The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-03-12

It'll time. when he truce was called
10 the fight. the question was not who
| had won. but how far the battle had
been fought in advance.
seeking Tuc-IioIt on Nartsrfom
1t might a well be said. admitted
a. ATr. Fleming charged that the chief
interest at stake in the Reid. antitrust
| bill i the American Tobacco Company.
| In the charge lies the adrolsneSs Of he
trust campaign Give u trust a toe
holt on matTydom and il Is happy.
| All roads that lead to Il protection of
the prosecuted are easy roads. but.
while the American Tobacco Company
i the chief interest involved IN This
| bill. Id should not bc ~f0rgnttcp that
| the fact exists on account of the trusts
methods and not on account OF the
trust itself.
IN other words. the Reid bin does
NOT denounce. is not aimed at COM
| binations or associations. as such. Its
| operation is dependent on acts. In
| all the scramble. III all the oratory.
no one has yet defended the acts
which it outlaws. The sleek lobby Is
| too sleek for that. Its purpose runs
at a tangent and its attack is in flank,
It's campaign is a campaign of diver
sion. is attitude * this:
THE acts you inhibit are illegal.
but the bin will hurt only the Ameri-
can Tobacco Company"
That is the Tobacco Trusts admis-
| sion rather than even the tenor OF
the bin.
1T is unfair" says the trust, Ito
hit US, when YOU will not hit others.
But it cannot be ga1nsaid that. If
| Others do the things inhibited, they
Will be hit. What. then, IS the real
attitude of the American Tobacco Com
pany? Simply this:
w alone are guilty Of the crimes
| you are legislating against. There
! fore. it will be discrimination TO legis-
late against our peculiar crime
That premise cannon be admitted.
! But. suppose il is. Can there be raised
| for crime the plea of discrimination.
when the law declares it a crime?
| That is what the trust is doing; what
it is asking be admitted; what, behind
| all the Illumination, its attitude
| amounts to,
Mr. FIemine's Indignation.
The debate itself was at times dra-
matte. Senator Fleming, in particular
! made uD in volume what he lacked
in cogency. Mr.. Fleming is a gusty
speaker. He gives an old phrase the
benefit of all his lungs, and all Of his
physical power. He comes down with
emphasis upon each sentence. \
platitude becomes an anathena. A
single phrase he can give the dignity
III IIllDl cSSlOIl VI a tt1idI alum " II
dependence. Nh. Fleming is one of
those gentlemen who becomes indig-
nant at hearing himself ak. He
starts out apparently angry, and, as
he proceeds, his anger grows. He
raises the impression that someone is
opposing and denying what he has
said though no one has made Il sound.
This throws him in a rage. II he
does for hat person is awful. He
rises to heights of indignation. he
- - 10 fnaA Il - 4
"a perfect tempest of denunciation. One
is led unconsciOusly to think that this
hin must end in d personal encOur- |
ter. before. on second thought, one |
remembers that both parties to the
controversy are in Mr.. Fleming's head.
Mr.. Fleming waves 4 fist
and ensanguined battalions of airy
visions fall PROSTATE. Nj. Fleming
gloats. pauseS for q monlen over tn3
annihilatcd foe and proceeds to man
ufacturc other men to kill. 1t Is al
stirring brand of oratory-
Int the midst Of this oratorical
brain-storm. came, time after time
Mr.. Reid. with question, with sarcasm.
With quick. sharp. g|iNe-and-take. Inc
crowd quiycred With pleasure and the
trained lobby sat impassive.
..poor Eastern North Carolina"
Mr.. Fleming wanted it understood
that he represented an interest which
was the dearest in the world To his
heart. For a while. it looked as
though this meant the American To-
Dacco Company. Mr.. Fleming cleared
UP this point. He was speaking. he
said. for poor little Eastern North
Carolina" Ii appeared that Mr.. Elem
ing believed that the Tobacco Trust
| if it were driven away from the state,
would deprive his county of its ware
houses. of it's markets. The Trust
buyers were the only buyers they had;
ergo. according to Mr.. Fleming. de-
stroy the Trust and you destroy the
buyers. Also, you drive from Pitt
county its markets. YOU send its to-
bacco to Virginia inc South Carolina
for sale.
Mr.. Reid wanted to know whether
the Trust had not oppressed and rob
bed the farmers. but Mr.. Fleming was
not II be put in an attitude Of ad-
mission. He was against trusts; he
wanted that understood. But he, was
| against a law that would deprive Pitt
| county of the Tobacco Trust-or rath-
er of its warehouses. of its buyers.
Monuments in Empty Factories.
And Mr.. Reid. hanging to the flanks
of his oratory. insisted that he came
from a tobacco town; that it was a
place which had in empty factories
monuments to this trust that was so
necessary to Pitt county: that. while
YOU could not drive out the tobacco
trust. you could make it refrain from
unlawful acts: and you could build up