all mean?
1t is just talk. There is no such thing
as lumber trust. have been i'll the
business many years, and | certainly
fought to know if any one does.
You can say for me there is no such
thing as a combination of the big lum-
Der dealers, but that will be all the
good it does, for people will not be
tlieve it,
| Inheritance INK Foolish. Too.
Asked what he thought of the pro-
posed inheritance tax, he said:
! There is a way prepared for the dis
tribution of wealth that was fixed by
the Divine Master. | did not have a
penny to give away until | was GO
years of age, and now there are hun
ldreds of channels through which it can
be disposed of. | have my children
who can assume the wealth have, and
an inheritance tax is uncalled for The
wealthy men of the country have been
giving a certain class of people a great
deal of worry, it seems, but if thai
class had the money it would only be {
short time until everything would be
back again i'll the same places. 1t i.
the survival of the fittest.
Il Lumber Going Up, He Says.
II Il do not see what the people meal
II by attacking the wealthy men of Amer
II lea. What have we done? When | sa,
there is not a lumber trust I mean it
= and | am willing to be called liar i
such a combination can be found BE
{. cause lumber is high is no reason win.
n CHI hot
10 dealers of the country are in a combin
u alton and refuse to lower the prices.
5 Lumber is high because it is lum
3 Der, and the people may expect to Sc
J it 90 still higher. During the last yea
II | did not receive one log down tn
- Chippewa river as it was entirely to
low. During all of my years in bus
ness this waterway has furnished m
t. with all of my logs All of the watel
vs. ways have been so low that it has bee
y impossible to get logs down from tn
81 north.
Sc The great timbers of Minnesota ar
z also being rapidly thinned and lumbe
II is becoming scarce. We are now worl
p ing in Washington and Idaho. but tn
% forests of the entire county are bein
rapidly eaten out by the lumber con
panies. 1t seems that it is impossibl
TO make the supply equal to the d
, mand, and during the coming yea
there will be big shortage 'Althoug
there has been plenty of rain in a
parts of the country, the various waite
"a ways that we must use have not r
ceived one drop of rain
MANN nlIT Cn0 ODAnTIr