The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-03-08
TIE WAR ON TRUSTS.

Mr.. Cleveland's inaugural cuts cut work
for his party quite as important rs the re-
form If the tariff. On the subject of trusts
it said:
The existence Of immense aggregaiions Of kin
dred enterprises and eOmbina ions OF business
interests, formed for the purpose OF limiting pro
duction and fixing prices, is Inconsistent with
he fair field which ought 10 be open to every
independent activity. Legitimate strife in bust
ness should not be superseded by enforced con-
cesslons to the demands Of combinations that
have the power to destroy; nor should the peo-
ple 10 be served lose the benefit OF The cheapness
which usually results from wholesome competi-
ton. These agCre cations and combinations ire
Quently constitute cons plracies against the in
terests OF the people. and in all their phases
they are unnatural and opposed to our American
sense Of fairness. To The extent they can be
reached and restrained by Federal power the
General Government should relieve our citizens
from their interference and exaciiOns.
The legislation which is here f0reshad-
owed presents problems far more difficult
and intricate than any which are involved
in questions of customs duties. When Mr.
Blaine, on his return from Europe, was
told that the question of the hour was the
question of trusts. he hastily replied with
out stopping to consider that in his opinion
~ uSAo Ntt0 lOl Eci1 ludbbEIo Ol bElfdLt GOl-
Germ. Subsequent reflection led him to
modify this view.
And yet n superficial glance at the case
quite explains his first. opinion. At first
blush there seems to be good deal to be
said in justification of trusts and combines.
A has a right to go into the manufacture of
an article of consumption, let us say boot
jacks. BE has a right to take B, c and d
nnrtuarsDip Wit in ha IN al M CO
of making bootjaeks. Is there any legal
objection to his admitting to the firm E, F.
6 and Fl and all the other letters of the
alphabet, so that at last all the manufac-
tuTers of bootiacks are embraced in one
combine? We may go a step further. a,
b & Co. find that they are making more
boOtjacks than the market wants. What
more natural than that they should shut
down one or more Of their factories so that
consumption shall overtake production?
They surely break no existing law in so
doing.
Yet the example once set, it is extended
to ali other classes of manufactured goods
sugar, refined oil, cordage nails. iron wire
and everything that can be imagined.
Producers of all these various articles COM
bine to form one firm. and, being secure
from competition, fix the price so as to
eXtOrt fortunes out of consumers, and to
Restrict production so as to throw large
bodies of workmen out of employment. BY
combining they defeat the natural tendency
Of all products of human industry to &C.
cline in price with the increase of pro-
ducers and with improvements in produc-
ton. Here is a substantial wrong which
the law should remedy. If it does not 1t is
case Of casus omissus, an evil which has
grown up since the existing laws were
framed, and was not in the contemplation
of lawmakers when the codes were drawn.
The action of the PARTIES who combine con-
stitutes n conspiracy against the public
| welfare, which is none the less criminal
because it had not been provided against by
laws which were enacted before the con-
! spiracies were born. The problem which
Mr.. Cleveland proposes TO tackle is how to
crush those consDiracies without crcum-
scTibing the natural liberties of the citizen
The antitrust legislation which has been
enacted by several States in the Union is a
beacon light for the guidance of Congress.
| Six or eight States. perhaps more. have
| passed laws against trusts and combines.
! They have all proved dead letter. Some
! of them were so crude that it was impOssi.
! bic even to try to put them in force. They
| were pIONOuuCbu ny Inc courts inconsistent
4 with the bill of rights In the Federal con-
! stiuton. Trusts flourish as vigorously as
/ ever under the very mise of the antitrust
lawmakers. There is not single instance
| in which trust has been crushed out by
| law; for the dissolution Of the Standard
| Oil trust was voluntary. and the New York
| decisions against the sugar trust have left
! that institution as lively as ever.
Mr.. Cleveland has now substantially IN.
| dertaken to do that which State Legisla-
lures and State courts have failed to accom-.
! plish. The people will take him at his word
and will hold him responsible if he cannot
fulfill his undertaking. The job is feasible
! 1t is not to be supposed that our codes oil
! law are fnality, or that with the develop
ment of wealth and civilization no new
| offenses or crimes will be invented. On the
contrary, it is quite certain that every eyo
luton of human industry will give birth &c
new wrongs which will require new RENE.
dies for their abatement. Statute books
are full of enactmenis against offense:
which could not have been committed in tn
era which preceded The railroad and the
telegraph. So now the evolution of com.
| merce and industry. through increased ac.
eumulations Of capital and sharpened inge.
nuity. has yielded a by-product in the
shape of trusts, which it devolves upor
sound legislation TO suppress by new laws