6 Conservative *
1
CONTINUE THK PROSPERITY.
It is not politics , but business , which
arrays the financial and commercial in
terests of the country against Bryanism ,
and incidentally the party he at pres
ent so thoroughly controls. Financial
men need not bo necessarily republi
cans , to vote for the continuance of the
present administration in power , nor
can they with good sense , continue for
mer allegiance to the party whose can
didate the prophet of silver is , when its
paramount principle , thinly disguised
but thoroughly apparent is to overturn
the foundation of their personal stabil
ity and prosperity. From a financial
standpoint , partisan considerations are
wiped out in the face of the danger
threatening all property interests by the
possible election of Bryan. Bryan un
questionably stands for the free and
unlimited coinage of silver without
waiting for the concurrence and consent
of any other nation , and it is impossible
for him or his sponsors to disguise the
fact ; a fact upon which his acceptance
of the democratic nomination was con
ditioned. Respect for the open way in
which he contended for that principle
at the time of nomination only makes
him a man more to be distrusted. The
silver heresy is still dear to him and
to strong elements of his party ; and we
would not so misjudge the man as to
doubt his sincere conviction in the be
liefs he has clung to so tenaciously. No
campaign glossing over , no insistence on
other "paramount issues" can erase the
16 to 1 plank.
It is this feeling that arrays financial
interests against Bryan , and when this
is realized , as a canvass of business men
readily shows , the clap trap of the
democratic explanation that the corpor
ations are against Bryan because the
republican party is for the trusts and
against labor , is clearly seen.
It is keenly realized that the election
of Bryan would bring about a great and
serious commercial panic. It is inevi
table in the nature of things. So immi
nent and assured is this , that no theor
izing would evade it. It is not even a
question whether the steps taken to re-
monetize silver would actually in the
end be as disastrous as claimed. Even
if the silver theorists , to grant their ar
guments , proved their contention a
wise and safe one in the end , there
would still be a grievous commercial
panic. Any anticipated disturbance of
the present circulating medium , and
substitution of a different basis of re
demption will paralyze financial trans
actions , check and stop the free flow of
commerce and the very fear , long before
the deed was done , would effectually
make a panic. Financial interests
could not and would not wait for exper
iments. The necessities of business and
the inexorable workings of human na
ture would precipitate conditions involv
ing a panic the day after election. The
portents of this are already easily
seen. The increasing number of orders
for delivery of merchandise and sup
plies , contingent on the election of the
present president , show what will be
the course of things if the administra
tion should not be sustained at the polls.
Millions of dollars worth of labor and
material is already subject to cancella
tion if the silver leader is elected. Hun
dreds of factories are ready to shut
down in that event , and hundreds of
others would soon be obliged to do so
because of the curtailment of orders in
volved in the cancellation alluded to.
The banks would have to call in their
loans and curtail their operations and
they are planning to do so , in such an
event. Ths safety of their stockholders
would demand it. Their deposits would
lessen , from the shrinkage in values
imminent , and their operations would
have to be contracted to keep them
afloat at all. Everyone knows that
bank loans float most of the new enter
prises of the period , and that in times
of prosperity as at present , the invest
ments are perfectly safe and the pee
ple's money goes safely through the
bank into these enterprises. If the loans
were suddenly called in , as they would
be , distress and embarrassment would
ensue. Beady money cannot always
be had. Great concerns would have to
go to the wall. New business could not
get capital. Industries would be cur
tailed and all would suffer. The extent
of this is indefinite but its actuality is
foreseen by every financial man. The
actual working of a free silver currency
could be no worse than the condition in
evitably and immediately caused by the
lack of confidence that would operate at
once on the election of the democratic
candidate. It is incomprehensible that
a sane banker or financier can vote
against financial soundness. Finance.
BRYAN ON TRUSTS.
The attempt of Mr. Bryan to destroy
the starch works at Nebraska Oity and
stifle industrial growth is attracting the
attention of financial men in all parts
of the United States and Europe. The
London Financial Times , a leading
English financial paper , makes the fol
lowing editorial reference to a Nebraska
Oity enterprise :
"The position of Mr. Bryan on the
trust question has been illustrated by a
suit quite recently begun at his instiga
tion by the attorney-general of Ne
braska against the United Starch com
pany to prevent it doing business in
that state. The crime of this 'trust1
has consisted in the fact of its having
recently bought out the Argo starch
works of Nebraska Oity , a town whose
prosperity is dependent on the mainten
ance of these works in its midst. It
grinds 8,000 bushels of corn a day , pays
excellent wages and sells a cheap pro
duct , a great part of which finds a mar
ket from London to Hong Kong , in
Australia and in Alaska. The company
which sold out to the 'trust * has been
dissolved and there is no way by which
the property can now be taken from
the control of the trust except by forc
ing its abandonment , which is the pro
posal of the attorney-general. The people
ple of Nebraska Oity have become ex
tremely embittered over the attempt to
drive this industry out of the state , and
in a mass meeting bitterly assailed
Bryan and the attorney-general. Bryan ,
however , made a speech in this town
several days later , and defended what
had been done as being in line with
democratic promises of performance
against the trust evil.
"The Hon. J. Sterling Morton , secre
tary of agriculture under Cleveland ,
and founder of 'Arbor Day,1 and a gen
tleman whose views command national
attention , is a resident of Nebraska
Oity , and has expressed his opinion of
the attorney-general's action. He says :
The action instituted by the attor
ney general shows Mr. Bryan's hand.
He seeks to crush out a corporation that
has committed no crime , that has violated
lated no law , that has done none of
those things which Mr. Bryan says a
corporation shall not do. Mr. Bryan's
meaning is now clearer than words
could possibly have expressed. By
trusts he means corporations ; and by
corporations he means all corporations.
Instead of wrong-doing being the basis
for an action against a corporation , the
mere proof of the existence of the cor
poration is sufficient to warrant its de
struction. It means that corporate cap
ital is no longer safe within the juris
diction of populism. Instead of govern
ment existing to protect this form of
property it is , as administered by popu
lists , to persecute it. This is what Mr.
Bryan , the leader of the populist party ,
stands for. Do the people of Nebraska
wish to perpetuate this kind of an ad
ministration of government ? Nearly
every business of any consequence in
our state is carried on by corporate
rather than individual capital , for the
democratic reason that few individuals
have sufficient means , hence a combina
tion in corporate form of their limited
fortunes. Do the people of Nebraska ,
then , wish to drive from their state a
large portion of our commercial
activities ? If so , they will most effect
ually accomplish it by voting to continue
populism. If they wish to aid to make
national the deplorable conditions which
are now local , they should vote for Mr.
Bryan , who is pledged and determined
to prosecute all guilty of the iniquitous
crime of employing labor. '
v"The state of Illinois has vigorous
laws against trusts. The people of the
state are now experiencing somewhat of
a revulsion of sentiment against such
laws. Three or four months ago three
of the biggest trusts of Illinois , having
headquarters in Ohicago.chartered special
trains , and moved their employees ,
books , etc. , to new headquarters in New
York. Some of the best paying office
property in Ohioago was left vacant.