The Forrest City times., 1892-01-15
DEMOCRATIC MATTERS.
on irs LAST lEos.
Tas Great mblnr- rrusf- Tsrin Bsh
 Proves . Fsifure.

Proves Failure
 The condition of manufacturing in
 the United States has seldom been more
 uns ,tisfactory than it is now, a year
 after the passage of the tariff bill in
 which the trusts and combines goI
 virtually everything they wanted. The
 increase in the tariff, averaging 10
 per cent on all manufactured goods
 has been followed by general depres- sion m all leading lines Of manufactur- ine. The centralIzing movement still goes on Competition among the states is being abolished and free trade between the states superseded by the Republican monopoly system, under which the corporations in a dozen states unite and reincorporate under the laws of one so as to control the line of production in which they are engaged It Is easy to do this in a market cornered by the prohibitive tariff but the trusts are beginning to find that the policy of extortion does not pay in the long run None of them reached the millenniai condition they looked forward to when they forced the Mckinley bill on the peo- pie. They expected to get pretty nearly everything for little or nothing. but they are not doing it The Massa- chusetts cotton factories have declared lower dividends than in any year since Cleve!and's election. The carpet man. ufacturers have been obliged to un- load on the auction rooms. The prices of steel iron and glass are held up by combination but trade Is dull and depressed. Nowhere are the trusts reaping the harvest they ex- pected-
 This is generally accounted for by the fact that the Mckinley bill forced very heavy advance importations and made it impossible for the home mar ket combinations to dispose of their goods tt the advanced prices they had set on them under the new tariff This had something to do with it. for the time being great deal; but the real cause lies deepe.. and 1t is Monopoly is the death of trade and no enactment of con- gress can make it otherwise There are two self-evident causes. existing in for the failure of the movement in manufac- turing.
 The first is that every increase in price cuts down consumption. Most of the things we call .necesssries of life are really only its comforts. A new carpet new overcoat is bought as comfort twice under normal con- ditions where it is bought once a. a necessity. Under abnormal conditions of monopoly people can and do go on with the old carpet the old ovcrcoat even where they might be able to buy new if they liked. They have the in : stinct of bargain. They will buy at n bargain where they are far from being in absolute nccd of what they buy, and it is only when they do this that trade is active and hourishing. The present system denies them the right of bargain. It's intention is to enable the manufacturer as seller. to fix the price without consulting the buyers needs The result is that, unable to buy at a bargain the con sumner does not buy when he can help it and whenevep such conditions are inaugurated trade tends to it's lowest ebb.
 The second reason for the neces- sary failure Of the monopoly theory of trade isequally seIf-evident and hardly Joaa i,nv.orfont u.ya sho St 1,,;a D1 public. Take the case of trust corporation carrying fifty corporations in different states Of these experi- ence shows that not more than 10 per cent will be highly successful because of ths capacity of the men in charge of them. Perhaps 50 per cent will make living profit and no more. The remaining 40 per cent represent the various stages of incompetency. They are the men who in competitive business are slow in meeting engage ments are never foreh4nded. and rep resent so little business energy and brains that they are drag on busi- ness rather than help to it They have been called the Lame Ducks of business. and fair. competitive trade either forces them to develop energy and brains or else weeds them out to make more room for the energy and brains of others These lame ducks" go into the trusts with great cheerful ness and the trusts have to carry at the expense of the men nf real capacity in the combine. It is the commune of capitar' in earn est and not as a metaphor. and it can no more become permanent than could a commune of poverty. The life is taken out Of productive business under such conditions because competency and incompeteucy are put on. or ap- proximated to. the same level.
 From the start the commune of man. ufacturers was a predestined failure. The system Is retarding the growth of the country and holding back it's trade. But the remedy is at hand. Compe- titiop will be restored. and the ener. gies of American producers will be directed to controlling the markets ol the world
 Speaker Crisp.
 Judge Crisp Is known as an excel L.. T