Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1890-08-30
TRUSTS AND MoNopo, r..
""' 'ne fuohc Regulation Of g.
lions VIII VI NOmhi-

| ~IieS
'0 .' uDnc Regulation Of c.
'iohs VIII Lead To. O@e'nA,
AN actual trust Of stror,
the power to make outsida type ha
perilous. 1t may push prico. irlValry
the point where new estab1s., oeyond
would ordinarily be created o-s nrnena
point where they are in danger ANU :, 70 the
created in the face of the sneo ~ being
When the profits of the cor rIlal risk.
tempt men to take the chances - o.,iatlon
and-death battle with il hie.
must stop. The interest Of tb oA'Ortlon
and especially of the worLiro ~" :, public,
mands that it should stop far r,@ 80, De-
the limit thus set; yet there eo within
be no clearly defined economic Ems "a, to
ence that can compel it to do % 1luO'
FAR as potential competition !, I"
cerned, the public NAV sufFor con-
from the eXactions of trpsts much
workmen may experience mora ~ sus
their due proportion of the av,, 'uaa
there, then, further Is
ence that can be do. -uAa'
on to curtail extortion? Opr Ip p!d
/ perlence answers the Questions NJ SR
attitude of the people toward trn.. me
poses check on their action thu iu u
beginning to take a defnable sbon"
does not follow that the mana1o- u
combinations care for the people in .
least; there is limit to the evtn. Ie
| which they can afford to ant,,a.."
them. Public action will tale 9 VI
only when there is considerable Paw, ~.
son for it, and it is good rolior
avoid giving such reason. Tho oos,.
OF the people, when it takes A nos;t,'
shape, is in the main THROUGH cor..
and Legislatures. But can not 49,
own court and Legislature? PosSibl9
yet it may prove more difficult than I.
has been for corporations to own tbo,'
Back of the court and the Legislature =
a contest with trusts, stand the naor,a
Labor organizations are, in this coa
nect1on, positive and welcor..
factor. They enable the gena,,I
opposition of the people Of s,s
monopolies as we are discu,d,s
to make itself felt in a wav M,
would otherwise be out of the onesao.
They control votes that Legislatn,a,
courts and, Indirectly trusts nm,
respect. We are entering an era \
public regulation of monopolies. Ws
are making our first experiments in a..
quiring the art of such regulation. Thu
monopolies are here to stay; and wbils
| they have, by reason of latent connect.
| ton, far less power than careless
thought attributes to them, thew have
power enough to make energetic public
action moral certainty in the near
future. We shall not need to own these
monOpolies if only we can wisely REQ.
ulate them. That, however, is the
nature of the alternative that is pre.
sented: Buy out monopolies or control
them" is the word. Possibly, in the
buying out of monOpolies, some would
have us omit the formality of paving
for them. Socialism everywhere look,
| for the absorption of trusts by the
state with or without confscation
Sound thinking substitutes regula.
hon for ownership; and events are
in way, to decide between the
two in a summary manner. A public
action that shall wisely and successful
ly regulate trusts will make actual So
cialism very remote contingency. 1t
will be, in the end, welcome to the
trusts themselves. A moderate gain
that is lawful and safe will be more at.
tractive to capital than large one that
is irregular and perilous. The public
reg 5UrrrU vIfTn{ UKdT
casts it's shadow before, and the
shadow is an ever widening one.
While decision of court
or legislative statute is imminent it
affects the action not onlyo the trusts
that is directly touched by it, but of all
others. Potential public action, like
potential competition, keeps extortiOn
within bounds. One actual decision
one actual limiting statue, has the eff
feet of holding a lash over all
organizations of the kind that
it actually strikes. What we
now see is the beginnings
of the process-a few decisions,
many bills not yet passed, some tenta
tive work with commissions. But these
mere beginnings suffice to throw some
restraint on the action of monopolies
The perfecting of the system of regula-
ton may involve a painful and costly
process; but it can only end by trans
lating US into a new economic era, one
in which the state, on the one hand,
and an industrial society on the other
will see what is their true relation to
each other, and will spontaneously as
sumo it. We may theorize as we will
about the limits of state action; studies
in this direction have a speculative in
terest. Events are giving us a science
of the relation of the state to industry
almost faster than we can make one IN
the study. B. Clark, in New En-
glander and Yale Review.