Trans-Mississippi Congress Resolutions Against Trusts
At the recent session of the Trans-Mississippi Commercial Congress at St. Paul, Minn., the following resolutions were adopted, voicing the sentiment of the congress on the evil of the great commercial combines known as the trusts:— Whereas, The trust system has been and is a menace to our republican institutions; and,— Whereas, If allowed to continue to form combinations in restraint of trade and the elimination of competition, the wealth of the entire country will be concentrated in the hands of a few; and,— Whereas, The said combinations are calculated to destroy the hope and ambition of the youth of the country, it being well understood that the ambition and hope of the young men of this nation have made it great; therefore, be it— Resolved, By this congress, that the president of the United States be respectfully urged to use all the power vested in his office to the end that the growing power and the influence of the trusts may be destroyed; and be it further— Resolved, That if in the wisdom of the national congress the laws now on the statute books are insufficient to suppress this growing evil, other more stringent and efficient laws be speedily enacted. In a speech at Providence, R. I., August 23, President Roosevelt expressed a purpose to act in harmony with this request6, but said, however, that the conditions surrounding the problem are complicated, so much so that national legislation which will be adequate will be difficult to frame. He admitted that the complete impotency of State legislation in the matter had been demonstrated. The problem of the trusts is the problem of the power of money to rule the people. Are the people, from the president, the supreme court, and congress, down to the lowest ranks of society, susceptible to the corrupting influence of the love of money to that degree which will lead them to set aside the principles of justice for the sake of financial gain? If they are, then no legislation, State or national, will avail anything. History is very instructive on this subject.