Conservative *
against. He is a destroying cyclone howl
ing through the country cursing the up-
builders as onmberers of the earth , and
assuming to be the guardian of the
rights of the poor and the plain people.
Can insolence , assumption , and super
cilious conceit go further ?
Next Col. Bryan talks about "an
attempt to transfer" the management
_ . of the Nebraska
The Attempt. _ . . . . .
City factory to
New York and avers that "the people who
live in Nebraska Oity are more interes ted
in destroying this starch trust than the
people who live in other parts of the
state. " [ Here the automatic applause ,
from the job lot of Liucolnites , was
fiercely unanimous. ]
Col. Bryan , in effect , says : "There
are dangerous owners of property in
Nebraska Oity.
There are men
here interested who are guilty of en
deavoring to put your manufacturing
establishments into unfriendly hands
and to have them shut down. "
Who are the men ? They are the
same men who , with their money and
friends , originated , built and ran the
Nebraska Oity Starch Works.
They are the same men who , with
their friends , lost fifty thousand dollars
in the early years of starch making at
Nebraska Oity , but who , without
state aid or interference and with u
commendation from Ool. Bryan , put
another fifty thousand dollars into the
continuation of the experiment of starch
making in Nebraska Oity.
They are the same men who , with
their friends , have made Argo Starch
famous all over the commercial world.
They have advertised Nebraska Oity
and its thrift in all markets as an
industrial center for cereal commodities.
They are the men who , with their
friends , drew up the charter for a rail
road bridge at Nebraska Oity , secured
its enactment by congress and its con
struction by the O. B. & Q. B. R. Go.
They number among them the man
who built and gave to Nebraska Oity a
beautiful and substantially fire-proof
building for its public library.
They contain in their number men
who have here renewed cereal mills and
in the last two years put forty odd
thousand dollars into them and paid out
in ten years several millions of dollars
to farmers for corn and oats to be manu
factured into goods here in Nebraska
Oity. They have in their employ a
hundred or more good women and good
men to whom they pay fair and constant
compensation.
These are the men against whom
Bryen and Smyth assume to protect
Nebraska Oity , its wage-earners and its
capital. Kind , philanthrophio , prophetic
pair of protecting cherubs , angels dis-
, ' guisedas office-seekers !
The men who have first and last pul
into lands , factories and other proper
ties in and about Nebraska Oity more
\
than throe hundred thousand dollars ,
are the men whom Ool. Bryan denounc
ed to you as your enemies.
They are the men who originated the
Argo company and factory who ex
panded it from 250 to 2800 bushels of
corn-grinding capacity per day and
demonstrated their faith by their
money and their works.
They are the men who suggested
and organized the United Company and
accomplished the consolidation in a
lawful way , of other companies with
the Argo in that enterprise which the
friends and the property owners of
Nebraska Oity absolutely controlled.
They are the same men who rejoiced
when they had bought into the National
Starch company until they , and those
acting -with them , controlled the
National company.
The twaddle of little Smyth and his
lamentations and the sorrows of Bryan
because Nebraska Oity can handle only
one-twelfth of the stock of the National
company are too silly , even for those ex
perts in ignorance of business to exhibit.
Smyth's attempt to depict the abjectness -
ness of Nebraska Oity interests in the
National company , is answered by the
names of the directors , Oarl and Joy
Morton , and Joy Morton , chairman of
the executive committee of that corpora
tion.
Shares vote , not men , in such incor
porations. And a majority of the shares
are owned and
Votes. , , . , .
controlled by con
structive men who have done far more
to build up industries , cities , and states
than a hundred gross of walking , talk
ing delegates like Bryan and the micro
scopic attorney-general could do , if they
lived a million years , and worked as they
only have worked , with their active and
muscular mouths.
"I want to remind you , my friends , "
said the peerless one , "that instead of the
, , people of Nebraska
My Friends. , . . , . . .
Oity being interest
ed in defending this trust , they are inter
ested in destroying it. When this inde
pendent company was standing upon
its merits it was owned by people here ,
and the interests of this city could make
an impression upon its management.
But it is today owned by bfirm with its
head in New York , and instead of the
people here having their interests guard
ed , they will be but a small part of the
National Starch Company. "
When the Oolonel knows more about
this factory he may tell more truth but
there is no truth in his averment that
the people of Nebraska Oity are inter
ested in the destruction of the company
which owns and operates it. Allegedly
it is a trust. Legally it is not a trust.
Bryan and Smyth know this. They
know , too , that the institution of a suit
against the Nebraska Oity starch fac
tory was inspired by political , personal
and other ponsiderations than a regard
for law. If it was not why delay ? If
they intend to compel men who own
property and bring money into the state
for the purpose of manufacture to either
vote their ticket or leave , why not act
promptly now and so demonstrate their
imperialism ?
' 'My friendp I want to remind yon that
the man who defends the starch trust
must be Pr ° Pared
to defend every
other trust. " Thus Mr. Bryan again
assumes that this factory , which he
came down to keep out of a trust , and
which Microbe Smyth proceeds against
to restrain from getting into a trust , is
already in a trust. And that trust , or
company , the majority of whoso stock
is owned and controlled by the biggest
investors in Nebraska Oity , will saith
the seer do everything in its power to
destroy Nebraska Oity.
Bryan "wants" always. Ho never
made a speech without "wants , " but in
economics and business affairs he
"wants" common sense and truthful
ness more than he "wants" anything
else.
The National Starch company is not
a trust in the sense of that term legally
defined and properly
Lawfully Formed.
ly used. An action
against it is designed to annoy it and
put it to expense , and also to prove that
Nebraska' and its attorney-general and
his "boss" are inimical to industrial
plants which pay wages to hundreds
and work up millions of dollars worth
of raw material each year. It is notice
to capital to keep out and to get out of
Nebraska. It is banishment for many
wage-earners now in the state to whom
shutting down of factories moans a
fireless and foodless winter , if they
stay here , and Smyth and Bryan drive
out those , who , up to this time , have
employed and paid them.
t *
Being , however , a lawfully formed
company , doing a legitimate business ,
paying its obligations promptly and
according fair dealing and justice to
all , the National Starch company is a
foolish corporation if it pays one cent
to defend its rights in an unfriendly
court into which fusion politics have
dragged it for purely partisan purposes.
Why was the suit brought ? Who
asked their imperial majesties , Bryan
and Smyfch' to
Why ?
assault Nebraska
Oity industries ? Let the man , men or
neuter-gender citizens who suggested
the suit show up and tell what wrong
the' company or anybody connected
with it , has perpetrated upon the people
ple ? Why did not Bryan and Smyth
sue the Silver Smelter combine , the
National Biscuit , the Sugar , the Insur
ance , the Ooal , and a dozen other com
bines at Omaha , Lincoln , Qrand Island ,
Nor folk and other towns in Nebraska ?
Because Bryan and Smyth thought