25 



our dearest rights and blessings. There is also abroad the 

 belief that in some way these powerful aggregations man- 

 age to evade the laws which are made for their suppres- 

 sion. The disposition of prosecutors and judges to en- 

 force them is distrusted, and respect for law and absolute 

 confidence in its impartial enforcement is weakened. But 

 such respect and confidence are the very essence of our 

 freedom and essential to its preservation. 



There are no inducements to trusts in the industries of 

 the peoj^le of Essex. A trust in Essex County farms 

 could not be dreamed of, and a trust in making cotton and 

 woollen cloth, and boots and shoes and machinery is hardly 

 less chimerical. Trusts in some articles of common man- 

 ufacture have been attempted, but they have generally 

 been short lived, and their wreck has been sufficiently dis- 

 astrous to prevent their repetition. The control of the nat- 

 ural source of supply of some article of common necessit}'^ 

 or utility seems to lie at the foundation of a successful 

 trust. We have no such source in Essex. Our industries 

 are founded upon the product of no source that can be 

 controlled by combination, and only upon such product as 

 has been bought and sold in the open markets everywhere 

 and always. We work upon the world's raw materials, 

 those upon which man's labor has been expended through 

 all the past, and always will be while time and labor shall 

 endure, and food and raiment and shelter be the first nec- 

 •essaries of human existence. In so working statistics 

 show that no excessive profits have been made by manu- 

 facturers of Essex County and New England, and the 

 wealth per capita exceeds that of other portions of the 

 country. There has been no dependence in the past upon 

 legislation for the industries which exist here. The people 

 of Essex have asked for the passage of no laws which 

 were not national in their scope and effect, and in theory, 

 at least, of equal benefit to all, and no subsidy or public 

 bounty has added to our wealth. These conditions are fit 

 surroundings for the abode of freedom, in its simplicity 



