Los Angeles herald., 1910-10-24

his candidacy Tor congress are in
marked contrast to the silence of his
opponent, William d. Stephens. Mr..
Handley has not hesitated to declare
himself on national issues, and he has
had many concentrations from voters
who have heard his speeches for the
breadth of knowledge shown in that
regard.
His opinions regarding trusts and
monopolies are typical. He has not
hestated to disclose his attitude and to
show plainly how he would vote as
congressman from the seventh district
of California.
TRUST ORGANIZATION WRONG
1.-THE whole organization Of most of
our great trusts is wrong" said Mr..
Handley, yesterday, referring to the
monopoly question. 81 have stated al
ready that we have no quarrel with
honest business, but when a corpora
tion sells stock that rests on a fictitious
basis, it is committing plain act of
robbery on the general public. The
practice of watering stock is SO COM
mon in this country that we have
come to regard the fact with COM
placency. But some one must pay the
bills. Dividends and interest must be
paid on vast amounts never spent and
this money is taken from an unsuspect-
ing public
"As long as the government permits
the sale of stock that rests on ficti-
tious values, it is a party to the crime.
Think of the vast stocks that represent
no investment. Various estimates have
been made as to the proportion of wa
tered and real stock. Perhaps the
most notable among these is the dec
laration of Mr.. Ryan of New York, be-
fore an investigating committee when
he said that ninety-f1ve per cent of the
stock of all the great corporations in
this country is pure water. Whether
Mr.. Ryan's estimate is correct or not,
we have not time to discuss. but we
are aware that the practice is so com
mon as to put our business on a
wholly artificial basis. Watering of
corporate stock not only unsettles bust
ness, but 1t is an act wholly devoid
of honesty and the common people-the
people who carry the burdens in this
nation-must demand and secure leg
islation to prevent such extortionate
practices. We must compel all invest
ment, all business to represent honest
value. then business can demand hon
est profit in return.
GREEDY INITIATION OF PRICES
"The second evil of our great trusts
is the artificial increase in prices. This
is due in the first place to the fact that
our monopolies are paying dividends
and interest on the real investment,
and also upon the fictitious values in
watered stock. In addition to this.
they have the power to arbitrarily in
crease the price of any commodity and
we have the choice of paying the bills.
We are at their mercy; a most unfor-
tunate situation, for greed has no
mercy. But want to remind you that
today we are helpless and must bow to
the will of this money power, and
whatever tax they levy we must pay.
'If there is any one thing more con-
temptible than any other among the
evils perpetrated by the trusts it is the
fact that American factories sell their
commodities cheaper in foreign markets
than they sell to the home consumer
Bhink of it, the monopolistic trusts in
America are discriminating in prices
against the American people in favor of
foreign markets. But even this is not
the worst. The trusts cry for an ex
cessve tariff: they implore us and the
government levies a tariff tax on the
people. And what for? To protect
our industries. Yes, we tax ourselves
to help our industries, and what do
these great industries do to show their
gratitude? They make us pay 80 per
cent more for the goods of the indus
sumers pay thousands of miles away.
PRICES AMAZING IN EUROPE
1--WE must demand reciprocity. The
trusts must at last play fair in this
matter. You can purchase an Ameri-
can made suit of clothes in Canada for
$40 that costs you 500 anywhere in the
United States Steel rails that sell for
800 ton in England are sold for $2S
in America, and Mr.. Schwab declares
they can be sold for SIG and make a
reasonable profit. The watch trust
sells in Europe for $40 the same watch
that costs $75 here and other prices
range in proportion. Our housewives
pay $40 for the same sewing machine
that is sold in Mexico for less than $15
and other prices in proportion. Nearly
all agricultural machinery can be
bought in the Argentine republic for
from 20 to so per cent cheaper than
American farmers purchase it. After
our American citizenship has taxed IT.
self to protect these institutions, such
is contemplate. Such
robbery is intolerable, and any citi-
zen with intelligence and virility Will
demand a reciprocity between the in
terests of the few and the interests of
the whole people.
"They have undue power over our
We are familiar with the
practice of the great corporations to
force their employees to vote as they
are told. We are familiar with the
giving of orders conditional upon the
election of certain men and certain
parties. We have all been under the
lash of intimidation by their threats
of panic, and ! pass this evil, merely
calling your attention to it, to say
that any effort made to intimidate
American citizenship from giving an
honest expression of it's opinion ought
to be made a penitentiary offense, and
there ought to be no escape from it.
Reason must rule in this country and
not force.
TRUSTS CORRUPT GOVERNMENT
"The trusts have corrupted our gov
ernment. And for this charge they
must answer Throughout the country
they have elected or corrupted our
legislatures and placed laws upon the
statute books which enhanced their
power and entrenched their inter
ests They have made as difficult
as possible the expression of the peo
ple's will. But they did not stop there;
thew saw that executives We're chosen
to administer the law in their favor
and still they were not satisfied until
they had invaded the courts that in
terpret the law. Many of our judges
are like those King George sent to
our fathers with their salary and the
tenure of their office depended upon
his will There is not a department
of government in this whole realm
that has not felt its blighting infiu-