Commoner.
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Aug. 8, "19'oa I
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relt's attorney general has instituted civil pro
ceedings and 'in tho bill by which these proceed
ings were commenced the attorney general referred
to tho defendants as "conspirators," and referred
to their offense as a "conspiracy
But no effort Has been made by this attor
ney goneral to proceed against these conspirators
under the criminal clause In tho federal an ti-trust
law. If there were no good grounds for believ
ing that these men had engaged in this con
spiracy, then the attorney goneral was" not Justi
fied in beginning tho civil proceedings. If he had
good- ground for charging In a civil bill that theso
men had entered into a conspiracy then it is hl3
duty to institute criminal proceedings also. .
. To' insist that criminal proceedings' should bo
commenced is neither "hysterical" nor "demagogic
y clamor," because Mr. Roosevelt himself, in his
Fourth" of Jufy speech, declares that "above and
beyond all legislation we need honest and fearless
administration of the laws as they are on tho
statute- books."
In, this same speech Mr. Roosevelt said:
"Words are good if they are backed up by deeds,
and only so." Of what value, then, is Mr. Roose--velt's
statement that "above and beyond all leg
islation we need honest and fearless administra
tion of the laws as they are on the statute books,"
in the'presonco of the fact that Mr. Roosevelt has
not directed his attorney goneral to institute
criminal proceedings against tho men who have
conspired in restraint of trade?
, The criminal indictment is the most effective
weapon so far as concerns court proceedings; and
there can be no "honest and fearless administra
tion of the laws as they are on the statute books"
so far as trusts are concerned, when tho attorney
general contents himself with clumsy injunction
proceedings and fails to adopt tho more effective
, nd more speedy plan of criminal prosecution.
If "words are good if they are backedfup by
md,G,eds,j aja& only, soA't' .thenthe words ,employed by
. ,Mrn, RbQseveUi at Pittsburg arc not good' because
they are-not "backed up ,by deeds." " ,
JJJ
Republican Tendencies.
t , If any one has any doubt concerning the ten
dency of the republican party with relation to
trusts, the doubt may bo removed by reference to
.a ,dispatch from Washington under date of April
iia-nil printed in the Chicago Record-Herald,
republican.
w waiter Wellman, the Record-Herald's well
known Washington correspondent, sent to his
paper this dispatch:
One of the most prominent administration
: republicans in the country today defined the
issues of the.coming battle as he saw them de-
t . - veloping In congress. He said: "Trusts and
imperialism are tho two issues for which re
publican and democratic 'knights of the stump'
" " will be plumed during the remaining weens
of the present session of congress. On tho
. trust question the republicans are going to re
peat their record for boldness. - They Urst
wont In swaddling clothes as to the gold stand
ard, gradually grew to full stature on that
issue and announced themselves boldly for it
in plain language. They are now preparing to
do tho same as to tho trusts. 'Wo shall tako
the aggressive. Trusts aro tho legitimate de
. jvelopment of our tremendous, enorgy. We
""could not get alpng without them and pur
language in saying this will be as plain as it
is emphatic.
This is a very candid statement, indeed. - The
republican party in 1896 advocated bimetallism
Jthraugh international agreement, and then in 1900
camo out boldly for the single gold standard, or, as
this republican newspaper puts it, "it gradually
grow topfull stature on that iss.ue," .
It is Interesting to be told that "they are now
preparing to do the same as to trusts."
The correctness of this prophecy cannot bo
i doubted. In 1896 .tho republican party in its na-
, tionai platform boldly, denounced trusts; . in, 1900
v the, platform wag silent on that question. When
Mr. Roosevelt was vice president, he referred to
trust magnates as representatives of "cunning;"
since he becamo president, ho refers to them as
"captains of industry." Tho trend of republican
organs and republican policies aro all in tho direc
tion of seeking to impress upon tho people that
the trustshavo "como to stay," that "wo could
not get along without them;" and the success of
tho republican party In deceiving tho people In tho
past has been so pronounced that it will not bo at
all surprising If republican loadors oven go so far
as to boldly stand sponsor for tho trust system In
tholr party platform as they do In the official con
duct of their representatives;
JJJ
The Foreigners' Advantage.
A subscriber, having noted tho claim that
American trust-made goods aro sold to foreign
consumers at a less price than charged tho homo
consumer, asks Tho Commoner to give tho do
mestic and foreign prices of a number of articles,
Tho information sought by this subscriber ma bo
found in a speech delivered in the house by Mr.
Candler, jr., of Mississippi on May 29, 190 Mr.
Candler said:
As tho representatives of the American peo
ple tho trusts deserve and should receive no
consideration at our hands. They grant tho
people no quarter, and they should bo granted
none by the people's representatives. Thoy
are selling their goods cheaper to foreigners
than to homo folks. Thoy are therefore more
considerate of and klndor to foreigners than
v to Americans. JTo prove the truth of this as
sertion I. .give the pricesdomestic and for
eignof a few articles in daily use by almost
every farmer, as follows:
Domestic Foreign
Articles price. - price.
Cultivators $11.00 8.40
Plows .14.00 12.60
Axes, per dozen ;...;.. 8.25 ' 7.20,
Kettles ' 1.40 .85
. . Wire .nails, pe.rlQ0, lbs,, ;...,. 2.25 ,, ,.TJt 1,35
Table knives, per gross... 15.00 . ,r ' . 12.00
Horseshoe nails, per pounds ".17"."' ? A'4
- Barbed' wire, per 100 lbs'.' 3.00 '" ' 2.00
Rivets, per 100 lbs 10.00 5.55
This list might be extended to a great length,
but tho examples here givqni suffice to show tho
truth of tho charge that the trusts, bulwarked be
hind the protective tariff walls, use that vantage
ground to extort high prices from the American'
consumer. . -
JJJ
To Ruin and to Steal.
The New York Tribune is a republican paper.
So thoroughly stalwart is the Tribune that its
editor, was chosen to represent the republican ad
ministration at tho coronation ceremonies of the
king of England. ,
The republican congress had evidently con
cluded ,to do nothing in the way of reciprocity for
Cuba, and tho Tribune in its Issue of Juno 24 had
an interesting editorial in which it charged that
the republicans are "acting presumably at the be
hest of and certainly in the interest of the allied
sugar trusts and the beet sugar ring." On this
point the Tribune said':
These selfish allies oppose the granting
- of such concessions not because it would --injure
their business and lessen their imme
diate profits for thoy admit and boast that it
would not do so. No; their "opposition is in
spired by a greedy desire for enormous future
gains, to bo hqd through a veritable rape of
the Island of Cuba. Thoy propose; these sugar '
monopolists do, to withhold concessions from
Cuba until the Island is ruined until planta
tions and refineries are abandoned and their
owners bankrupt. Then they will purchase
all such properties at tho merest fraction of
their real value. Finally, they will in ono way .
or another drag Cuba into the union as a state;
for they expect that tho ruined Cubans will
either bo glad to accept annexation as their
only hope for industrial salvation or will re
volt again, as they did against Spanish com
mercial oppression, arid thus compel the United
States to go in forcibly and take control of the
island. That Is the scheme of the allied sugar
trusts, first to ruin Cuba and thon to stoal tho
island.
This Is a most interesting statement coming
from an eminent republican authority.
If It Is "tho schomo of tho allied sugar trusts
first to ruin Cubaand thon to steal tlio island," la
that not tho scheme of the republican party
as represented by tho attitude of tho republican
congress?
JJJ
. . . . Are You Interested?
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very gratifying to tho publisher. Our. "Lots of
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tho democratic party (commonly known as reor
ganizes) to secure control of tho democratic or
ganization for tho purpose of preventing tho
masses of tho people from getting relief from ex
cessive taxation, exorbitant trust prices, tho bank
ing monopoly and imperialism, can bo thwarted
If the true friends of democracy can bo aroused
to the danger confronting tho democratic organi
zation. Tho appeal for harmony coming from
thoso who betrayed the party In '96 and attomptcd
to betray tho peoplo at tho Kansas City conven
tion by trying .to adopt a platform that would not
bo binding upon those who were elected upon It,
will deceive 110 one if the people aro kept ad
vised as to their plans.
The coming twelve months will witness an
other struggle for. tho control of tho democratic
organization, with tho masses of .the .party whp
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who not only want to preserve tho class legisla
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