Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1908-08-27

declares that they play an important
part i'll the maintenance of prosper
lty, and he charges that l would "eA-
tirpate and destroy" business in ,extir-
pat1ng and destroying the principle of
private monopoly. Surely. his study
OF the trust question has been very
superficial, if he sees danger in the
restoration of a reign of competition.
Let US take an Illustration: Sup
pose the democrats succeed in the en-
actment of a law in harmony with the
democratic platform-a law requiring
every corporation to take out a fed
eral license before it is permitted TO
control twenty-five per cent Of the
business in which it is gagged.
Would this 'extirpate and destroy
the business of the country? AS al
ready stated, but a very small per
cent of the corporations would be af
fected by the law, and those affected
would be the ones that have been Civ
ing the officers of the law so much
trouble during the last eighteen years.
its business from twenty-five per cent
to fifty per cent, it would be under
the watchful eye of the government,
would be compelled to make such re-
ports as the government required,
would be prohibited from watering
its stock, and would be required to
sell 10 all customers upon the same
terms, due allowance being made for
cost of transportation. Would it 'ex-
tirpate and destroy business to re-
quire these licensed corporations to
do business on an honest basis and to
be reasonable in their business meth
DDS? Would not the benefit accruing
to the ninety-nine small corporations
thus protected from constituencies
methods be enough to offset any evil
effects that might follow from such
restraint of a few big corporations :?
Is business so dependent upon dis
honesty and unfairness that it would
be "eXtirpated and destroyed" if NOR
ais were introduced into it? When
the licensed corporation reached a
point where it controlled one-half of
the business in which it was engaged,
it would, according to the democratic
plan, have to stop expanding. Would
it 'eXtirpate and destroy business to
put this limitation upon the greed of a
few corporations? Surely our plan
could not injuriously affect corpora
lions that might hereafter seek to es-
tablish a monopoly"
! In conclusion Mr.. Bryan declared
that industrial independence is nee
essary to political independence.
! The free exercise of the rights of citi-
zenship is impossible when a few men
control the industries in which mil
lions are employed. God forbid that
we should compel the wage-earners OF
the nation to address their petitions
to trust magnates, and ask for their
daily bread. Already we have seen
how Prone the monopOlist is to make
employment depend upon the willing
ness of the employee to prostitute his
ballot to the service of his corporate
master.
/ "This question should be settled
now" he said, we can not afford to
bequeath it as a legacy of woe to a
succeeding generation. The con-
science Of the people is already aWak-
ened, and the. conscience is the most
potent force of which man has knOwl-
edge. Where law makes one right
eOus, conscience controls a hundred );
where one is kept from wrong-doing
by fear Of prison doors, a thousand
are restrained by those invisible
walls which conscience rears about
us-barriers which are stronger than
walls OF granite. 1t is upon the con-
science that human institutions rest,
. and without a stirring of the con-
science no great reform is possible.
To a national conscience already
aroused We appeal, with the pledge
that a democratic victory will mean
the ringing out of industrial despotism
and the ringing in of a new era in
which business will be built upon its
merits, and in which men will succeed,
not in proportion to the coercion they
may be able to practice, but in pro-
portion to their industry, their ability
and their fidelity"