Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-12-30

BY Combination, Not Competition. |
If competition is the life of trade,v
what are we to think of our future upon
beholding universal combination to crush
competitions Corners are but attempts to
fix prices by combinations of persons who
do not want competition, and, as express
ed by an able contemporary, include
great deal more than the ''run-a-mucks of
moneyed thugs on boards of trade" We
are rapidly growing to be a nation of COM
binations in trade and manufacture ut
teEly intoleraft Of competition, and at the
rate of speed We are now going in corners
and mOnOpOlies, the hitherto unrestricted
competition in business will soon be
thing Of the past. Yesterday" says the
contemporary alluded to, 'sit was the
stsrch-makers of the West who united to
put an end TO the competition that was
cutting off their profits. The day before it
was the match-makers who perfected the
closest kind Of a monopoly. The fire insu-
rance companies of New York, finding
that competition costs them $2,500,000 a
year, combine to compete no more.
Almost before the electric light is
proved practicable the Edison. Gramme,
Brush and other leading companies ''pOOr'
into one great non-competing concern.
The rubber importers made a corner, and
the rubber manufacturers united in elf
defense. The malleable iron manufactu-
rers were in session in Pittsburg last
week TO discuss the best methods of con-
trolling prices. The fish trade of Boston
has Just been corralled by a union of the
principal dealers. The wholesale price Of
beer has within the week been changed,
not by competition, but by a conference of
The Western brewers. But it is useless to
multiply instances. The movement is one
Of the most obvious phenomena of the his
tory Of industry and is going ON all around
us.
Trades unions are attempts to corner
labor. Railroad poOls-the most gigantic
Of all cOmbinatiOns-are corners on the
E prices Of transportation. Immense as is
T the apparent interval between the corner
reported the other day in old rubber shoes
and that Just concluded between the great
{ railroads of the Northwest to corner prices
and territory, the principle that underlies-
them Il the same. Grain corners. trades
bination and other similar unions, rail
road pools and cable mOnopOlies all have
one purpOse-they seek TO abolish cOmDe-
titiOn and put combination i'm its place."
1t has we'll been remarked that the ques-
/ ton is a big one and "cannOt be disposed
Of as an evil personal to the malignity of
half dozen great capitalists or syndi-
Gates" Combination TO crush out COM
{ nnrifior fnaous absolute control Of ,,ricaC
T by monied mOnOpOlies, and that, the peO-
( pie know very well, means riches for the
rich and poverty for the poor. BY combi-
I nation, the mOnOpOlists say to the farmer,
( the labOrer and others, you shall not have
our goods unless you pay, not only the
I cost of manufacture. insurance, storage,
F transportation and handling, but also
superadded premium, which we use to in
I crease the monopoly against you, and pile
up the burden of your poverty and grief,
I while we buy up the venal, spread
our influence over this great and happy
land" and erect palatial monuments to
the glory Of our Incompatible energy and
thrift. And mark you! He who COM
( plains is an enemy to this great, free
country-a crOaker, a Nihilist, an agra
rian covered with the green moss of an
tiquity, or a crank bewildered in the
mazes of modern education and progress.
If we are in error let us alone, so long as
our error brings gold. The country grows,
even if is elephantiana, and why should
tre be concerned about revolution or social
and political disasters of the future? "Sufii-
cient unto the day is the evil thereof" We
haErs 70 do. a1 YanIfffaaI
ecOnomy-we haven't time for the discus
sion-that belongs to the slow schools of
philosophy that may work it out in one
age. preach it in another, and repudiate
il in a third. The idea now is to get money
''by hook or by crOOk'-all methods are
honorable that lead to success, and sue
cess is the elevator to the highest floors
of confidence, both public and private.
Why prate about the people '-they are
no better than the rest. We are of
them and for them-dO we not use our ''ill
gotten gains" to develop their country, to
bring them facilities and provide them
with comforts? And who pays the great
taxes and extinguishes the public debts,
if not our great capital and enterprise?
Results are what men of business must
look to, and who can fail to see the grand
results of the energy put forth in the
mighty progress of this country by the
very men now denounced as cOrnerers,
monopolists and oppressOrs of the peO-
pie:
But the big question will have to be
settled all the same-the rivulet is on its
way to the sea, tortuOus and slow it may
h.. tho hills hIlf
il gathers force along the valleys, and
anon spreads out into broad stream that
sweeps away the puny distractions Of
error and wrong, and reaches the sea,
where il mingles again with the waters of
the great reservoir of terrestrial cOnser-
walton and harmony.