Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 November 1900 — THE DEMOCRATIC SOLUTION [ARTICLE]

THE DEMOCRATIC SOLUTION

Applied to the Trust Problem Would Cause Industrial Depression. With the Democratic denunciations of the large combinations of capital, currently styled trusts, there is a large amount of sympathy, especially when such denunciations are directed against combinations which aim at monopoly and artificially-enhanced prices. The real question to be considered by the voters, however, is what remedy does the Democratic party propose to apply? On this point Mr. Bryan and his followers have changed front About a year ago Mr. Bryan’s suggestion was for a constitutional amendment, giving Congress power to regulate, control or abolish such combinations. The Republicans in the lower house of Congress offered such an amendment, and the Democrats promptly defeated it. That ground was then abandoned, and the sole suggestion put forward by the Democrats to-day for the suppression of trusts is the abolition of the protective tariff. For the purpose of their argument, that the protective tariff Is responsible for trusts, they are compelled to either ignore or manufacture facts. For example, they overlook the fact that neither the Standard Oil Company, the sugar trust, the copper trust, or any of the really monopolistic trusts are to-day under tariff protection, and consequently the suggested remedy would not affect them in the slightest degree. In the second place, they hold, without warrant of fact, that trusts could not exist under a system of free trade. The J ‘German Magazine of Industry,” a journal whose specialty is the gath-

erlng of industrial statistics, has something to say on this subject in a recent issue. This journal shows that within the past three years there have been organized in free trade England 329 industrial combinations, with capital aggregating 750,000,000 marks. Of these the largest Is that of the calico printers, consisting of sixty concerns, with a capital of nearly 200,000,000 marks; next, thirty-one cotton thread manufactories, with capital of 120,000,000 marks; followed by the Bradford dyers’ trust, twenty-two concerns, with 90,000,000 marks, and the wall paper trust, twenty-eight concerns, with 85,000,000 Marks of capitalization. These facts absolutely destroy any theory to the effect that a destruction of the protective tariff would necessarily prevent the formation of trusts, while keeping other manufactories open. It is well understood, however, that a withdrawal of the protective tariff would have a detrimental effect upon trusts, not, however, as trusts, but as manufactories. The experiment of the Wilson bill showed that conclusively. A withdrawal of protection means the closing down of a large percentage of the mills in the United States. Among those which would Buffet, of course, would be the overcapitalized trusts, with heavy bonded indebtedness, but they would suffer no more and no less than the individual concerns operating outside of any trust or combination.

The principal sufferers by any such drastic legislation as this would be the men employed in the manufactories which would be compelled to suspend. With the wages of these men cut off, and tneir running expenses reduced to the lowest possible ebb, the next sufferers would be those who have been heretofore and are now catering to the wants of the men employed Ln manufactories. And so It would extend, until depression prevailed in every avenue of Industry.—Seattle Post lntelllgeneer.

Labor Demands a 100-Cent Dollar. Railroad workers are peculiarly concerned In the maintenance of the 100 c. dollar. Many of the roads have borrowed money on agreements to pay Interest and principal in gold. These contracts must be fulfilled just as they srnnd. Congress can change the curn icy standard, but It cannot change the terms of a legal contract When a railroad man votes for a free-silver platform be takes a step that if supported by a majority of ballots, will Inevitably bankrupt a large number of railroads and convulse the whole business for the fatal embarrassment of a part must damage all. Railroad workers are not idle In regard to this threat A membership of 30,000 is actively at wore in the Railway and Telegraph ! Employee’ Political League of Illinois. At their convention earty this month they passed resolutions demanding a dollar worth 100 cents t>e world over.

approving a tariff that protects American labor, and declaring their opposition to /‘all. candidates known to be In favor of legislation detrimental to railway or telegraph companies or their employes.” A similar organization in every State would be an evidence of sound business judgment.—St. Louis Globe-Democrat Another Free-Trade Trust. The world will be shocked to learn that certain unscrupulous and wicked foreigners have-organized a trust which absolutely cdntrols all the available supply of orris root which can now be had only at the most exorbitant prices. The trust is in Italy, and the orris root is there also, and there Is no doubt about the facts, for they are officially reported by the British vice-consul at Leghorn. This startling Information will confirm the general belief that other parts of the earth are as badly afflicted with trusts as America. And nobody but ourselves is blessed with a Bryan to deal with them. Orris root Is the basis of all perfumes.—San Francisco Chronicle. The Party that Helps to Get Wealth. Mr. Bryan says the Republican party is the party of wealth. So it is, In the sense that it gives the people opportunities to accumulate wealth. The Democratic party is the party of poverty, and the longer it is in power the poorer they become. This is not theory, it Is history.—Kansas City Journal. It Goes to the Farmers. Democratic newspapers will probably make a loud outcry over the advance of 10 cents a gallon in the price of linseed oil. They will preserve a

discreet silence as to the parallel advance, of 35 cents a bushel In the price of flaxseed. The latter goes to the farmers.—Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Why Kansas Went Republican. Lack of demand for money in Kansas is said to be driving many banks there out of business. Kansas used to be known as the mortgaged-oppressed State—until McKinley prosperity came along.—Minneapolis Tribune. They Ride in Carriages, There are more Indiana farmers riding in carriages to-day than ever before, and they do not owe their prosperity to anything Mr. Bryan said in 1896, either.—lndianapolis Journal. What Might Have Happened. If Bryan was President the paramount Issue would be apparent to all. “Where can I find work?” “How far is it from here to the first soup house?” —Benton (Ill.) Republican. His Epitaph. These words will be engraved on the political tombstone of William Jennings Bryan: “Great Is Tammany, and Croker Is Its Prophet.”—Chicago Tribune.