St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-08-01
Gbe CALIFORNIAN.
EDWARD BELLAMY ON TRUSTS.

On Saturday, July 20, Edward
BeIlamy, author of that wonderful
book, Looking Backward" spoke
at the Deerfield summer school on
trusts and their relation to the Ma
tional' movement which his book
describes. Mr.. Bellamy spoke as
follows
The most significant phenomenon
of the day, considered in any aspect,
is the syndicate, or, as it has more
generally come to be called, the trnst.
1t cannot be said that there is any
tendency on the part of the people
at large to underestimate its impor-
lance. BelshaZzar saw the hand
writing on the wall no doubt in a
good deal the same spirit in which
thoughtful men and women contem-
plate the trust What does this ire
mendous revolution in business prin-
ciples and methods mean? Does it
portend veal or ruin for the people!
What is the proper way to regard 1t,
and how does 1T behOOve us to deal
with it? The object of the trust is
to limit, and, so far as possible, put
an end to competition. The trust is
the beginning of the end of competi-
ton. But why has the trust come
Just at this time? Why has the COM
petition system shown such weak
ness just now? Our answer to this
question is one that disposes abso-
lutely of the theories which are oc-
casionallv aired in the press, that
the present tendency to combination
is but transient phase of economies,
destined soon to give way to the old
order of things. There are three
stages in the evolution of all indus
try. First, the stage of isolation;
second, the stage of competition;
third, combination and consolida-
ton. Isolation is the time when,
owing to lack of communication and
transportation, industry enjoys a
natural monopoly in its immediate
neighborhOod. A certain degree of
competition may indeed exist, but it
is sluggish With the railroad, the
steamship and the telegraph came
the end of isolation. With these in
ventiOns the ends of the earth were
brought together and competition
fully begun. Every artisan, every
business man became q rival of the
other, not only in his own neighbour
hood, but in the whole civilized
world. How desperate this world
wide struggle has been with its in
credible waste of men and resources,
who does not know? There are few
indeed who do not bear in their
bodies or their souls the scars of the
civil warfare.
But why is it that this frenzy of
competition is giving way to the
trusts? Simply because steam and
the telegraph and the whole multi
tude of modern inventions have not
only abolished the limitations of
distance upon industrial effort, but
are more and more abOliShing the
size of the aggregat1Ons of capital
which 1t is possible to use effectually
under one management. Today,
there are no limits save the earth's
confines to the scope of any business
undertaking, and not only no limit
to the amount of capital that can be
used by one concern, but an increase
in the efficiency and security of the
business proportionatet to the amount
of capital in it. The small businesses
have been disappearing before the
large; the process has not been so
rapid as many people imagine. 1t
has been going on for 20 years.
Those syndicates are largely foreign.
Our new industrial lords are largely |
absentees The British are invading
the United States in these days with
a success brilliantly in contrast with
their former failures in that line
Eventually, and at no distant period,
if this continues, society must be di-
vided in a few hundred families of |
prodigious wealth on the one hand,
a professional class dependent upon |
their favor, but excluded from equal |
ity and reduced to the state of lack |
eys, and underneath a vast pOpula |
ton of wOrking-rnen and women,
absolutely without hope of lettering
condition which would year by |
wear sink more and more hOpelessly |
into serfdom. This is not an eXag |
gerated statement. Which way then |
lies the delivery? If the nation does |
not wish to turn over its industries
and that means its liberties as we'll
to an industrial oligarchy, there is
but one alternative, it must assume
them itself Plutocracy or national
ism is the choice that within o years
the people of the United States will
have virtually decided upon. The
argument is not with the national
lists. Nothing is more certain than
that we cannot make a revolution
unless the facts are with us. Mr..
Bellamy then defined nationalism as
the union of a people to use the col
lective strength for the common pro-
lection and welfare. The nation of
the future will be a great partner
ship. SeIhshneSS would be wiped
out and the government would mete
out Justice and wisdom on every
hand
THE MONUMENT AT PL YMOUTH.
Thursday, August /, promises to
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