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About The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 18, 1902)
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT Trusts The Cause and Cure 4 1 .A '"ft 'i Li .5 There is wisdom among many coun sellora. The Independent might se cure and publish profound disserts tions on the cause of and cure for trusts, from men of great reputation as economists;, but it believes thaCamong It3 twenty thousand subscribers it has a great many who can in a few, words tell where the trouble lies. The econ omist's opinion might be weighty and learned but in practical politics it is backed up by but one vote, the, same as the opinion of the hurnbiest reader of The Independent. Lyceums, debat ing societies, and kindred organiza tions which encourage an interchange of opinion, are of undoubted benefit; and there can be no doubt that an In terchange of ideas through The Inde pendent upon this question of vital im portance will be beneficial. REFERENDUM AND INITIATIVE. Editor Independent:. My views of the trust evil and some remedies. First, enact a system of direct legis lation through the referendum and in itiative, so that the people might vote for laws and amendments at the polls. Second, Land monopoly might be re strained by Henry George's plan of single taxation, by the government buying the land with greenbacks to be issued by the government. The land to be re-sold to actual settlers for payments of these greenbacks and a quit claim deed given in exchange. Third, the money trust could be dis solved by the free coinage of silver and gold. I think free coinage could be enacted without the aid of any for eign nation. And then the establish ment of a United States savings bank system, such as was proposed by Sena tor Butler of North Carolina a few years ago. Readers of The Independent will understand what the Butler sav ings bank system would be when in. use. As to other trusts, they would be dissolved by national ownership of the land system and national savings banks. Trusts are an outgrowth of customs house duties, whether for protective tariff on revenue only. Both are equal ly bad policies and are tiust creative. The government could derive revenue from a property taxation. With government ownership of the land and banking system, the trusts would have to pay interest on the money they use, and without a protec tive tariff could not undersell com petitors in trade, and for these rea sons would be forced out of business. The referendum and initiative should be the paramount issue of the plat form to be drafted by the reform par ty in 1904. IRL DEAN. Marion, la. HANG THE TRAITORS. Editor Indapendent: We want no remedy for the trusts or mergers. They are linguistic thaumaturgies that is all. People with ideas upon such subjects can ill afford to be longer fooled by such phrasing. The truth needs to be known that our struggles are with the legislation of the corporations. T!e question is this: can corporations ever be allowed to have a legal existence? The Sherman law and the state laws that propose their regulation by that, fact give corporations a legal stand ing in courts. They are there a per sonality, exercising human rights through their human agents. The non-human principle becomes a fort behind which the irresponsible agent can give battle. Corporations are unknown to the federal constitution. In direct viola tion of the. compact entered into by the people, their organic act the dec laration that cannot without its abro gation admit of any rights not human. The remedy: Bring treasonable courts, congressmen, and legislators, who have deliberately violated their oaths to support the declaration and under it the constitution, and the mili tary officers, national or state, that have violated theirs by shooting down human beings in defense of corporation property to the gallows for their trea son. Judgment at least is demanded for their treason. II. ELLINGSTON. Minnehaha, Minn. NO REMEDY. There is no remedy for the trusts, at present, as nine men out of every ten would buy stock in some company, if he wai sure of profits. Afterwards, if his company Would combine with other companies, working along the same lines, he would still keep his stock or exchange for shares in the new company. Before he knew it, he would be a stockholder in some trust If dividends commenced, he would secretly rejoice that, he was having a better income than his neighbor. He would want nothing done to in jure his company. His neighbor might belong to some other trust and he would not want any legislation that would injure his company. Men, at the time of their election to the legislature or to congress, are generally of middle1 age or past and they have seen the years slipping past, without reaching the financial circum stances that they had set their hopes on twenty years before. Everything is run by money and af ter a man becomes a legislator it is hard to refuse any extra increase of income. If legislation, adverse to the trusts, was enacted, it would not be enforced or if it was and the trusts were fined, they could easily make up the fine by advancing prices or lowering wages. Speculative trusts are formed un der the names of "pools" or "funds" to control speculative operations. Such trusts are formed by combining the capital of a great many men and their aim is to control the market and keep the other fellow from making a prof it. Capital . has such a firm grip on this country that it3 power is liable not to be shaken until the end comes in war or the downfall of the nation. W. II. SEWARD. Conneautville, Pa. DIVISION OF LABOR Farmers Denied the Benf lit of Improved Methods of Production- "Onghtn't to Eat Cracker" Editor Independent: In a former letter I called your attention to the price of wheat in the west where 1 was two years ago and the price of crack ers. The farmer was getting 90c to $1 per 100 pounds for his wheat, or about 1 cent a pound. Common crack ers were selling in the store for 10c for common and 15c per pound for fancy from the Biscuit trust, or ten to fifteen time3 more than wheat in its raw state, so that three pounds of fancy crackers would pay for forty five pounds of wheat in its raw state from the farmer, or nearly enough to make a barrel of crackers. I called the attention of some par ties there to this fact and they said the farmers had no business to buy crackers; that they should make their own crackers. "Yes," I said, "but the farmers do not know how to make crackers; it's a trade." "Well," the fellow said, "if the farmers don't know how to make crackers, d n the farm erslet them eat hay." "This," I said, "is what you are trying to bring them to if possible; outside the farmer, the world- would be no poorer if the farm er were compelled to eat hay; but the farmer would be both physically and financially poorer, and it was the farmer 1 was talking about." While the trusts, combines, manip ulators, speculators, banks, profes sionals, etc., are protected by state laws and tariff laws, tariff laws keep out foreign competitors, enabling the trusts and manufacturers to double the price of their products on the farmer, at the same time the government is bringing over thousands of imigrants and giving them 160 acres of land each, to make competitors for the American farmer, and lower prices for farm products, making millionaires on the one side and poverty on the other, while the farmer is the main spoke in the wheel. At present the eastern states are affected more particularly than the western, but the western states are beginning to feel the pres sure as well. To show I know something about this, will state some stubborn facts in my own experience: I recently sold a farm in the west, once valued at $2,500, for $800. I just sold another that was valued at $6,G00 for $1,600, with one-fourth interest in an irrigat ing ditch four miles long. I offered another for $800 that was once valued at $3,500. We split on the price and I have it still the man offered me $750 has abundance of water, owning four shares in an irrigating ditch; alt these farms were formerly No. 1 wheat lands. They have springs of natural gas near the last mentioned farm and am now prospecting for oil with a fair show of success in that vicinity; on this account, this farm Is not in the market for farming purposes at present. They say it's not always best (even) to tell the truth, but these are stub born facts all the same. Might say mey were sold at about one-third to one-rourtn their former valuation. This Is one difficulty the fanners nave to contend with. If they have a aouDie crop or what would be the same as two crops In one year, they must be disposed of within the year just the same at whatever price can be had, on account of the perishable nature of the iarmers products. Apples, potatoes, all vegetables, butter and eggs, even wheat com and oats, are liable to damage and will not keeD lone. I have there was an overproduction of ap- pies ana potatoes and there was no market for them at anv nri,-e ami thousands of bushels were either given away or thrown away. Then the farmers have everything to contend with the- wind and the weather, too wet or too dry, too hot or too cold; there is a worm, insects, bug or fly for every living plant fruit and vegetable; there are rats, mice, spiders, army worm, chinch bugs, hawks, skunks, snakes, and rep tiles; then after they get their share while the crop is growing, the trusts, speculators, manipulators, lawyers, bankers and doctors manage to get the lion's share of what isMeft. Then the soil is becoming exhausted from continual cropping. Many of the ed&iern states are almost beyond re covery in that line, and some of the western states are showing signs of exhaustion In certain lines, notably for wheat. In some of the western states the time has gonejby for giving away pub lic lands to immigrants. We should keep all we have left for the future coming generations of Americans and they will find that their forefathers have been altogether too generous in giving away public lands. The time will come when there will be a congested population and a worn out soil. Then it is making compe titors for the American farmer, and making him poorer and poorer, while they are building up trusts, combines, manipulators, speculators manufac turers, bankers, by tariff laws, euabl ing them to fix their own price on their wares and manufactures. We know the Pillsburys, the Ar mours,. Swifts, the Goulds, the Hills, the Vanderbilts, the Rockefellers, the Morgans, the biscuit trust, the sugar trust, the tobacco trust, the cotton trust, the oil trust, the harvester and plow trust, the mowing machine and twine trust, the leather trust, the iron, wire fencing, and nail trust, thp snit trust, the bank trust and hundreds of others too numerous to mention, all becoming millionaires directly or in directly out of the farmer. Now give us the name of one farmer who is a millionaire or a multi-millionaire that has made his millions by agriculture alone. So poorly paid are the farmers in the eastern states that it is almost impossible to keep the boys and girls at home; they dig out as soon as they become aware of the situation, drudge and unremunerative life of the farm. JOHN T. MARTIN. Pittsfield, Ta. Whoa, Hayseeds! Editor Independent: Under the above caption I saw recently in The Independent what Mr. Wayiand in the Appeal to Reason said about the bank ers who ridiculed farmers who asked that the government should make them loans on their wheat 2 per cent interest; but that Secretary Shaw has made those bankers a loan of $30,000, 000 without interest, on dubious chat tels. Which reminds me that a few years ago a Holt county (Neb.) paper con tained several pages of advertisements of sheriff's sales and foreclosures of mortgages, because of a few crop fail ules caused by drouth. Those indus trious people could not pay their dues. At the same time Secretary of the Treasury Gage had issued an order that for thirty days all the revenues of the United States must daily b sent to New York and from there to London to save the Bank of England from bankruptcy. The revenues of a single day, or even a half day, would have saved the dear homes of those Holt county people, who would gladlv have paid their debts after having an other good crop but Mr. Gage could not spare it! It took the last cent of those revenues, which are squeezed out by taxing such hayseeds, to keep the Bank of England from tumHine over. Last spring congress voted $50,000 for banquetting a genuine German im perial prince; and not long ago Queen Roosevelt bought a $r0.000 silver din ner set for the royal palace, to be pre pared to receive royal guests. You know that German prince who visited us last spring had to take the im perial silver set, along he could not eat from a common china plate. Whoa! Cousin Hayseed! Whoa! Uncle Street Walker! Stop a little! You forget to pay the fiddler. Then take your empty $50,000 dinner pail along, that you can enjoy your $50,000 banquet That's equal rights to all; special privileges to none. F. SCHWEIZER. Woodlawn, Neb. Grain Meeting There will be a meeting held at Lin coln, Neb., January 22, 1903, at 3 p.m. in University Hail in the interest or and for the purpose of advancing the i-armers' Co-operative Grain and Live Stock association and extending its usefulness in Nebraska. All farmers and others interested in extending the work of the association - and in the building of farmers' co-operative ele vators are requested to -attend and take part in the meeting. We recom mend thta farmers and shippers meet at the various shiDDins stations of Nebraska and send representatives or delegates to this meetiner. All Dersons interested in the success of the co-oper ative movement and desiring informa tion regarding the same, are cordially invited. James Butler, manager of the central association, and other speakers from Kansas will address the meeting. Reduced rates have been granted on all the railroads in the state. Ask for -them when buying your tickets. The Farmers' Grain Association of Benedict Nebraska, D. W. BAKER, Pres. E. E. WATTS. Sec'v. The Farmers' Grain Association of inayer, Nebraska. R. B. PRICE, Pres. T. C. PRATHER Seo'v The Farmers Business Association of fcneiby, Nebraska. H. THELEN, Pres. H. H. HEWITT, Sec'y. J. A. Wayiand in Appeal to Reason ays: "Senator Harris of TCancnc ' uu yv viaj- sines himself as a democrat rpnnriiat- ing the name of populist He never was a populist. I was in Topeka when he was elected and heard him and then said he was not a nnnnlist nr. sympathy with the spirit and aspira . : r j i i ..... mat organization." Senator Harris is not the only re cipient Of favors at thp hnnrla nf tho populist organization who, after he had secured all he thought possible, bit the. hand that fed him. Here in Nebraska we have the satisfaction of Knowing that no more staunch popul ist than Senator All en lives within hot borders. There may come a time at no distant dav wh pn SpTiatnr Tlarria will believe he flopped several years tuu soon. Cure You of Rheumatism Else No Money is Wanted. After 2,000 experiments. I hava learned how to cure Rheumatism. Not to turn bony joints into flesh again; tnat is impossible. But I can cure cho disease always, at any stage, and for- eer. I ask for -o money. Simnlv write me a postal and I will send you an or der on your nearest aruggist ror six bottles Dr. Shoop's Kheumatic Cure, for every druggist keeps it Use it for a month and, if it succeeds, the cost is only $5.50. If it fails, I will pay the druggist myself. I have no sam; es, because any med icine that can affec Rheumatism quickly must be drugged to the verge or. danger. I use no such drugs, and it is folly to take them. You must get the disease out of the blood. My remedy does that, even in the most difficult obstinate cases. No matter how impossible this seems to you, I know it and take the risk. I have cured tens of thousands of cases in this way, and my records show that 39 out of 40 who get six bottles pay gladly. I have learned that people in general are honest with a physician who cures them. That is all I ask. If I fail I don't expact a peany from you. Simply write me a postal card or a letter. I will send you my book about Rheumatism, and an order for the medicine. Take it for a month, as it won't harm you anyway, if it fails, i' is free, and I leave t..j decision with you. Address Dr. Shoop, Box 940 Racine. Wis. Mild cases, not chronic, are often cured by one or f.vo bottles. At all druggists. -7 - Tf"
