People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 October 1896 — BRYAN AFTER TRUSTS [ARTICLE]

BRYAN AFTER TRUSTS

HYPOCRISY of those who PROFESS TO FEAR LAWSMcKinley Silent The Republican Candidate Hm Not a Word to Say Against the Trosts, for They Own Him. Mr. Bryan and Major McKinley are making speeches daily to crowds of people. Mr. Bryan discusses every issue involved in the campaign in the most direct and unequivocal maynar, He does not quibble and he evades nothing. He is especially outspoken in opposition to and in denunciation of the trusts, syndicates and combinations formed to throttle legitimate business and exact unreasonable profits from the people. Major McKinley, on the other hand, deals largely in generalities and meaningless platitqdes, and seems all the time to be trying to talk without saying anything. He uses words chiefly to conceal his ideas, if, indeed, he has ideas. He is direct and explicit in nothing. He is especially silent and evasive on the subject of trusts, syndicates and combinations, and doesn’t even seem to know that such things exist. His silence in regard to them can mean nothing else than his endorsement of them, if not, Indeed, their absolute ownership of him. If McKinley should be elected, every trust and syndicate and ring and combination in restraint of trade in all the land could go to Washington and demand of him its compensation for electing him in additional privileges and profits at the expense of the people, and they would not be slow In going, either. In striking contrast to this position of entire subserviency to those special interests that need the strong curb of the law was Mr. Bryan’s severe denunciation of the trusts in his recent speech in Tammany hall. Mr. Bryan began his remarks with a reference to the charge recently made in a speech by ex-Presldent Harrison that the democratic national platform is a menace to the government, and follows that with his denunciation of the trusts. He paid: “My friends, I call your attention to the fact that ex-President Harrison asserts that our platform places the government in danger. If that were true, we might well turn from the discussion of any other question to consider wherein it menaces the continuation of constitutional government, and there Is nothing in the Chicago platform that menaces constitutional government. There is nothing in the Chicago platform that would make the executive of the United States feeble in enforcing all the laws of the nation or feeble in defending the constitution of the nation; and there is nothing in that platform that assails the integrity or questions the honesty of the supreme court of the United States or of any one state. (Applause.) ‘T challenge you to read that platform and find in that platform a single sentence that justifies the language used by the ex-president. Our criticism of the supreme court is not as severe as the criticism and the platform upon which Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860. The language that I have used In regard to the supreme court has not been as severe as the language used by Abraham Lincoln both before his election and after his election to the presidency. (Applause.) There is nothing in our platform concerning the invasion of the state by federal troops; that appears in force and is emphasized in the platform of 1860 upon which Mr. Lincoln was elected. There is nothing that has been said in the platform or by its eandidate that justifies the charge that the democratic party is assailinf constitutional government or interfering with the preservation of law and order. (Applause.)

“Who is it that is so afraid that law will not be enforced? (Cries of 'Hanna!' ‘Hanna!’ and applause.) Those who -are most fearful that there will be a lax enforcement of the law are the very persons who would suffer most if the laws were enforced. (Applause.) “Those persons who are afraid that law will be violated with Impunity are the ones who have violated the law with impunity. “If Mr. Harrison wants to raise the question of the survival of our institutions, I will tell him that the great trusts of this country that are supporting the republican ticket are the greatest menace to our government. The trusts of this country, with their representatives, are collecting tribute from the people, and when we protest against it they call us disturbers of the peace and anarchists. (Applause.) “I am opposed to trusts. (Applause ) As an executive I shall use what power I have to drive every trust out of existence. (Tremendous applause.) “If present laws are not sufficient to meet this evil, I, if elected, will recommend such laws as will. (Applause ) “If the constitution of the United States is so construed as to prevent any interference with the operations of the trust, I shall recommend, such amendment to the constitution as will permit the punishment of these men (Applause.) “My friends, there is a great contest in this country, which must be settled and that whether a few men, banded together, are more powerful than all the people. “And while I do not wish to array class against class, I am willing to array all the people who will suffer from the operations of these trusts against the few people who operate the trusts.” (Applause.) Friends of Mr. Bryan figure for him a majority as high as 35,000 in Nebraska.