I would advise the reading, by the members of the club, of such books as
the following: “Politics in New Zealand,” “Poverty,” by Robert Hunter;
“The Menace of Privilege,” by Henry George; “Letters and Addresses of
Thomas Jefferson,” recently published by The Unit Book Publishing Co.,
New York, “Bossism and Monopoly,” by Spelling.
These books will not cost a great deal, and they will give you a very
complete survey of our political and economic condition.
* * * * *
WASHINGTON, D. C., January 17, 1906.
_Hon. Thomas E. Watson, New York._
DEAR SIR: As you will notice in the wording of the question
printed above, which we shall debate with the University of
Cincinnati, the entire discussion will probably hinge on the
term “Capitalistic combinations called trusts.”
In order to get the consensus of authoritative opinion as to
what capitalistic combinations are called trusts by those
who are most competent to use the term intelligently, we are
taking the liberty of asking the editors of a dozen of the most
prominent monthlies, weeklies and dailies in the United States
to give us their definition of this term.
Will you, therefore, be kind enough to sacrifice enough of your
time to state briefly what capitalistic combinations, in your
opinion, should be called trusts.
Very respectfully,
⸺ ⸺.