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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 1900)
ed the strident whoops nud slirieks of the rough riders who accompanied Col. Willinm Cody to Nebraska Oity on the 18th of September and drew a crowd of ten thousand people at fifty cents to one dollar each to hear them yell. If it would not bo wicked or trust-like a combination to prevent competition in the spectacular why should not Colonel Kodak expand and annex Col. Cody's wild west show to his during the re mainder of the campaign ? At Nebraska City Col. Cody took in many thousands of dollars and it is questionable whether Col. Kodak without taking in a cent took in even the most simple-minded property-owner and tax-payer , before whom he performed his wonderful feats of vocal athletics and his prestidigitation in vocuumizing words and perfectly dothoughtizing speech and delogicalizing language. .For a moment the peerless Colonel Bryan beamed self-consciously upon his feeble-minded He Opens. , . _ _ worshippers. He wore that sturdy smirk-smile which is so successful in front of audiences and so fleeting in the front of battles. That stereotyped simper is a blend of benig nant commisseration , egotism and solf- admiration. With indescribable courage some thing like that exhibited when Bryan was in the midst of shot ( oranges ) and shell ( watermelons ) at the head of his regiment at Jacksonville the peerless crown-crusher began with these defiant words : "I decided to shorten my days of rest long enough to discuss the trust question under the shadow of the starch factory. " Spontaneously the automatic applause broke forth in thundering tones. So enraptured were his disciplined enthu siasts to hear from his own lips that Colonel Bryan , the dashing , slashing soldier the trust-smashing statesman was not afraid of shadows , not even though they were starched. It was some seconds before silence resumed , and with it the Presidential Thespian said : "I am here to talk to you because the starch trnbt is a a greater menace to the people of Nebraska City than it is to any other part of the state. " That paragraph is literally quoted , but in effect Colonel Bryan declared : . "I came here to talk because I had hoard that your people were against shutting up , by legal process , a splendid wage-paying industry , supporting hun dreds of good families in your midst , by prompt , remunerative wages. Before hearing that I had no intention of ad dressing you. But feeling confident that words from me will be more nourishing as a winter diet than mere cash wages from the starch factory , ] am hero to subsist and fatten you from my vocabulary. "I am here to protect you and your best and dearest interests from the ex tortions of capital and the domination of trusts. I am here to assert that the factory here is in a trust that it will be a great drawback to your city. " And again he said precisely these words : "I want to open your eyes to the real meaning of the trust ; and in order that I may be sure of my ground I am going to quote from good authority on the trust question. If anybody tells you this is not a trust here , I want to call your attention to something that I think should be accepted as evidence in this case. I had these quotations made this afternoon because it is easier to read them hero than to look up the quotation in 'THE CONSERVATIVE' every time. ( Loud laughter. ) I want to remind yon that iho attorney general who is enforcing ; his law is not trying to destroy a factory ; he is trying to prevent a trust from absorbing that factory. " THE CONSERVATIVE extracts remain , as when published , the views of its editor , who has Trusts. , . , , never deserted free trade for free silver , nor entered the ring as an expert prophet of calamity and disaster. THE CONSERVATIVE agrees perfectly with the New York court of appeals and the decision it rendered in June , 1890 , in the case of "The People of New York , respondent vs. The North River Sugar Refining Company. " That defines a trust and there is not now in Nebraska Oity , nor elsewhere in the United States , such a trust , either in starch , sugar , salt , soap or any thing else , perhaps , except in free silver organiza tions which have combined in a trust of candidature to prevent competition for office and proceeded so far in Nebraska as to ask the courts to enjoin any other body of citizens from using the trade mark "populist" as descriptive of their patriotism and political intentions. No combine or trust in commerce has. gone so far , managed so adroitly and succeeded so selfishly as the Bryan Trust in nominations , which began business at Sioux Falls , held a street fair conven tion at Kansas City and a carnival at Topeka. It was a populist nomination , a silver democratic nomination , a silver republican nomination. And now the three are one in a Bryan Trust. No nominee ever had such a clear title to E Plurilms Unum. The C9urt of Appeals of the state of New York in the case cited concluded thus : "In this state there can be no partner ships of separate and independent cor porations , whether directly or indirectly , through a trust ; no substantial consoli dations which disregard the statutory permissions and restraints ; but that manufacturing corporations must be and remain as they were created , or one under the statute. " Under the definition , from the highest judicial state tribunal which has met the question , there is not now in Ne braska Oity any manufacturing corpora tion in any trust. It is asserted without fear of successful disproval , that Col. Bryan and General Smyth know , be fore this action against the Nebraska Oity Starch factory was begun , that it was not in a trust as legally defined by the Now York court. Nevertheless Col. Bryan , the peerless and fearless lawyer , whose wonderful , , . success as an attor- " . _ Iiifornmtloii. . , ney n-t Lincoln is blazoned on the court dockets and in the names of myriads of clients , declared : "I want to give yon some information about trusts , and especially this starch factory , because I have been looking it up. I find that the Argo Manufacturing Co. , of Nebraska Oity was a prosperous corporation. You ask me how I know this. I saw it in THE CONSERVATIVE. ' ' Quotations from this journal are al ways recognized as the truth , it seems , even by Ool. Bryan. Nevertheless its persistent perusal has not infected the valiant colonel with veracity. He pro ceeds at once to tell half-truths and un truths. Bryan said , with an obvious impedi ment in his veracity : "Now when the Argo Company was owned by people here , and when it was controlled by people in this city , if there was a strike , the men who had charge of the concern were as interested as were the laborers , but when it is a part of the great starch trust , managed by paid men in the employ of the head office , who' have no interest whatever in the men , they can close down the factory and the laborer is helpless because the trust can do its work elsewhere after it has frozen out the laborer here. "This attempt to form a starch trust and embody your factory in that trust is simply an attempt to transfer the management to New York , and there fore its wishes will have no effect. You people who live here are more interested in destroying this starch tnnt than the people who live in other parts of the state. " ( Applause. ) Bryan assumed and asserted that the starch factory is not controlled by people of Nebraska Oity. la that ho told an absolute lie , or he was mistaken because he did not desire to know the truth. The same men who did originate the starch factory in Nebraska Oity , control that establishment now , todays The men who employ help now are the ones who employed it ia ne begin ning at this factory. All of them are residents of Nebraska Oity. They have always taken an interest in the welfare of the employees. They never did close down the factory and throw helpless operatives out of employment. But from year to year they have en larged the works , putting more and more money into Nebraska Oity. Such are the men whom Mr. Bryan has the effrontery to warn Nebraska Oity
