The Greeley tribune., 1912-02-29

''Nl llldL cannot nave ESCAPED your
"oilce, that people are looking at
iuestlons today from more al
Rustic standpoint than they did
'e" years ago. Sixteen years ago
men who We're fighting for re-
"Tms were largely interested in i'm
mediate pecuniary and personal re-
ueL / could not fail to note that
as ! travel from state to state and
u Is not strange, at that time we
were at the end of an era of fall
ing prices for nearly twenty-five
Years, the dollar had been rising
and the price level had been falling
Tor nearly a quarter of century,
the money owner and the money
hanger had been gathering in an
unearned increment and - world
"&s being forced into bankruptcy.
was not a national peril, it was
90 International peril, and the ma
lions OF the world had met in their
International conferences and there
their strongest and ablest men had
rummuned together, all of them ad-
mDlting the situation, only asking
how shall we escape? That was the
condition sixteen years ago. Now
10 Is entirely different. since that
time there has been an unexpected
uud unprecedented increase in the
volume of money, You cannot find
fl parallel in the history OF man to
what has occurred since 80. We
have had such an increase in the
production OF gold that as much
money can be coined from the
worlds annual product of gold as
could have been coined sixteen
Years ago from the annual product
of both gold and silver And this
has given to the world so large an
increase in the volume of standard
muUey that the entire conditions
have been changed and reversed.
Now instead of the dollar rising It
is falling; now instead OF the price
level falling it is rising; now in
slgad of the world going into bank
rnptcy it is coming out, and If you
are paying debt that you con
tTaCted sixteen years ago you are
payiug it in a dollar that Will not
buy more than two-thirds as much
as the dollar you borrowed, and
this release from grinding condi-
lions has caused an independence
which was then scarcely possible.
When man does not know where
his next meal is coming from he
cannot be very Independent, but
give him the assurance of the fu-
ture and he stands erect and de
mands recognition and his rights.
A few months ago a bureau oi
this administration published re
port on the organization of the
Steel trust and that report showed
I d t,..tg nr
g8uied and when it issued one bill
! lion four hundred million in stocl
and bonds it had in actual propert.
| less than seven hundred million DOL
| lars. That means that more thai
Oue-half-more than seven million
dollars of that enormous capitallza
| lion represented not wealth ac
uuired, not property owned, bu
, power to eXtort from the helples
people. Do you realize what a
enormous sum seven hundred mn
lions is? 1t staggers the lntellec'
Let me help you to comprehend II
A few weeks ago | visited tn
Panama canal. | looked at tha
canal as it is cutting its va
through the ridges that separate tn
ocean there They have empioye
1000 men on that canal for severa
years; they expect to finish 1t tn
latter part of next year, and whel
it is done ii will be the most sigan
tic engineering enterprise that
human being has ever undertake.
and it will cost, it is estimated
about four hundred million dollars
When the men who organized tn
steel trust gathered round ilttl
table in a little room with pen, inl
and paper, they wrote out ana pa
into their own pockets what repre-
sented nearly twice enough TO pun
the Panama canal. You under
stand what is going on in this coun
try. The testimony given before
committee in congress not long as'
showed that one man, Andrew Car
negie. because he was selling to
trust that could make the none,
back from the people, arbitraril.
raised the value of his property II
one wear from 100 million to 32'
million dollars, an increase OF lo'
million dollars, more than a thir'
enough to build the Panama canal
You understand what is going on II
this country. 1t is not long age
lnGI tN-i ltS!utill iIoboNe' ~ AeN'A
fed be ore committee in Wash
ington that four years ago last tal
when a panic was ON he felt it hi
duty to allow the steel trust tt
swallow Up its largest rival and ht
declaress now that as he looks bact
upon thai day he believes he actef
wisely and that if he hadn't done
what he did conditions would have
been worse than they were. VIVA
does that mear2 Il means tina
today one single corporation IN th'
hands OF a rev men claims to hole
the Industrial peace of a nation II
it's hand. claims to be able to sent
out panics at viii and draw then
back at pleasure, and sends l'S
Representatives to the white house
to intimidate the president o
ninety millions OF people. Do you
understand what is going on.
loud applause
Are you astonished that men are
beginning to look at questions from
u broader than personal stand