Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1888-08-31
Protection is Not MOnOnOly.


From the Bulletin OF the American Iron
| and Steel Association
A monopoly is defined by Webster to be
''the sole power OF dea ing in any species
of goods, or Of dealing with country or
market, obtained either by engrossins tie
articles in market by purchase or by q
license from go'ernment; sole permission
and power 10 deal; exclusive command or
possession. "
1t Is standing argument with those
who opp Sc q protective tariff hat it creat es
and TO tiers mOnopolies. Governor Hill of
New York, IN speech in BROOKLYN on the
LIST OF November 1877, reiterated this
monopoly argumen, in the following
words: 1--WE believe that the present tariff
Is IN many resp cts a bundle Of absurdi-
ties conceived in much seltshness, and,
instead OF re ievng t e people and encour-
aging legitimate industr es. il serves to
create monopoles . in view OF the enor-
nous unnecessary revenue now being coll
lected il is safe TO believe that much re-
duction can be made in some direction
without mae rlally affecting or njuring
any interest that does not SAVIOR OF mon
opoly. >
NOnopo les are not necessar ly evils, and
great deal of the ind scriminate denun-
citation they receive is unmerited. The
| nited States government Ell oys mon
Opoly OF carrying the mails but il will not
be cOntended that this service would be
better performed IL il were la the hands Of
private II diIiduas Ct competing com
panies. The pennsylvan railroad com
| pany enjoys monopoly OF transporting
freight and passengers through Penn
| sylyania between Phi adelphia and Pitts
burg AMI inter- ediate points, but il
dos its work well and no per
son will contend that the late OF
Pennsylvania and the country at lar1e
would be as far advanced as they are il
the charter OF the company had never been
granted. Every railroad and Their COM
pany VIII oh Is chartered with special
privileges is monopoly, and most COM
panios SO chartered have promoted the
publ welfare even when tonSricuQusly
promoting their own interests. Every
street railway is 10y force circumstances
| a monopoly.
Pullmans pa ace car company Is a
| monopoly on most OF our railroads, and
whether lis ser ice be good or bad all Of
us atroniSo IL when W. 20 away from
home because We cannot help ourselves.
The Adams express company Is mon po-
! ly. J he Western mon telegraph COM
! pany is mo. opoly which has overcome
all opposition and now charges tie public
what { phases the service IL ronders
| il. The own r. o. our silver mines are
monopolists, because everybody can not
own silver mine. The Standard oil
company Is a monopoly. The man who
owns good farm is monepolist as com
pared with the man whl does not own
| farm or home OF any kind. The In ted
States atent Office creates a monopoly
every time il issues patent The Bell
telephone company is great monopoly.
We have mentioned monopolies which
are great pubic bic sings other monolo
| lies witch serve tie public but which draw
| LARGELY upon its patience and often offend
| its sense Of JUS Ice, and still other nlonopo-
| les which ought not To exist oil created
and maintained without the assistance or
| cOuntenance OF any tariff legislation what
ever. Tariff iegsla ion has had no more
to do with them than the man in the
moon. But none of these are the monopo-
! lies to which GOV trnor Hill and other
opponent Of our prot, ctive policy refer.
! Tn ir ndigna ion is reserved for those
manufacturers who risk ali that they pos
sess in building factories to-day for the
employment OF their cOuntrymen and
tomorrow may see them closed aud them
selves bankrupted by free trade legis "a
ton at Washington.
What monopolles has protection created
and where are they TO be found? All the
leading productive industries o. the coun-
try are more or less protected by tariff
legislation against foreign competition;
our agricultural m ming and manufacture
ing industries are so protected. Which
one OF these industries Is monopoly?
, Which one Of them is in the exc usive
possession OF any man or set OF men? We
deny explicitly and positively that prOtec
ton has created or now maintains en-
one III onopoly in this country, TN the
contrary. he tendency and the intention
of protection are TO encourage enterprise
and investments by many persons, so that
industries may be developed by many
hands and competition created. The
effect of competition always is To reduce
prices. All the leading manufacturing
industries in this country have been
created b. our protective policy. and the
building up Of these industries has in
every instance c,used reduction of
prices There is not a manufactured pro-
duct Of any kind that Is not much cheaper
in this country today than IL was before
protection had Tsde its production on
large scale possible. All tn Is the exact
opposite OF monopoly.
Combinations OF producers to restrict
production or TO ia Sc prices, which may
or may not he justiiiable, and which are
OF the essence OF monopo y. a g no more a
conSe luen of Profession than are com
binations among workingmen to raise
wages. The knights OF labor do not exist
10y virtue OF an act Of congress. Combina-
tons Of producers have been as common
in free trade Engla d as In our own coun-
try. They are a product OF human nature
and not Of any economic policy. What
has the tart 2, for instance, had to do with
our wheat rings, pork rings, lard rings,
cotton ed trusts, cattle trusts and the
whisk ring Coal and coke combinations
may or may not e ectionable as the
cas- may be. but the iai = Is not respon-
sible for them. An hracite coal has teen
on the free list for any years, an4 1t Is