Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-08-09
By CHARLES D. HILLES.
Chairman of the Republican National
Committee.

ton which should win for him the
unanimous support of the plain people,
the wage earners, the farmers and all
that immense contingent which has suf-
fered so seriously from the eXtortion
practiced by offending trusts. That is
his infexible enforcement of the anti
trust law. 1t won for him the con-
demnation of certain trusts some of
whose greatest beneficiaries poured
their profits into the Golfers of those
who sought to prevent Mr.. Taft's re
nomination. Why should it not win for
him the support of those who have
themselves suffered at the hands of
those trusts?
There is a widespread feeling in this
country that the average man has not
mad a fair show. that he has not re-
ceived a square deal, that he has been
at the mercy of great aggregations of
capital which have ovencharged him at
every turn, which have succeeded in
preventing the enforcement of the laws
which would have destroyed their mo-
nopolies and compelled them to accord
a fair deal to all alike. And there Is
much reason for this feeling, but the
feeling itself would be without reason
if the great army of consumers were to
turn their backs on the man who more
than any other has dared to enforce
the law
"Has Played No FaVorites."
| President Taft has played no favor
ties in the enforcement Of the anti
trust law There have been no specially
favored trusts whose heads were will
ing to spend unlimited sums to insure
his denomination He has never been
"a practical man." as the trusts inter-
pref that phrase. and no suggestion that
interests which have been so friendly
to us are involved" has ever appealed
to him as sufficient reason for calling
off prosecution. That Is why the
trusts are supporting another candidate
and why George w. Perkins has de-
clared his Willingness to contribute any
amount to the campaign of another
candidate so long as his candidacy will
contribute to the defeat of President
Taft And, too, that is the reason why
a few men with incalCulable resources
have undertaken a systematic campaign
to persuade the people that the trust
prosecutions have accomplished moth
ing and that the decision of the SUI
preme court against the Standard Oil
and Tobacco trusts are of no impor-
lance
Says Tobacco Planters Thrive.
| Ask the tobacco planters OF Ken
! lucky whether the suit against the To-
/ bacco trust has accomplished anything
They will tell you that now they get a
! reasonable price for their tobacco,
whereas before the dissolution of the
| trust they were compelled to accept
whatever price was offered them. a
price which was so far below the cost
of production that the planters had to
band together to limit the production,
had to resort to the extreme methods Of
the night riders" to save themselves
and their families from starvation-and
even then did not always succeed. You
do not hear anything Of night riders
now, and the planters are getting fair
prices for their products because the
trust has been broken up, and there is
competition among the buyers.
Ask the Independent oil producers
what they are getting for their oil
since the Standard Oil trust was broken
up. They will tell you that they are
getting at least a living return. where
as before they were at the absolute
mercy of the trust. Are not these re-
suits worthy Of achievement? Are
they to be obscured by efforts to ma
nipulate stocks and to boom the prices
OF Standard OIL securities 10 deceive
the public and prevent the voter from
supporting the man who laid the ak to
their root?
Ask the men who are building homes
in Ohio and western Pennsylvania
what they have to pay for their win
dow glass since the Taft administration
broke up the window glass trust. They
will tell you Of the benefits Of the trust
prosecutions under the present law.
This means that much has been accom-
pished, and that it is because of Mr.
Tafts fearless prosecutions
The Fight on the Beef Trust.
What has caused the dissolution of
the beef trust? Is 1t the impotence of
the antitrust law? No; # is the ef-
fective application of that law. For
more than a year the owners and di-
rectors Of that trust lived in the shad-
ow of the prison. They were rich men
men who had always had everything
their own way-and the prospect of
prison sentences drove them almost to
despair. They were acquitted it is true.
but not until they had spent almost
million dollars for their defense, and
not until they had undergone an expe-
rience which no one of them will ever
willingly undergo again. That is why
they have offered voluntarily to dis
solve their trust and are now engaged
in that task. If the antitrust law
were as useless as it has been reported
do you suppose a great monopoly like
the beef trust would voluntarily aban-
don it's advantage. disrupt its power
and distribute its property?
Never before in the history of this
nation has the antitrust law been so
vigorously enforced, and today there are
literally hundreds of men-rich. power