The Washington critic., 1886-04-24
WASHINGTON, APRIL 9l, 1873,
CRIsIs-CAUsE-CURE.

Mr.. Gould, speaking as a railway
manager, says that competition is
not "the life of trade" and that the
pooling system is better not only for
the companies interested, but for the
people who depend upon them for
transportation. That is true If by no
other means the roads can be saved
from bankruptcy.
Mr.. Hadley, Commissioner Of Labor
Statistics for Connecticut, in his recent
work on Railroad Transportation -
says: "If competition is ruinous to all
parties, all parties must stop compel
ing. If 1t finds no natural limit, 1t
must be artiiicially limited; it must end
in combination. And the moment you
have estab | shed an effective combina.
tion, you have introduced the principle
Of monopoly"
The dangers of pool again says
Mr.. Hadley, "lie in the arbitrary power
which ii places in the hands of few
men to deal as they will with the busi-
ness of the country. 1t is like taking
refuge from the excuses of Democracy
in an enlightened despotism; but while
there is some truth in the analogy, we
are likely TO carry it too far. Combina-
tion does not produce arbitrary results
any more than competition produces
uniformly bencfcent results"
Taking the view of these experienced
o,,tbn,;,;no NAV bn wall N nan
cede, therefore, that the system of rail
way pools is born of certain neces-
sity. 1t is, at least, choice of two
evils; but when we conccde the right
and justice of this policy on the part of
the railroads, we are forced TO concede
the same right on the part of the en-
ployes of railroads, who, finding com.
petition for labor ruinous to their
hopes of comfortable subsistence, are
compelled to enter into combinations
for their own protection. Here, again,
is the principle of monopoly" intro
duced Mr.. Gould was thinking of
this when he alluded to the seizure of
his road by the strikers as action akin
to that of the Gar in the despotic
character Of the power thus assumed.
So that the pending question is not so
much between oppressor and oppressed,
between tyrant and victim, between
giant and infant, as between two pow
erful forces, of which ruin to one
means ruin to both - starvation
wages" on the one hand and "bank-
rupt competition on the other.
How to bring these seemingly an
tagonistic, but really independent
forces into such relations as shall be to
their mutual advantage and permanent
satisfaction, and equitably adjust the
principles of monopoly involved, is the
problem to be worked out
The causes that have led up to the cx
listing troubles are not of yesterdays, ol
last months, or last years growth; noi
will any Congressional committee iinC
them in four hours examination oi
either Mr.. Gould or Mr.. Powderly; mol
in three weeks trip to st. Louis
Atchison or Fort Worth.
The economic conditions existing to
day have been of comparatively SLOW
development; are the fruit of bat
legislation or legislative neglect, cover
ing quarter of a century; are contem
poraneous with our war history, witt
our reconstruction periods, with on
weak foreign policies, with our gingerly
evasion of commercial opportunities
with the creation of vast public deb
and the fostering Of monopolies on tn,
basis of that debt. In short and NOR
expressively, they are contemporaneou
with the evolution of the tramp
product of the last twenty years.
Consequently the evils with which
we have to deal cannot be eliminated
by single act of Congress. 1t may
require years to undo the many mis-
chiefs that have been wrought ant
place our industrial and commercial
interests upon a wholesome founda
tion. The recovery of our Nationa
equilibrium, now so seriously unbal
anced, cannot be effected in hurry.
All that can be done for immediate
relief must be through friendly arbi
tration, as temporary resource. w
must depend upon the honest and pro
gressive craftsmanship of the country
fortified by an intelligent public opin
ion, to discover and apply the ultimate
panacea.