Southern Mercury. (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 27, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 4, 1901 Page: 1 of 16
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VOL. XXI. NO. 27.
DALLAS, TEXAS, THURSDAY, JULY 4, 1901.
$1.00 PER ANNUM
■\
MR .MASON AND THE TRUSTS.
There are many men nowadays who
are defending trusts and monopolies,
not on the ground that they are neces-
sary stages in the process of evolu-
tion, but that they are good in them-
selves and have come to stay, as be-
ing the permanent and final develop-
ment of industry. These men are
mostly well paid college professors
and attorneys.
Mr. Mason in a lecture before a law
school took a different view. He em-
phasizes the greatest danger of all
just as Mr. Jefferson did. He says:
"Again the consolidated control of
monopolized industries in the hands
of a few men gives those men a dan-
gerous power with, respect to govern-
ment. Trust managers have such a
vast revenue at their disposal as to
giye them alarming influence by the
use of money in the choice of candi-
dates for office. Political parties need
money, which is often difficult to raise.
Which is the more likely to be chosen
as a method of raising funds, the col-
lection of small contributions from
the masses of the party, wltli its
trouble, its notoriety, its inadequate
results, or the offer by one man of
a single mammoth private corporation
adequate to carry on the campaign?
Will not this affect the policy of the
successful party? Will not monopo-
ly trusts, with their enormous re-
sources, their thousands of employees,
more than ever dependent because of
the growth of monopoly, exercise an
unwholesome influence upon elec-
tions? Will not orders be issued from
headquarters to defeat the candidates
who may have shown a disposition to
oppose trusts? May not this influence
become sufficiently great to affect the
choice of members of the judiciary,
that last bulwark of/ popular rights
and free institutions?"
The Indianapolis Sentinel says:
"From the Republican point of
view Mr. Mason here treads on dan-
gerous ground. His interrogations sug-
eest their inevitable answers. The
London Times some time ago, in an
able article upon the trust ploblem in
America, charged the Republican par-
ty with having formed a coalition with
the trust element whereby legislative
protection was promised in return for
campaign funds. No one can com-
pare the Republican party of the past
with that of today without concluding
that the trust power "does effect the
policy of the successful party," and
is It not notorious that "orders were
issued from headquarters" to defeat
Attorney-Gteneral Monnett of Ohio,who
had shown a disposition to antagonize
the trusts of that state?
"When Mr. Morgan again suggests
that the trust power may affect our
relations with foreign nations he deals
a subtle blow at the administration. It
is no longer a question of possibility.
It is an accomplished fact. The trust,
or plutocratic element, has played
with our ideas during the past four
years. This element dictated the
terms of the Paris peace commission.
It Instigated the Philippine disgrace.
It has destroyed the confidence of
South America. It has aroused the
hatred of Cuba. It has put a muzzle
on public opinion, while it waged its
hideous war in South Africa. And, to
again quote from Mr. Mason:
"It was an unfortunate sequence of
events which recently took place at
Washington. The administration im-
posed a countervailing duty of 20 per
cent upon Russian beet sugar which
came in competition with the product
of the sugar trust. On the 18th day
of February, 1901, the Russian gov-
ernment retaliated by imposing CO per
cent duty on American steel, which
was a blow at the steel trust. On the
19th day of February our government
notified China that under no circum-
stances should China enter into any
secret treaty with other nations at the
present time. . . It has since de-
veloped that the only secret treaty
which was then pending was the Man-
churian treaty with Russia."
In view of the great strike now on
against the giant steel combine, these
words from Mr. Morgan are signifi-
cant:
"No feudal lord ever equaled the
president of the seel trust in his pow-
er over the property and Industry of
men. . . The foundation of trusts
means that the laboring men of this
country must make organizations com-
pared to which all previous trades
unions are but insignificant. The con-
solidated strike is the shadow of the
consolidated trust. . . It means
that a man discharged by a monopoly
cannot go to another employer for
work In which^he is skilled. Compe-
tition among employers has greatly
helped labor, but when that help t*
withdrawn, the trade union is the only
protection left for employes."
The people are with the strikers, but
little do the monopolists care for that.
"I owe the public nothing," says Mor-
gan. "The people be damned," says
another.
WANTS THE EVIDENCE.
Dear Mercury: Seeing Harry
Tracy's and "Cyclone" Davis' letters
in my last paper, has raised a spirit in
me to write. Mr. Tracy seems to
think that Mr. Bryan Is the man to
center on in 1904. We would like
to ask Mr. Tracy some questions in re-
gard to Mr. Bryan. Tracy says Mr.
Bryan is a Populist. Some of us old
sand-lappers down here remember
Mr. Bryan in '96 said the money ques-
tion was the vital issue, and that it
would not be settled until settled right.
In his last campaign he never said one
word about the money question. Now
we want to know, has the money ques-
tion been settled? If so, when and
how? Again: we would ask if Mr.
Bryan is a Populist, when was he con-
verted? You may say he has been
one all the time. Then we would ask
why didn't he accept the nomination
on the ticket with the Hon. Tom Wat-
son in '96, and make the race as a
Populist? Again: If Mr. Bryan is a
Populist he is a policy Populist, and
we backwoods fellows are afraid of
that kind. If we would live and pros-
per, says Mr. Tracy, we must make
mutual concessions on matters of party
policy. If I claim to be an honest man
and I am only honest from policy, what
would you call me? If I claim to be
a Populist and don't stick to it all the
time,I am not true to my cause. When
a man is afraid to be a Populist any-
where and all the time he is a poor
specimen. We want Mr. Bryan or any
other man to come to us and go with
us, but we don't want to surrender a
single plank in our platform. Let's
leave the door open that all who de-
sire may come in, but surrender our
principles, never.—D. S. Hollowfll, Sal-
ty, Texas.
By this plan they hope to control the
entire output in the State.
Any one can readily see that by
monopolizing the tanks and pipe lines,
they can fix the price for crude oil.
Any oil producer in the State who
does not make satisfactory termB with
the Waters-Pierce concern, will find no
market for his product unless the State
comes to the relief of the people and
constructs a pipe line and storage
tanks for the public use. This the
State can and should do. It should
provide ample storage facilities at
some port on the Gulf, and construct
a pipe Line from that point through the
oil territory, with all the necessary
pumping appliances, etc, and trans-
port the crude oil to the port at actual
cost.
This is can easily do. The State al-
ready owns inexhaustable iron fields,
and has an extensive plant where it
can manufacture all the piping and
other material necessary. With the
convicts it can build the pipe line at
comparatively little cost or outlay of
actual cash, and the revenues from
this source would soon liquidate the
original expenditure. This suggestion
is right in line with our relief railroad
which we have been advocating all
these years,, and is a sure way to
thwart the designs of Rockefeller and
his gang.
BA8E INGRATITUDE.
A RELIEF PIPE LINE.
Now that it is a settled fact that
Texas is to be a leader In the oil bus-
iness, it wouid be well for our people
to consider the best and most econo-
mical plan for securing to the oil pro-
ducers of Texas the lion share of the
profits resulting from this Industry. The
Waters-Pierce Oil company, which is
but another name for the Standard Oil
company, is arranging to control the-
entire output of all the oil wells in
the State, through a gigantic system
of pipe lines and tank steamers which
they propose ti place in operation soon.
One of the most striking illustrations
of filial Ingratitude is found in the ex-
perience of Mrs. Schemerhorn of Litch-
field, Conn. Her story as told by her-
self to a newspaper reporter !s as fol-
lows:
"My trouble started when I went in-
to business at Litchfield, Conn., I had
too much property to fall, and tc pre-
vent its being tied up in disasterous
litigation I transferred it to nry son.
"Motherlike, I thought wh&t was his
was mine. I too'c the advice of my
lawyer and did it. Hare I am with
1,000 acres of land, fifteen houses and
the Old Farms Inn. at Litchfield, pen-
niless and without shelter for my head.
But my boy is suffering from youth,
Inexperience and evil surroundings. I
have been the victim of treachery,
fraud and libel; but what mother
would prosecute her own son, even if
she is destitute?
"I spent $10,000 on his college edu-
cation. When he wanted marry I set
enough property on him to give him
an income of $2,700 a year. Now he
refuses to give anything to me.
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Park, Milton. Southern Mercury. (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 27, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 4, 1901, newspaper, July 4, 1901; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth185906/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .