Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1911-05-26

exactly this situation. Proceeding I'M
der the revised rules, Mr.. Anderson
without consulting his colleagues
sprung on the house a motion to dis
charge the committee from further
consideration Of his bill and put 1t on
the calendar. The house, caught nap
ping, passed his resolution and as q
result any Monday Anderson can call
up his bill and get vote
The result Of this audacity was two
fold. 1t temporarily deprived Ander
SOS Of the society of his fellows, and
it has eliminated Monday from the
list Of congressional days. There was
no Monday May first in the congress
sional calendar; it was SATURDAY,
April 29th, and the flag flew over the
house end of the capitol all day Sun
Gay, to indicate that the session was
still continuing, though no statesman
entered the door of the chamber. This
device, or the simpler device of adj
journing from Saturday to Tuesday
will be employed for some time to
come, until the elder statesmen can
find a way to avoid the dangers of
the Anderson bill.
Attack on Steel Trust.
The second step in the attack
On the steel trust, Of which I
wrote some time ago, was taken
when the house committee on rules
gave hearing to those who are press
ing the Stanley resolution for a full
investigation on this two billion dollar
corporation. By curious coincidence,
which the officials of the threatened
corporation doubtless deplore, the
newspapers on the very day of the
hearing reported the purchase by the
trust of the last independent iron
works on the Pacific coast In the
hearing the committee was addressed
by Representative Stanley, author of
the resolution; H. B. Martin, secretary
OF the Antitrust league; Herman
Schulteis of the Federation of Labor;
George B. Hampton, who appeared for
number of state oranges, and
George J. Kendall, a Denver manufac-
turer, for business interests in that
section
Although there were hearings on
this bill, Or a similar one. in the last
session, the appearance of a repre-
sentative of the farmers was a nov
city, indicating as it did a wider COM
prehension of the qualifications of the
great trust and its bearing upon pro-
ductlve industries that might be
thought immune from it's exactions.
Mr.. Hampton, who represents farmers
in states as widely separated as
Maine and Washington, Pennsylvania
and Colorado, spoke freely of the at
titude Of members of his organiza-
ton.
Stand Taken by the Grange.
I'VE insist" he said, that the time
for high protection on steel products
is past, and we hold that today the
steel industry is in the grasp of a con-
sclenceless and remorseless monop-
oily. That is the reason why we plead
here for a congressional investigation
into its methods and character.
Il understand that earlier efforts to
secure such a committee proved futile
"a fact easily understood when it is
remembered that John Dalzell of Pitts
burg was chairman of the committee
which alone could report the resolu
ton. Now We hope for better things
A committee investigation which
would lay before the people the ex
tent to which the IA directors of the
United States Steel corporation con-
troll banks, railroads, trust and insur-
ance companies and other great inter.
ests of the land through the system of
directors would awaken
a. public outcry for the denial of fur
Their government favors to the trust,
and compel the attorney general to
give attention to the facts repeatedly
laid before him without avail"
Steel Prices and Freight Rates.
Mr.. Kendall for his part laid stress
on the part the high price of steel
plays in causing high freight rates.
One thing, he points out, is certain,
namely, that agitation against the
steel trust will not down until the
trust abandons it's system of selling for
$14 a ton abroad rails for which it
charges $28 at it's mills. That evil
can be corrected by tariff charges, but
the other evil, that of the concentra-
ton of all the great financial interests
in the hands of the Ia directors, needs
more drastic measures. Only the dis
solution Of the trust can check that
tendency and it's opponents have lost
all faith in Attorney General Wicker
sham, whose interests they claim, are
interviewer with those of the trust di-
rectors.
Powerful as it is, the trust has fall
en- upon evil days. Presently the rec
Of the ways and means
committee for the new tariff schedule
on steel and iron will be presented to
congress and such veteran defenders
Of the great corporation as Dalzell.
Cannon, Mann and Payne are already
to meet the attack.