voice with increasing emphasis, in behalf of truth and justice. I want this nation to stand erect and be able to say at all times that the people in this nation sympathize with anybody who is willing to die for liberty.

But, my friends, pardon me talking so long. I have not been in Baltimore since campaign days. I do not know when I shall be able to talk to the people of this city again. You have come out in such great numbers; you have listened with such attention, and you have encouraged me with such cordial approval, that I have talked longer than I intended to. I want to tell you that the fight for the great fundamental principles of this government as against plutocracy is on. No human being can tell what the result will be. a vicious doctrine running through all the Republican policies, and that that vicious doctrine is that the dollar is worth more than the man.

I believe there is

I want, if I can, to help to restore a government founded upon the Declaration of Independence, and administered according to the doctrine of Jefferson; a government that will stand as it did in Jackson's days, between a bank aristocracy and the people.

But, my friends, I can not tell you what fate has decreed. I can not tell you whether it is to be our lot to triumph, and in our triumph lay the foundation again in the old places, and raise again the ancient landmarks which the fathers had set up. I can not tell; but if it is fate that this nation is to cease to be a republic, and become an empire, if it is destiny that this, the greatest republic of history, is to extinguish its light and follow in the lead of the monarchies of the old world; if in the providence of God the time has come for the pendulum

to swing back toward the dark ages and the triumph of brute force, I pray to God that the Democratic party may go down to eternal death with the republic, rather than to live when the doctrine of self-government is abandoned.

CHAPTER VII.

ADDRESS BY HON. WILLIAM J. BRYAN,

DELIVERED AT THE CHICAGO ANTI-TRUST CONFERENCE SEPTEMBER 16, 1899.

The trust principle is not a new principle, but the trust principle is manifesting itself in so many ways and the trusts have grown so rapidly that people now feel alarmed about trusts who did not feel alarmed three years ago. The trust question has grown in importance, because within two years more trusts have been organized, when we come to consider the capitalization and the magnitude of the interests involved, than were organized in all the previous history of the country, and the people now come face to face with this question: Is the trust a blessing or a curse? If a curse, what remedy can be applied to the curse?

I want to start with the declaration that a monopoly in private hands is indefensible from any standpoint, and intolerable. I make no exceptions to the rule. I do not divide monopolies in private. hands into good monopolies and bad monopolies. There is no good monopoly in private hands. There can be no good monopoly in private hands until the Almighty sends us angels to preside over the monopoly. There may be a despot who is better than another despot, but there is no good despotism. One trust may be less harmful than another. trust magnate may be more benevolent than another, but there is no good monopoly in private hands, and I do not believe it is safe for society to

One

permit any man or group of men to monopolize any article of merchandise or any branch of industry.

What is the defense made of the monopoly? The defense of the monopoly is always placed on the ground that if you will allow a few people to control the market and fix the price they will be good to the people who purchase of them. The entire defense of the trusts rests upon a money argument. If the trust will sell to a man an article for a dollar less than the article will cost under other conditions, then in the opinion of some that proves a trust to be a good thing. In the first place. I deny that under a monopoly the price will be reduced. In the second place, if under a monopoly the price is reduced the objections to a monopoly from other standpoints far outweigh any financial advantage that the trust could bring. But I protest in the beginning against settling every question upon the dollar argument. I protest against the attempt to drag every question down to the low level of dollars and cents.

In 1859 Abraham Lincoln wrote a letter to the Republicans of Boston who were celebrating Jefferson's birthday, and in the course of the letter he said: "The Republican party believes in the man and the dollar, but in case of conflict it believes in the man before the dollar." In the early years of his administration he sent a message to Congress, and in that message he warned his countrymen against the approach of monarchy. And what was it that alarmed him? He said it was the attempt to put capital upon an equal footing with, if not above, labor in the structure of government, and in that attempt to put capital even upon an equal footing with labor in the structure of government he saw

the approach of monarchy. Lincoln was right. Whenever you put capital upon an equal footing with labor, or above labor in the structure of government you are on the road toward a government that rests not upon reason but upon force.

Nothing is more important than that we shall in the beginning rightly understand the relation. between money and man. Man is the creature of

God and money is the creature of man. Money is made to be the servant of man and I protest against all theories that enthrone money and debase mankind.

What is the purpose of the trust or the monopoly? For when I use the word trust I use it in the sense that the trust means monopoly. What is the purpose of monopoly? You can find out from the speeches made by those who are connected with the trusts. I have here a speech made by Charles R. Flint at Boston on the 25th day of last May, and the morning papers of the 26th in describing the meeting said he defended trust principles before an exceedingly sympathetic audience and then added: "For his audience was composed almost exclusively of Boston bankers.' "We thus secure," he says, "the advantages of larger aggregations of capital and ability; if I am asked what they are the answer is only difficult because the list is so long.

But I want now to read to you a few of the advantages to be derived by the trusts from the trust system. "Raw material bought in large quantities is secured at lower prices." That is the first advantage. One man to buy wool for all the woolen manufacturers. That means that every man who sells wool must sell it at the price fixed by this one purchaser in the United States. The first thing is