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About The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 1905)
OCTOBER 26, 1905 S6 Nobrasktx Independent PAGE 3 tioii of this pernicious system. The .people of Nebraska by electing him to the supreme court as Judge Holcomb's successor will make a good start in the irrepressible conflict between popular rule and railway tyranny. They cannot begin too early, but they may delay until it is too late. If they would free Nebraska from railway and Standard Oil bribery they should reject the deceits of veteran pass holders and obtain a "square' deal'! by restoring the state govern ment to a basis of political-purity and personal honesty. WHERE THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE FAILS The Structural Steel association met day before yesterday in New Tork city to consider the advisability of advancing prices. After lively db cussion it was decided to make no change. If a majority of the members had fav el an increase the cost of construction ota . -tural steel is used would have been Increased throughout the United States A few men meeting in New York can arbitrarily raise or lower the cost The other day notice was sent out that there was to be a Wing of the steel plate pool at Pittsburg to consider the expediency oTratefng prices. The steel rail pool has its meetings. So . have other as sociations which control the manufacture and the price of various . iron and Seel products. There is no secrecy about the meetings or the act on taken at them. The consumers .are promptly notified of changes hvpr Ice The various branches of the iron and steel industry controlled b combhics which do not shun publicity, and whose existence is a m atter of knowledge. The anti-trust law has no terrors for the steel pools and asso .SSSr Each of them has established a profitaMe monopoly and ?wMot relinquish it until forced to do so by the courts. Thero la ano tner trust which calls for action by the Department of Justice. That is the anthracite coal trust. It has been in existence for years, but has never bito.S? The combine is perfecting monopoly O' e other -day the Lehigh Valley railroad absorbed the firm. of toxe Bros & Co ana the Central Railroad of New Jersey is negotiating to'fZ Navigation company's mines, railroads, and canals The firm of ! Coxe Bros, was the largest of the independent producers of coal. When all tnose pro ducen shalf have been absorbed the monopoly of the coal roads will be complete The more compact and stronger the coal trust becomes the more exacting will it be. Chicago Tribune. . i. For fifteen years the Sherman anti-trust law has been on the . statute books. In all that time, as The Independent recently 'pointed, ? out, only one man has suffered the prison penalty. , lene V. ,I)obsr : labor leader and socialist, served a sentence in the Illinois peniten tiary for violating the provisions of a1 law which is commonly de-;i ' scribed as an "anti-trust law." ; ' : ' ' There is an irony in that prison sentence inflicted upon the unfortunate Debs which should appeal to those who constitute our Department of Justice if they still believe in the reign of law, m equal and exact justice to all and -in special privileges .to none. In the Debs case the combination in restraint of interstate com merce was not incorporated. There was no question of a trust. It was merely a question conspiracy -between certain .individual, to interfere with interstate commerce.-. Had a trust been involved had a 'trust magnate been brought to bar, no prison sentence would ! have been' inflicted. The proof is to be found: in the recent history of the beef'. trust prosecution. An-agent -of the packing firm ot Schwarzschild and Sulzberger pleaded guilty to tho charge so--licitm" rebates from railway companies. He was required by the court to pay a fine, but the prison penalty was not imposed because the convicted man pleaded ill health and asked for mercy. If Debs had pleaded ill health and had asked for-mercy, would he have es caped the penitentiary I In the light of history lot those who read, these lines judge for themselves. In the foregoing instances of conspiracy m restraint of trade cited by the Chicago Tribune the proofs are ready 'at hand for the Department of Justice. Those who attended the meetings and con spired to. fix prices are a thousand times more guilty in the eyes of the law than tho labor leader who, while conducting a strike, per formed acts in violation of a law which he did not dream could ever be used to convict him of a crimefor it was an anti-trust law, the celebrated Sherman anti-trust law that should U) a terror to trust criminals but seems to be a rack upon which to rend the welt-meaning workman. " . , Under the Sherman anti-trust law as it has been delined by the courts, it is an offense punishable with a year in jail and a fine of $5,000, either or both : 1 To make any contract of any kind to restrain trade among tho states or with foreign nations. L To make any combination of any kind to retrain interstate trade. ;l. To monopolize or to attempt to monopolize intestate trade in whole or tu par! m any article, without eoiuhiuiug fr that pur ine. 1, To combine with other- in any way to monopolize any part cf interstate commerce. The law U sound, but remain iiin.K-uoiw UeatHo it ha not l-een enforced by the Department of Justice. The conduct of the beef trust prosecution indicates that the government is lax in the en forcement of the law even when a defendant pleads guilty. - Every little while wo see it reported in the press that the gov eminent is "going after" such and such a trust next. Hero again is revealed dereliction upon the part of the Department of Justice. Apparently the government can handle only one case at a time. There a re 'hundreds of trusts in the country openly violating the law every day in the year,' but the Departmentof Justice pursues ih even tenor of its way, as though it had all eternity in which to se cure fair play for the present generation. ; WHAT OF WEAKLINGS AND LAGGARDS? So often has President Kooscvelt reiterated his opinion of weak lings and laggards that it is familiar to all AineHcans. Speaking on W subject of the Panama canal the other day the president said. "Ami iust the same thing is true in, any great enterprise m civil life; there are always weaklings who get trampled down or lose heart, and there are always .people who listen to their com- plaints. , . . This is characteristically llooseveltian. Some strong men pity the weak and laggard while others despises the class President lioosevelt seeuls to belong. Ill antipathy toward the weakling is as characteristic of Roosevelt as pity for the weak is characteristic of Mr. -Bryan or Mr. Watson. By the weak is not meant the poor,. but those wiio arc iam, of heart or lacking in will power and those who are vicious, reward such men some show great charity, others only contempt. And ye the Christian is enjoined not only to give alms to the poor, but even to visit those who are in prison. Chanty should be the meed of all who suffer on this round globe. - r t The man who is born to a rich estate, who never knows what it is to live from hand to mouth, nor what it is to fear for the future, 4s apt to feel contempt for the weak man who cannot meet all the ills of life with a heart brave for contention and triumph. The strong of this world too easily condemn and despise ho weak; too infrequent!? do they heed the complaints of the weaklings and l-.owards.5 If they were more charitable toward the weaknesses ot fife' . ' . .1 1 . i ... il. -P. .11 ifiAnijiirri lO UO IUlUlVo tiJKi ,,v-.C)- 0 be much less numerous than they arc today. BOYCOTT AS RAILWAY WEAPON y In Tom WorrallVbook on' the grain trust he makes' it (dear that the railways interfered to support the Nebraska Gram Dealers association in contests with independent dealers A railway agent was summoned to reenforce the trust whenever the battle grew hot and the independent dealer thought he saw a chance totnumph. Then the railway Mepltistopheles coolly informed the independent dealer that unless he consented to enter the trust and abide by its rules to stifle competition his elevator would be moved off the right-ot- This is a fair example of the favoritism shown powerful in terests by the railways. It is, however, a species of wrong-domg that a good law could cope with most effectively. It is doubtlul whether anv law now on the statute books covers such acts of in timidation If not, the legislature should enact a law that would make the offense a felony, Any railway agent or official, who, by word of mouth or by any writing, should utter threats designed to intimidate a business man in tho conduct of his business, could then 'be sent to prison. This would have a tendency to prevent agents of corporations from using the boycott means to aid trusts or cor porations. In denouncing "Bryanism and anarchy" Secretary Taft is evi dently bidding for the presidential nomination on the old platform f barrel and boodle which won such notable triumph in three cam paigns Senator Dollivcr bays the campus at the University of Chicago "smells of nil.'' Were he to visit the eampiH of the Nebraska uni-ver-dtv ho would detect a similar odor ami irV crude oil at that. President Roosevelt is quick to use the ''big utick on the Sveak ami laggard " but is very cautious aUait the way ii which Ise wh hU it against the railways and corporations Judge I.ctton jould surrender the tainted transportation. ,