Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1924-07-17

A Juan Snskm@1s the ckeaEest VA3a12'
I'D rspublican Of his time, saw ths dan,
Iger 70 political liberty and eeonomi.
freedom Ia this country a gsnarmtios
ago and sought to fortify the govern
ment TO mset and destroy Il.
~Of the private monopoly symtszz
which had lbs beginning in the latteu
part Of the last century, he said;
IT is g kingly prerogative, moon.
sistent with our form OF government
II anything is wrong, this Is wrong
If We win not endure a king e. po-
ftical power, we should not endure q
king over the production, transportz-
ton and sale Of any Of the necessities
OF life. II we would not submit Do an
emperor, we should not submit 70 an
autocrat Of trade with power to pre-
vent competition, and to fix the price
Of any commodity. The remedy should
be swift and sure.
''Ths Sherman antitrust act Of 1890
enacted by republican congress,
placed in the hands Of executive de-
partment Of this government the most
effective weapon the ingenuity Of man
could devise against the power Of
monopoly, while II was yet in its M
fancy.
Shut between 1893 and 1908, anOn-
opoly was permitted to breed uncheck-
cd. to crush out individual enterprise
Through illegal combination and 10
control basic industries until by jan
uary 1, 1908, the capitalization Of the
trusts had been increased from
sS,74s. O00. 900, to more than ss1 ,e72,
eee, 200.
@In the election of 1908, the Amer
lean pecpls were given to understand
that the incoming republican admin
istration would revise the prohibitive
tariff duties, from which the monopo-
lies derived much Of their power. But
the iniquitUus Payne AfdEich t2giSf
bill, with it's increases In the tares
upon the American consumer waA
written in 1909, in admitted violation ,
Of solemn pledges Of the republican
party.
@The people Of the United States
voted in 1912 that the power Of mon
opoly must be destroyed, and prenl-
Dent Wilson, then the candidate Of the
iemocratic party, gave his pledge tAat
he win Of the people should be faith
lully executed. The dominant issue
upon which the democratic party
sought the suffrage Of the people was
'Orcibly expressed by Mr.. Wilson in
l912, when he said:
The trusts are our masters now.
We have come to be one Of the worst
uled, one Of the most completely con,
rolled and dominated governments IN
be civilized wOrad--nO longer q gov
rnment by conviction and the vote of |
be majority. bat government by the /
pfnion and dszress Of small groups Of
ominant men The government Of Il
be United States IN recent years has
ct been administered by the common I
eOpie Of the United States. The gov z
Of the United States at pres
nt IL foster child OF the special in- I
srests. Il Is not allowed to have q
i'll Of its own. Our government has d
cen for the past few years under ths
,ntrol Of the heads Of great allied
with special interests
while the democratic party went
ITO office pledged to destroy mOnop-
" by civil and criminal prosecutions,
withdrew or compromised even the
ending civil prosecutions against the
-usts during the war and left the
merican people at the mercy Of the
seatest profiteers In all history. In
e last years Of the democratic ad-
inistration, under the notorious re-
me of Attorney General Palmer,
onopoly was recognized as beyond
g reach Of the law while labor UNI
ms, farmers' organizations and m
vidual citizens daring to assert their
Institutional rights against this ty-
nniea1 power were singled out for
tack and destruction.
'In 1920 the people expressed their
sentiment at their betrayal at the