Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-12-28

not Tor lpng,
AS he said this, his auditors laughed
and applaudcd.
The speaker then took up the dis
eussion of trusts. quoting from a book
by Ambassador james Bryce to illus
trate his point Of view.
In his discussion of trusts Mr.. La
Toilette said the combination of cor
poratlons was the cause of tire high
cost of living, because they controlled
prices and God Almighty never made
a board Of directors good enough to
control the homes and families of an
American citizen
During Senator La Follette's ar
raignment of the Standard Oil Co.
ana the banking institutions of the
country, Frank Rockefeller, brother
Of John y. Rockefeller, sat on the
platform. wearing committeeman
badge. What Progressive Republican,
ism means. Senator La Toilette ex-
planned at length
Tho initiative referendum and the
recall were declared to be tenets of
the Progressives and the declaration
for the last mentioned Was received
by the audience with applause which
increased in volume when the speaker
insisted that the recall should be APP
piled 10 the Judges
with all nay respect for the courts
as Il lawyer said the speaker. 81 do
not feel they are 50 holy that they
are incorruptable. There are judges
Who have served corporate interests
50 long that they cant see straight
They mean to be honest, but they
can't hold the scales of justice level.
We Progrcssives stand for applying
the recall to the judges.
Tho bureau of corporations was
characterized as the most wonderful
institution in the world. and the
speaker commented Commissioner
Herbert Knox Smith and his prede-
eesser, James r. Garfield. to whom
he turned. He said the bureau was
doing great things in determining the
valuation of corporation properties.
Mr.. La Toilette launched into
discussion of Ebert H. Garys
plan for federal regulation of prices as
relief from monopoly. Mr.. La Fol-
lette said he had no patience with this
method. In his analysis he went far
ther and said that ultimately the gov
ernlnent would have to fix prices of
labor purs of employment and COM
pensaa6n of original producers in or
der to fix accurately the prices to be
offered the consumers.
Instead of the Gary plan or the Taft
plan of a federal license for incorpora-
tons Senator La Toilette proposed his
own plan for a commission on re-
straints of trade TO relieve the country
of the condition in which he finds it,
The Senator saw great evil in the
growth of the trusts and describing it
said:
"A tremendous power has grown up
i'll the country in recent years Again
and again it has proven strong enough
to nominate the candidate of both po-
Utica parties. 1t rules in the orgaui-
zation of legislative bodies, State and
national, and of the committees which
frame legislation. Its influence is felt
in Cabinets and in the policies of adj
ministrations. Its influence is seen in
the appointment of prosecuting off,.
GERS and the selection of judges upon
the bench .
"In business it has crippled or de-
stroyed competition. 1t has stifled in
dividual initiative. 1t has fixed limi-
tations in the field of production. It
makes prices and imposes its burdens
upon the consuming public at win
In finance its power is unlimited
In large affairs it gives or withholds
credit. and from time to time contracts
er initiates the volume of the money
required for the transaction of the
business of the country, regardless of
everything excepting It's own profits.
1T has acquired large control of the
public domain. monopolzed the nat
ural resources timber, iron, coal and
oil.
and this mighty power has grown
UP in a country where, under the
Constitution and the law, the citizen
is sovereign"
Although Senator La Toilette made
no direct reference to the President
nor suggested his own candidacy he
included in his speech a denunciation
of the PayneAldrich tariff law inn
mediately following his praise of labor
organization and his opinion that the
Sherman antitrust law did not con-
template their regulation.
Senator La Toilette described the
manner of growth of trusts and mouop-
oles and attributed to patent rights,
the tariff laws and the money trust
the reason for their being.
The Progressive movement, Mr.. La
Toilette declared has as its aim the
restoration Of the government to the
people. "The real cure for the ills of
democracy is more democracy" was
one of the epigrams.
That is what the struggle in Wis
consin, in California, in Ohio, and
Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and
Kansas, and in every other state i'll
this Union, means that government
shall be brought back to and commit
ted to the hands of the people; that
they are supreme over legislatures,
over government, over Presidents, over
constitutions. over courts" he assert
ed.