Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 July 1892 — CHAIRMAN CAMPBELL’S RECORD. [ARTICLE]

CHAIRMAN CAMPBELL’S RECORD.

A Tale of the Beef Trust. President Harrison requested that W. J. Campbell, of Illinois, be chosen chairman of the national Republican committee. He was duly selected to manage Harrison’s campaign. Senator Vest, who it will be remembered headed an investigating committee to break up the beef combine of the country, knows Campbell. Here is what he has to say of Campbell: “This man Campbell is a corporation lawyer doing the bidding of the money kings of Chicago and looking out for their interests in the forwarding of all their schemes. I do not doubt his ability, but what I wish to emphasize is that his ability has never been at the service of the people. I first encountered him in St. Louis several years ago, when a special committee of the senate met there to investigate the great beef trust, which Armour, of Chicago, and his associates were at that time and are still manipulating. Campbell appeared as the attorney for Armour and began at once to throw obstacles in our path. He did everything he could to prevent the gathering of information by the committee which would show the inside workings of the beef monopoly and how the producers of beef were oppressed by it. He followed the committee to Chicago, Kansas City, New York and Washington, continuing his obstructive tactics at every point, and at Chicago he capped the climax by instructing his clients to disregard the summons of the committee to appear before it. “He is still the legal adviser of Armour and is serving him as faithfully as ever. He is paid to be the genius of the whole beef monopoly business. All the questions of importance affecting the trust are submitted to him. He is the guide, philosopher and friend of the Armour tribe and is invaluable to them. They supply the money and attend to the business details of the offensive combination, but it is Campbell who looks after the matters of larger import and directs the workings of the complicated machinery. The monopoly is flourishing like a green bay tree. It controls the beef market both here and abroad. The railroads are in its grasp, and what are known as the cattle ships are nearly all in its power. The beef producer in this country was never before forced to sell at so low a figure as now prevails. He gets at present three and one-half or at most four cents per pound, while in London the price is twelve and one-half cents. The Armour crowd, with Campbell as their legal head, have everything to suit themselves, and the result is that the beef producer is entirely at their mercy.”