The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-04-07
THE CoRPoRArIoN PROBLEM.


THE CORPORATION PROBLEM.
As might have been expected the collapse
of the Standard Oil trust is followed by an
elaborate Justification In a New York paper
of the doctrine that the concentration Of
capital in manufacturing, commercial and
transportation enterprises Is to be fostered,
not hampered by law. The general pTinci-
pie that more can be made by combination
of capital than by individual effort when
udicouSly managed is SO plain that it needs
no demonstration; as matter of theory the
more money that is enlisted in business
enterprise the more likely il is to enrich the
parties concerned. 1t may also be admitted
that million can do things which ten thou
sand dollars cannot do; aud as few persons
can afford to invest million in one enter
prise the money must be got in parcels from
the many. 1t is true, as the Tribune OBJ
serves, that the tendency of the age is TO
extend the principle of combination to bust
eSses which have heretofore been in the
hands OF individuals. and conducted for in
diyidual profit only.
This is about rs far as the public can go
In concurring with oar New York contem-
porary The point which the TTjbHn CLOSES
over is that the tendency of concentra-
tlons OF capital In the hands OF great cor
poratlOns is to destroy competition and TO
leave the public at the mercy of the corpora
ti0nS All experience teaches that there is
no safeguard for the public against eXtor-
ton except competition. The tendency of
every puryeyor OF a necessary Of life is to
charge all he can get for it; he is only re-
strained from taxing his consumers TO the
utterm0st verge Of their endurance by tie
knowledge that such a course would speedily
generate rivalry In hio trade. If one man
owned all the sugar in the world he might
charge an eXorbitant price for sugar, and
would probably only stop at the point where
further advance would stop consumption.
II IS not possible that one man could own all
the sugar in the world. but there is nething
TO prevent a corporation like the sugar
trust, with practically unlimited capital ana
interruptions methods. from substantially
doing so. And the purpose of every combi-
nation of capital being to make money, re-
CARELESS of other considerations, it is in the
nature Of things that they should try to put
up the price TO the exact point where fur
tner advance would stop conSum ption 1t is
here where the law should come in to pro-
tect the public. II is contrary to public
policy that the great body Of consumers
should live at the mercy of those whose in
terest it is TO bleed them to death: and
therefore the law should set limits OH the
power Of corporations
This is q very old story. All through his
tory privileged classes have reduced The
poorer classes to practical servltude by in
geniouS schemes Of taxation. 1t was all
done under the forms of law, and in accord
anea with precedent. The mOnarchs were
strictly within the letter of the law when
they taxed the peasant so that every penny
that was not needed for his bare subsist-
ence went into their Golfers for the support
Of their armies, or for the qualification OF
their eXtrayagances. The kings have lost
their power; in their stead, corporations
have arisen. The methods are changed,
too. The corporations do not operate
through armed tax-gatherers, with soldiers
at their back. They proceed more insIdi-
ously. Each of them chooses his particular
field of action. One takes coal, another
sugar. another cordage. another steel plates,
another nails. others transportation and
by deXterous manipulation they get control
of all sources of supply, render competi-
ton impossible. establish monopolies, and
charge so much for their wares that, as in
the old fendal days. the people are reduced
to practical seryitude, while the stock
holders in the corporations gradually alb
sOrb their property.
Clearly the power to establish such dis
tincti0n of classes is a dangerous power,
which ought not to be intrusted to capital
lists without safeguards against its abuse.
When corporation raises the price of an
article OF prime necessity, such as railroad
transportation, TO such a degree that the
producer is merely working for the cor
pOratiOn there ought TO be some authority
which can call halt and emancipate the
individual from corporate desp0tism. When
the Tribune AYERS that tie establishment of
this or that trust has cheapened the article
in which it deals it tries to deduce a general
rule from an exceptional premise. 1t is of
the nature of m0nopolies to charge all the
traffic will bear.
II is also Irrelevant to quote TO us the
example OF England. where limited liability
companies are embarking in every branch
of business. We are not just now going to
England for lessons in political economy:
if we were we might be concerned to in
land, with all its trade, all its manufac-
lures aud all its high agriculture, three
millions of people are so destitute that it is
proposed to transport them to Australia at
the public expense, and to stock farms for
them with the public money. A policy
which yields such fruits can hardly be one
to follow. at least without consideration.
The corporation question will probably
for many years be the problem of the future.