The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-09-18

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I tell them that not only can the
Progressive party elect president but
it will elect president. And L tell
them further that I should ally my
self with it whether it could elect a
president or not
Most of the thinking men of this
! country have recognized for years that
\ a new party was a necessity. They
| have tried to vote with the old parties
with a clear conscience and they have
failed to do so. The result has been
that they have either shut their eyes
when they voted or stayed away from
the polls.
The reason is simple. The old par
ties have promised the things that the
people have asked for; they have got
the votes of the people in considera-
ton of these promises, but after they
have got the votes it has never oc-
CURED to them for minute that they
had any duty to perform for the people
that gave them the votes.
We have no record of achievement
that we admit. But we have in our
party men whose lives are dedicated
to progress, men who can be trusted
to carry out Progressive principles if
they are elected to office.
Our candidate for the presidency has
been a Progressive, although for years
he was allied with the Republican
party.
Mr.. Roosevelt as president of the
United States made the Standard Oil
company his inplacable foe. If any
higher commentator can be given him
than that, do not know what it is. He
made the Guggenheims his mortal en-
emies. He caused William Lorimer to
denounce him publicly. He aroused the
enm1ty OF the beef trust, of the to-
bacco trust, of every one of the COM
binations of capital whose greed is re-
sponsloIe for the present high cost
of living, which comes more nearly to
being the real issue in this campaign
than any other.
Wilson Talks on Trusts.
Minneapolis, Sept. 18.-HoW the L.
S. steel corporation incidentally would
benefit by the plank in the third party
platform proposing regulation of
trusts by a federal commission was
discussed by Governor Woodrow Will
son in his speeches as he passed from
Sioux City, Iowa, to Minneapolis and
st. Paul today.
1t was at Sioux Falls, S. D. that the
Democrat nominee first drew atten-
ton to the origin of the third party
plank for handling the trust problem.
Where was the method now pro-
posed of regulating the trusts sug-
gested ?" asked the governor. 1T was
suggested in the inquiry by the house
of representatives into the steel trust
and it was suggested by Mr.. Gary and
Mr.. George W. Perkins. They have
thought this thing out.
Il am not interested to question
their motives. 1t may be for all
know, that they think and honestly
think that that is the way to safe, |
guard the business of this country. |
But whatever they think, this they
know that it will save the U. S. steel |
corporation from the necessity of do
ing its business better than its COM |
petitors.
For if you will look into the Stats |
ties of the business of the U. S. steel |
corporation you will find that where |
ever it has competitors, the amount of !
the product which it controls is de- |
creasing not increasing; in other |
words, that it is less efficient than its |
competitors and its control of the pro-
duct in increasing only in those |
branches of the business whereby |
purchase and otherwise it has a prac-
teal monopoly.
Moreover 1 have this to say to the |
workingmen: Carry out the plan of
Mr.. Gary and Mr.. Perkins and you
will have given a control in the mar
ket for labor which will suit those |
gentlemen perfectly. They don't want |
competitors to come into the market |
for labor, because new competitors |
will mean new wages and new wage
scales. These are the very men and |
almost the only men who have sue
cessfully opposed union labor in the
United States