Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1912-03-20
A Ringing Letter.

Senator La Toilette sent the follow
ing letter to the Progressives Of
North Dakota. 1t is the only CT ar
cut and definite statement upon the
issues Of the campaign made by any
of the candidates.
An Open Letter to the Progressives
Of North Dakota:
In twenty-five years Of political
struggle, 1 have found one great is
sue overshadowing and including all
others-The Encroachment Of the
Powerful Few on the Rights Of the
Many. All the issues Of today are
but phases Of this one great ques-
ton. How shall the individual, the
farmer, the worker, and all those who
pay tribute, be set free from the I'M
just exactions Of the tariff, the rail-
roads, the money power, and other
forms Of oppression by special in
terests7
The combinations have unlawfully
taken possession Of the whole coun-
try. They control transportation,
manufacturing, mining, capital and
credit, the market price Of every
thing the farmer sells, the wages of
men, women and children in the fac
tories and mines, and the market
price Of everything the consumer
must buy. They have achieved this
control, Except as to a few Of the
older trusts,-almost entirely under
the last two administrations, notwith-
standing the prosecutions for which
so much has been claimed.
When Roosevelt became President,
the total amount Of the stock and
bond issue of all combinations and
trusts, including the railways then in
combination, was only $3,784,000,-
900. When he turned the country
over to Taft, whom he had selected
as his successor, the total capitaliza-
ton Of the trusts and combinations
amounted to the enormous sum of
$3l, 672, 100000, more than 70 per
cent of which was water. Prices were
put up on transportation, and on the
products Of the mines and factories
to pay interest and dividends on this
fraudulent capitalization.
The organization Of these combin-
ations in transportation, mining,
manufacturing, money, credit, and
the control Of the markets, was a
criminal conspiracy. 1t was in viola
ton of the common law, and federal
statute. It was subject to punish
ment by both fine and Imprisonment
Moreover, under the provisions Of the
statute every such combination could
have been enjoined, and a violation
Of such injunctive federal statute
specifically made it the duty Of the
government to execute the law.
If, in the earlier stages Of trust
formation, the Executive had used
all the power Of this great govern
ment to enforce the Anti Trust Law
it would have saved the people the
payment Of hundreds Of millions of
dollars wrongfully taken from them
in excessive transportation rates and
in exhorbitant trust prices which they
have had to pay for the necessaries
Of life. Had this been done before
these combined monopolies acquired
such absolute mastery, the people
would not now be confronted with
this momentous question: Are these
trusts and combinations stronger
than the government itself7 That is
the supreme issue. Can the people
free themselves from this power?
Can the unjust burden Of fraudulent
capitalization be lifted from them?
The trusts and combinations, the
railroads, the steel trust, the coal
trust, all are scheming to secure
some action by the government which
will legalize their proceedings and
sanction their fictitious capitaliza-
ton. The situation is critical. It
may be expected from the attitude
Of the Supreme Court as shown in
the Standard Oil and Tobacco cases,
that any act on the part Of the exec
utive or the legislative branch Of
government, giving countenance to a
trust or combination will be constru-
ed as an approval of the thousands
Of millions of watered stocks and
bonds issued, and will fasten upon
the people for all time the specula-
tive capitalization Of our public SER
vice and business corporations.
The time is at hand to declare
for a statute which shall make it
everlastingly impossible for any
president, or any congress, or any
court, to legalize spurious capitali-
cation as basis of extortionate
prices.
The Progressive Republican plat
form must take advance ground up
on this question. It must declare
for the speedy abolition of all priv
ilege. It must deal nationally but firm
ly with the complex problems which
have been permitted to develop main
ly in the last dozen years. It must
be to the last degree a constructive
platform.
But a platform, however strong