Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 January 1904 — POLITICS OF THE DAY [ARTICLE]

POLITICS OF THE DAY

Farmers and the Truata. The farmers of the country used to ' be “the people” to whom the politicians appealed at election, and who were therefore the political power In the land. Wlio thinks of the farmer now as the great political factor except n few Congressmen who represent purely agricultural districts, and with them tlie nominating power is In the hands of the residents of the villages or county seats? The political wire-pullers are the lawyers and hankers and the county ring, and back of them all Is the railroad or trust attorney who directs them In the interest of some corporation or railroad. Take the great agricultural State of lowa, for example, and all her representatives in Congress of both houses are lawyers, except two, who are bankers. None of these Republican leaders have been active in passing any bill of interest to the farmers, nor have they protested against the passage of laws that are detrimental to the interests of the farmers. About the same condition of affairs exists In all the Western States. The large majority of the Republican members of Congress are at the beck and call of the corporations, and Instead of laws being passed, to control these giant combines the last Congress passed an act that relieved the railroads of being prosecuted under the criminal section of the Interstatecommerce act. The law passed, giving the President power to publish such proceedings of the trusts as could be discovered, known as the “publicity law,” has, so far, not been put In operation, and If it were It woidd be worthless to the farmers, for no farmer has been silly Enough to Invest Ills savings in the watered stock of the corporations. It is therefore not singular that the farmers of the agricultural States are demanding tariff reform, and that the “lowa idea,” that the tariff fosters trusts oppress the agricultural communities, has become an issue. The State Grange of lowa Is aroused to the exactions of the packers’ trust and the railroads. The Grangers say they cannot understand why cattle and hogs should be cheaper and meat dearer.

The same complaint comes from Illinois, and a few dpys ago the farmers around Bloomington held a meeting and urged the retail dealers to return to the old method of killing and dressing their own hogs and cattle. The report of the prceedings of this meeting declares that: “High freight rates and exorbitant charges for yardage and feed at Chicago, together with the low prices that the trust has installed for live stock, renders their fat cattle and hogs almost worthless to them.” These farmers could have added that President Roosevelt and Attorney General Knox have refhsed to bring criminal proceedings against the packers’ combine, although that trust exists in direct violation of the antitrust law. The farmers may imagine that the suit commenced against the packers for an injunction to prevent them from combining in restraint of trade, will, if confirmed by the Supreme Court, do away with the monopoly that the packers now have of the stock yards and of dictating the price of cattle and hogs and of meat to the retail dealers. Some farmers may think that If the suits above mentioned and the one against the merger of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railroads are decided against the combines that the trust fabric will collapse and competition again prevail. ~No one who understands the trust question so believes. The packers’ trust, bad as It is, Is not the only combine that the farmers should Investigate. The gigantnc steel trust robs them when they buy anything made of iron of steel, from a shovel to fence wire, or a pound of nails. The Standard Oil trust charges them such an enormous profit on kerosene that the trust pays 45 per cent in dividends. If a farmer builds a house the lumber and shingle trust, the lime and cement trust, the white lead and linseed oil trust, the window glass trust, all add largely to the cost. When the farmer comes to furnish his house the carpet, oil cloth, stove, pottery and cutlery trusts all take much more than competition would allow them. When it comes to clothing himself and family the farmer finds the woolens, leather, rubber goods and the cotton duck trusts have advanced the price enormously. He finds the luxuries of life controlled by trust*. t When he packs pork for his own use the salt and borax trust get In their work. The sugar trust and the cereal trust are a constant drain upon bis resources. If bis children are sick, or well, the drug trust, the castor oil trust and the baby food trust add to his expenses, and when his children arrive at school age the school book trust and the school furniture trust augment his taxes. If he desires to shield his family from mosquitoes the wire screen trust makes it more expensive to do so. The binding twine aud harvester trust enhance the cost of caring for bis grain, and the parts green trust liav.es him at the mercy of the potato bugs unless be Is wilting to pay an I | exorbitant profit to the trust. When

he dies the burial casket trust takes a large slice from the meager savings he has left for his widow and children. Nearly all of these trusts and hundreds of others that prey upon the farmer or whoever consumes their products are protected in their monopoly by the tariff, which tax" ranges from 25 to 100 per cent, and yet the Republican leaders, from President to Congressman, neither recommend or intend to reform such an iniquity. Many of these trusts sell their products cheaper in Europe than to our own people because the tariff protects them in doing so, and yet the Republican leaders say, “Let well enough alone.” The tariff is “well enough” for the trusts, but at the expense of the farmers and people. Mornaneering the Country. The New Year’s gift offered to the people of the United States by the steel trust and its related corporations is a cut in the wages of some 200,000 workmen and the discharge of 50,000 more. Thus do the “captains of industry” and “kings of finance,” that have been acclaimed as the guardians of our business interests, strike a staggering blow at the prosperity of the country. If we are to be covered by the black fc elouds of hard times the calamity will be directly due to these “captains” and “kings” that, Instead of doing business honestly, have given their minds to overcapitalizing the properties in their charge, rigging the stock market, and, through devices which have been disclosed by the collapse of the shipbuilding trust, luring Investors to their ruin. Now the hapless employes of the “captains” and kings” are called on to endure a reduction of their wages, none too high at best, in order that dividends may be earned ou the overeapitalizatioq. If these efforts to compel labor to bear the weight of the water In industrial stocks shall succeed—ls in midwinter the men determine to accept half a loaf rather than risk getting no bread for themselves and their families —what must be the consequence? Trusts in general will follow the wage-cutting fashion—already In progress—and every branch of business will feel the pinch. Low wages mean hard times. There Is no getting away from that fact. Reduce the purchasing powers of the massps, and of necessity there follows a narrowing of the market for goods, which results in a restriction of ouput. First the workman suffers, then the merchant, then the professional man. Luxuries are cut off, and next necessaries are harder to get. Capital Is frightened and waits for better times before employing Itself and industry is paralyzed. We are reaping the fruits of the speculative and the monopolistic trusts—the .combinations formed inside and outside the law not for profit, but for pillage. These trusts are actively demonstrating themselves to be- the worst foes that the real business interests of the land have to face. They are enemies to honest labor and honest capital alike. And they are as dangerous in politics as in industry and commerce. In self-defense the American people must suppress them. Laws In the statute books must be enforced, which now they are not, and others enacted to meet the needs revealed by experience. We are being Morganeered into hard times. The way to safeguard the future is to treat Morganeering as the crime against the community’s welfare that it Is.—Chicago Examiner.

A Tax on Coal Again. Under the stress of the coal strike Congress repealed the duty on anthracite coal and refunded the tariff duty of 07 cents a ton on bituminous coal for one year. That period having expired, the"cfuty is again being collected. .To recoup the losses occasioned by the strike, the coal trust and the combines that control soft coal have advanced the price of coal considerably beyond what It was before the strike. If Congress takes no action some parts of the country may again feel the heavy hand of the monopolists and the price of coal again advanced. The Republican leaders have decided that no bill touching the tariff must be considered. A record vote ou any tariff reform bill would be disastrous to the political future of a good many Republican statesmen, for many candidates for Congress promised that those tariff duties that fostered the trusts should be repealed. What excuse they will make next fall when asking for a reelection for not reforming those tariff schedules that protect the trusts remains to be seen. The present high trust prices will not make the voters take a lenient view of this do-nothing policy. • How to kill industry: Vote the Democrats into power.—Moravian Falls (N. C.) Yellow Jacket It matters not what yon ought to be, but what von am—Public Silvina.