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The Commoner:
4
VOLUME 8; NUMBER 17
Government by Corporations See New
Tho following editorial Is taken from tho
Now York Evening Post: "When you consider
for a moment that this $500,000 was contributed
by a single corporation In this city was more
than wo were ablo to raise in either of tho cam
paigns in which I was a candidate from more
than 0,000,000 voters, you get a fair idea of
tho tromendous iniluoncc, one way or another,
that tho corporations can exert if they want to."
In these words Mr. Bryan commented yes
terday on tho revelation that the street railways
of Now York had contributed witLln a few years
a half-million or more to politics. This fact,
brought out by Thomas F. Ryan's testimony be
fore the grand jury, will not, wo are confident,
bo lost sight of In tho coining campaign; Mr.
Bryan and his supporters will ring the changes
on it wherovor thoy can got a hearing. Yet, as
Mr. Bryan says, It Is not oxactly news; "it mere
ly glvos us some details wo did not know be
fore" For more than a generation people havo
boon complaining, with more or less specifica
tion, that tho machines of both political parties
are run by corporation influence. The Pcnnsyl-
vania Railroad, for example, has been notorious
as n corrupting forco in the politics of Pennsyl
vania and New Jorsoy; the New York Central
in Now York; tho Now York, Now Haven and
Hartford in Connecticut and Rhode Island; the
Boston and Maine in Now Hampshire tho Pru
dential Insurance Company and the Public Ser
vico Corporation in Now Jersey; and tho pro
tected interests In tho national congress. No
one could watch the proceedings at Ilarrisburg,
Trenton, Albany, or "Washington, without bo
coming convinced that big corporations wore
traffloking in laws and lawmakers; but definite
proof was often lacking.
Since tho last presidential olection, how
ever, tho damning evidence was poured upon us
in a torrent. Tho echoes of Mr. Roosevelt's
eloquent denial of Judgo Parker's charge as to
campaign contributions from the corporations
had hardly died away, when the flood-gates
were-opened. First came the admission that
each of tho three largo life insurance companies
had paid $50,000 to help elect Mr. Roosevelt;
and behind this display of patriotism" loomed
tho whole vast system, managed by Andrew
Hamilton, for accelerating or stopping the pas
sage of laws. Then the letters between B. H,
Harriman and President Roosevelt were pub
lished ;"We are practical men" showing that
tho president had persuaded Mr. Harrlman to
raise $200,000 late in October, 1904, for the
obvious purpose of buying votes in this state.
"The result," said Mr. Harriman, "was that at
least 50,000 votes were turned in the city of
Now York alone." And now comes this last
addition to the list tho Metropolitan Street
Railway. It backed any party from which it
secured a quid pro quo. The managers of this
traction company robbed their stockholders in
order to oppose Mr. Bryan; robbed them in or
der to secure support of democrats and republi
cans at Albany; robbed them in order to pla
cate the grand old party under the leadership
of Odell; robbed them in order to fatten Tam
many under Charles F. Murphy. It was an
orgy of political debauchery.
Tho plight in which the Metropolitan found
itself is instructive. Senators, assemblymen,
local officials large and small, district leaders
and ward hbelers fastened upon it like leeches.
They were all practical men, and they made that
bleeding corporation pay handsomely at every
turn. It paid for the things to which it was
justly entitled, exactly as it paid for the things
to which It was not entitled. Once the black
mailers found that the Metropolitan was vul
nerable, that it could be held up by threats,
they were perfectly remorseless. Such was also
the experience of the insurance companies.
Once they began the maintenance of their
"House of Mirth" at ,Albany and their lobbies
at other state capitals, they were lost. The
faster the insurance business grew, the more
exorbitant the demands of the venal legislators.
These' practical men Insisted on being bribed
to pass proper laws; they introduced bad bills
in order to be bought off. And so it has been
Some of the Exactions of the
Representative Hitchcock of Nebraska de
livered a speech in the house April 28 in which
speech ho told some interesting facts concern
ing tho beef trust. In his arraignment of the
trust Mr. Hitchcock brought out these points:
That the increase in the price of commo
dities for the y.ear 1907 over the past ten years
was sixty per cent.
' That one cause of tho increase in the cost
of living was the increase in tho production of
gold and the supply of money; but that this
was world-wide and not injurious. This natural
cause was aggravated by tho selfish devices of
man, a fair index of which is the beef trust.
That tho administration has done nothing
to afford relief since the immunity bath given
the packers by the Garfield report.
That Mr. Garfield stated in his report that
tho packers made an average profit of ninety
nino cents per steer, while figures show that
they make about $8 per steer.
That the price of cattle has advanced thir
teen per cent within the past yoars, while the
price of beef at wholesale has advanced twenty
nine per cent.
That representatives of the packers get
together once a week and fix prices they will
pay for live stock on foot and the prices they
Will charge for provisions sold to wholesalers
and retailors.
Mr. Hitchcock's speech was as follows:
"The greatest practical question which con
fronts tho United States today is the Increase
in tho cost of living. This has now been going
on for at least ten years, steadily and rapidly,
and has become a menace to tho welfare of tho
great body of tho American people, a menace
serious enough last year and in the years pre
ceding, but Increasingly bo since the panic of
last October, which threw out of employment
probably more tlmn ,one million wage earners
and 'salaried men. .
Tho evidence of this increase may be had
on every hand. It Is known to every housewife
and to those in mpderate circumstances it is one
of the daily worries. Perhaps the simplest and
clearest way to get an idea of what it means
is to glance at the figures given in the Bradstreet
Review, purporting to give the index figures or
.average prices of the 107 leading commodities.
"Ten years ago, if we added up the total
market price of the smallest quantity of market
able commodity, wo found these 107 commodi
ties footed up $6.11, so we say that the index
for the year 1897 was $6.90. Footing up the
total prices of these commodities for the
year 1907, we find that the index figure
of tho 107 commodities is $8.90, an advance
of almost sixty per cent. Emhraced in these 107
commodities are all the necessaries of life, art
icles purchased and consumed by rich and poor
alike.
"To the families in affluent circumstances,
it is a matter of little moment this increase in
cost, but to the millions living on say $800 for
tho family, that increase means a very serious
matter; and we see tho effects in a number of
ways. We see a reduction in the annual sav
ings of the American people. We see an in
creasing number of children driven into mines
and factories to help out the family income
and legislators are devising means to check that
tendency. We see women who formerly were
confined to household lives and household duties
driven into commercial life to eke out the family
income. We see the standard of living reduced
and people obliged to do with less.
"What has caused this increase? There
has been one great cause that is world-wide
natural, and not injurious the increase in the
production of gold and supply of money Nat
urally gold has fallen in value, which means
that commodities have risen slightly; but that
cause is world-wide and not injurious. In other
countries it has not been a serious matter!
in our republic alone that natural increase in
cost of living has been tremendously aKcravat
ed by the devices of selfish man. aSgravat-
"Heretofore I have at times declaimpri
against trusts permitted and protected bv tS ,
tariff, ui have shown that they have raised tht
prices of their commodities, that the have been '
selling their products in foreign lawds ohen.? ,
than iiv the United States, and I might now show
the baleful effects produced upon the American '
people by the tariff on lumber, which hs per
York Evening Post
all the way up the line. The protected manu
facturers paid for schedules in the McKinley
bill and the Dingley bill. At every congres
sional election since they have paid to keep
those schedules unchanged. The manners of
the republican national committee may be more
refined than those of Odell and Murphy, but tho
methods are quite as practical and ruthless.
And, indeed, we fail to see the essential differ
ence on the ethical side when Mr. Roosevelt
summoned Harriman to Washington. Mr.
Roosevelt is too practical a man to imagine
that Mr. Harriman and his friends give up
$260,000 for nothing. These contributors may
not have had their money's worth back from
Roosevelt, but they expected it, just as the in
surance companies expected it, and as the Met
ropolitan expected It from Odell and Murphy.
From Murphy to Roosevelt, it was an effort to
make the corporation see a profit in footing the
cost of the campaign.
Such things cannot go on. For some of
our corruptionists the day of retribution has al
ready arrived; for others it is too long delayed.
But people are stirred as never before about
the relations between corporations and politics.
In the coming election it will go hard with any
party which is believed to draw support from
the treasuries of railways, lighting companies,
protected manufacturers and trusts. Taft, as
republican candidate, with the widespread dis
affection among the working men, will have no
votes to spare; and If Bryan is running against
him, that adroit speaker will make terrible on
slaughts upon the republic: us, against whom the
evidence relating to former elections is already
overwhelming. Then, should congress refuse
to pass Representative McCall's bill providing
for publicity of campaign contributions, the ar
gument can be used with double force. We
cannot contemplate.. without dread the-idea of
a professional agitator like Mr. Bryan becoming
president; but if he succeeds, he can thank the
folly and wickedness of such corporation mag
nates as Thomas F. Ryan. New York' Evening
Post. ' i
' '.'T
Beef Trust
mitted the lumber trust to increase In ten years
the vcost of lumber seventy per cent, which we
have felt in increased cost of homes and in high
er rents and in the destruction of our forests.
I might dwell upon the steel trust, which has
aggravated the cost of every home, Increased
rents, increased the cost of raising crops, in
creased the cost of all our American railroads,
and thus affected freight and passenger rates.
"But today I am to speak of a trust which
is not the child of the tariff of the meat trust;
and I am doing it because I feel that I shall be
denied the opportunity to speak under the rules
of this house when my resolution comes up here
for a vote, a resolution which I introduced some
weeks ago, which has been reported favorably by
the committee on interstate and foreign com
merce, calling upon the secretary of commerce
and labor to lay before this house statistics show
ing the prices of meats and live stock in the
great markets during the last two years. So
under license of general debate I am to say
something of meat and live stock prices, and
review briefly the failure of this administration
to bring relief.
"On page 184 of one of the bulletins issued
by the bureau of labor in July, 1907, I find a
computation of the changes in the prices, of va
rious necessities of life during the last few
years. The author of this bulletin estimated the
average price of various products and then
sought to indicate in what way these have
changed. Taking the average prices that pre
vailed on certain packing house products for
the ten years ending 1900, extending from 1890
to 1900, this official shows an advance as follows:
' Per cent.
In salt pork or bacon . 50
i Fresh pork ,v ! ; 38 -
1 Chickens !!!!v;!!! 29
Lard . i . or
Hams .......... ; ,-. . ..!.V.V.V!! l ir-27
Mutton ; .r. : ,r. ....."!!!! ', V ' 24
Weal , j ,.- j .. " ' J," " 00
seef ...... a. .,!,;..; '. ; ; ; ;v: ;: .
1nA. Now se increases represent', prices, in
1906 compared with the average of thejastde-
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