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The Commoner.
OCTOBER 21, 1910
11
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bo any other entity; and the ldontity
of experience is the Key to its store
house. Is it possible that wo have
to 'bo aroused to its value?
Math. Schwartz, St. Henry, Ind.
The people do not get what they
want because they do not rule; It is
the republican party that rules the
party of the trusts and of the special
privilege classes, and as long as the
republican party is in power the peo
ple need not expect to get what they
want. Because it is in the interest
of the rich that the working masses
are kept down, for if the forking
masses become independent then they
will not work for the rich at, or for,
starving wages. If the American
people were not quite so humbugged
s as they are they might get what they
want.
George W. Taylor, McKinney, Tex.
One of the main' reasons why tho
people fail "to get what they want"
is attributable to "lobbying and bri
bery." It is said often of our repre
sentatives and congressmen, when
they commence campaigning for a
position, that they are duly honest
and men of integrity. But when they
go to state capitals and the national
capital where they are exposed to
these experts in the lobby business
they are so often led to forget their
promises to the loved ones at home,
we are almost ready to decide with
the fellow who said: "A man can
not go to the legislature or congress
and make any money unless ho sells
out." But when a fellow goes and
comes home with a bank account two
or three times as large as his salary,
people wonder "how he got so "much
for his influence." It seems that the
influence brought to beaT upon our
men is too powerful for resistance.
For that, reason I favor electing men
to these offices and rrotecting them
from the lobbyist during their entire
stay as representatives either state or
national. On with your fight for re
formation. Abundant success to The
Commoner.
D. W. Hunt, Glendale, Calif. A
most pertinent and pointed question,
as well as reasonable in a supposed
republic-democratic government.
First, this government was, is, an
ideal star in the direction of a gov
ernment for the people, but as Wash
ington and our forefathers too well
knew Washington became fully aware
that the populace were not at all
prepared for or able to appreciate the
new era he had in store for them, as
was plainly evidenced by his drop
ping the Intended United States and
leaving us only a confederation of
colonies (states) as we had existed
under tho king, to which position tho
south strictly adhered, until tho civil
war, which settlod tho question and
cemented us together as a United
States. Again, second, we are and
never have been anything only a rep
resentative government, allowing our
representatives, officials, to think and
act for us, trusting to him implicit
ly and abiding by his judgment, and
he has dono his best from his stand
point, but wo are learning, develop
ing, and hence demanding of our offi
cials, first, a statement of principles
as enunciated in the party platforms,
and, secondly, a strict compliance
with these statements as an official in
his serVIce for the public nothing
more fully points out this awakening
than of tho public, oven among tho
higher ups, than does Colonel Roose
velt's conversion and his swinging
from tho tail of Bryan's kite, in his
recent statements of needed reforms
and practical changes in the demands
we ought to make such as tho hold
ing of our representatives strictly re
sponsible for tho rights of the whole
"people, in tho construction of law,
and if such is not In lino with a re
publican democracy, should bo so
changed as to bo consistent with our
best interests of the masses, more
over that such officials should bo un
der the rigid Inspection of the public
at all times during his official acts
his recent demand for nationalism is
in the same line, also tho very same
that Mr. Bryan outlined in his New
York speech on his return from his
continental tour, which so disgusted
the central national democratic com
mittee that they endeavored to pre
vent his delivering it. Tho fact that
within three months after these re
markable statements of Bryan in his
speech no less than five or six rail
road presidents came to the president
of the United States, asking protec
tion of their interests, proved most
conclusively that Bryan was level
headed and knew what his statements
meant to the business of our country.
Very recently Mr. Morgan's financial
manager, Mr. George Perkins, in a
talk he made in a business men's
gathering, said the time had come
for the government control of large
corporate interests. There is so much
greed and one-sided thinking, selfish
financiering measures, but a demon
strated fact that we must have an un
biased control of the public's rights
in the interest jpf all concerned. This
he would not have said six years ago,
but now demands it as the only fair
way of administration. When this
comes to pass, then and not until
then, can we bravely assert we are a
government of the people, an ideal
democracy, the people getting what
they want through righteous representation.
Oil and Tobacco Trust Cases
Involving $13,000,000,000 and Applying, to 1,198
ig Corporations and 8,110 Subsidary Companies
Before the October Term of U. S. Supreme Court
(From the New York World)
Consequences so enormous that
they can hardly bo appreciated or
fully comprehended depend upon the
outcome of two suits which are on
tho calendar of -the United States
supreme court for the October term,
but which may go over another term,
on account of the recent death of
Solicitor General Lloyd Bowers. The
vast and varied extent of the inter
ests involved makes these two suits
the most important of any that have
appealed to this court of last re
sort The suits are the ones which the
United States government recently
Instituted against the tobacco 'trust
and the Standard Oil. If only the
corporate existence of these two cor
porations were involved, if 'only tho
dissolution or the integrity of the
two depended upon the issue, the re
sult, great as these two corporations
are, would be comparatively of little
consequence would be relatively as
nothing in comparison with what an
adverse decision would mean to the
numerous other "holding" compa
nies of this country.
When one thinks of the enormous
accumulation of wealth the mind
reverts instinctively to the Standard
Oil and its subsidiaries. "The capital
of the tobacco trust also runs into
the hundred millions. But even the
combined wealth of those two groat
corporations sinks into utter' insig
nificance in comparison to that rep
resented by tho 1,198 other corpora
tions and their 8,110 subsidiary com
panies, every one of which is prima
facio in defiance and under tho ban
of tho Sherman null-trust" net in
identically tho samu way as are tho
two corporations ngalnst which the
government has brought suit.
It thercforo follows that an ordor
dissolving these two would mean the
dissolution of 1,198 chcr corpora
tions. These 1,198 corporations
havo a capitalization that reaches
to the gigantic sum of $13,000,000,
000 an amount equal to about one
third of thQ total wealth of tho Gor
man ompirc.
Largest Corporations Affected
Upon tho fate of tho Standnrd Oil
and tho Tobacco trust hangs that of
tho United States Steel corporation
with its $950,000,000 of capital and
its olghty-nlno subsidiary corpora
tions; upon the outcome of tho two
suits depends tho contlnuanco or dis
integration of the Amalgamated Cop
per company and Its $155,000,000,
tho International Mercantile Marine
and its $120,000,000, the American
Smelting and Refining company and
its $100,000,000, tho sugar trust and
its $90,000,000, tho American Tele
phone and Telegraph company and
its $300,000,000, tho Interborough
and its $155,000,000, tho Western
Union and its $125,000,000 tho Con
solidated Gas company and its
$100,000,000, the General Electric
and its $80,000,000 tho Mackay com
panies and their $100,000,000, tho
Pullman company and its $100,
000,000, tho Wcstinghouso Electric
and its $60,000,000 and so on
throughout the elevon hundred and
odd others who are equally involved
with tho Standard Oil and the tobac
co trust.
These, then, are the tremendous
amounts which depend upon the su
premo, court's interpretation of tho
Sherman anti-trust 'act. Section 1
says:
"Every contract, combination in
tho form of trust or otherwise, or
conspiracy in restraint of trade or
commerce among tho several states
or with foreign nations Is hereby de
clared to bo illegal. Every person
who shall make any such contract or
engage in any such combination or
conspiracy shall be deemed guilty of
a' misdemeanor, and, on conviction
thereof, shall be punished by fine not
exceeding five thousand dollars, or by
imprisonment not exceeding one year,
or by both said punishments, in the
discretion of thj court."
From this it will be noted that
every 'contract or combination in the
form -of trust or otherwise is illegal,
if in restraint of trade. Further
more fine and imprisonment aro de
creed against every person who shall
monopolize, or attempt to monopolize
or combine or conspire to monopolize
any part of the trade or commerce
among the several states or with
foreign nations. Of tho 1,190 cor
porations whose future now depends
upon tho decision of tho supreme
court, few, if any, confine their ac
tivities to a single state.
For a matter of twenty years the
Sherman anti-trust act has been upon
the federal statute books. In pre
vious cases the courts, while sus
taining tho constitutionality of the
law, have limited their observations
to the cases in hand and gave no
cluo to the application of the act in
other cases, actual or possible. But
now the issue has been made clean
cut. Random suits have hitherto
been instituted but now for the first
time comes the broad test which
means the enforcement or the non
enforcement of the act. Mr. Roose
velt's dictum, when he was president,
that only "bad trusts" should be
prosecuted and the "goud trusts" .ex
cused, is thus commented upon .by
tho American Banker in a recent
issue:
"That criminals of any kind should
bo divided into 'bad and 'good' la
a solecism in itsolf. That, further,
any official, whether actuated by ox
parte Information, dlsllko of pontons,
popular prejudice, blind obligation to
friends or supporters or oven per
sonal Interest, Mhould bo In the posl-
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