Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1892-09-02
TARIFFS, TRUSTS AND TRAMPs.
1t Is Just ~ Plain That Our Tariff Pro-
notes Trusts That Drunkenness
Breeds Crime.

notes Trusts as That Drunkenness
Breeds Crime.
The June supplement 81 the New
York World, edited by Hon. John De
Witt Warner, Is made up OF zone hun
bred samples" of tariff trusts, under the
heading: "Conspiracies TO Crush Com
petition, Restrict Product, Raise Prices
md Lower Wages" These trusts en-
brace most OF the articles on which we
have effective tariff duties. Among the
officers Of these trusts will be found
hundreds of names published in the
New York Tribune's list OF millionaires,
thus In part, at least, answering the
Tribune's question as 10 whether or not
the tariff makes millionaires We quote
the following from Mr.. Warmers preface
TO these articles:
TRUSTS are a consequence of hui
man selfishness working under the new
conditions of industrial development
Not all of them are consequences of the
tariff any more than all crime is a re-
suit of drink. 1t is just as plain, how
ever, that our tariff promotes trusts as
that drunkenness breeds crime.
For, in any industry, whose prod
uct our government protects by n
tariff upon similar articles made abroad,
II is In the power of home manufacture
ers TO extort from our people the full
tariff rate as bonus for their own
rockets; whereas II IL were not for the
tariff, no combines would work unless
IL included the whole world AS to
protected industry, therefore, the tariff
IA -, -, 80
than IL would otherwise be- as 1t is
easier successfully to combine the few
manufacturers of a single nation than
It is TO get and keep together in har-
mony many times as many manufact-
urers, scattered all over the world
monopoly once secured, the results
are:
"First-These combines, covering US
they do many great branches of pro-
tected manufacture, and affecting many
others, raise the price Of manufactured
goods, so that the consumer gets less
for the same amount Of money. II Is
generally the case also that large pro
portion Of the concerns which have
combined together are those which can
not mpnufacture the manufactured
goods as economically as the others
The ordinary course has been TO pay
such a certain price for remaining idle,
leaving all of the product to be made at
manufactures which can produce II
most cheaply, while instead OF return
ing this benefit in cheaper goods to the
public and TO wage earners in other In
dustrles, the combine keeps up the price,
not merely TO afford eXhorbitant profit
to the plants still kept at work, but to
pay TO the idle manufactures the bonus
agreed upon for their remaining non
productive.
''Second-The object of trust com
bine is TO make large profits on linn
tied product. If successful, therefore,
the members of trust make up, by the
high rate Of their profits, what they
lose by the. smallness of their sales, and
they are, therefore, just as well off as
though, by selling goods more cheaply,
they made larger sales 1t is tho
amount Of goods 10 be manufactured,
and not the profit that the employer IN
TO make out of each item, that deter
mines the demand for labor and tho
wages he must pay. A trust combine
in protected industry Is, therefore, an
arrangement by which, government
keeping out foreign competition, our
manufactures take advantage of this
fact, and, making our people pay
enough more for the few goods they
are able TO buy, keeps profits as large
as they would have been from sales at
a more reasonable price while employ
ing less labor and at lower wages than
otherwise. Trusts, therefore, enable
manufacturers TO make the most money
by employing the least labor.
'"Third-The more closely organized
the combine OF employers In any one
industry, the better able are they 10 con-
| quer their laborers In disputes as TO
wages or hours. OF course employers
could organize for this purpose even
though not for the other, Late expert
ence, however, has shown, as might have
been expected, that combines, original
ly formed 70 increase the price of goods,
or restrict production, have been the
most frequent foundation OF a combine
successfully TO cope with labor organ
| izations."
-VisltOr-''Does the tailless ape show
any more intelligence than the other
apes2' Keeper--"Well, he seems 70
DO more interested than the others when
people are talking politics my. Her
aid.
--"What makes the milk SO warm?'
said Betty 10 the millsman when lac
brought the pail 10 the door one morn
os'.Please, mum, the pump-handle's
| I,sp,sxl mlssus took the water from
a s,po Sse,s Magazine.
mo-. ~ ~ been reading
- 81 49, |. sas