The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-09-16
WATCHING THE TRUSTS.

One thing tnat the thinking men Oh
this nation hare feared as much as an
other is the trust. The combine has
been watched from its infancy and with
anything but loving eyes.
With few exceptions the trust has
been voracious and grinding. BY a
combination, first by agreement and
then solidiiied and then strengthened by
war on the smaller concerns, the trust
has been able To make itself appear for
miGable As its purpose is gain and it
begins by wiping out the element of
competition which is and has always
been an essential TO commercial life the
trust, from its incipiency has merited
the righteous condemnation OF every
mah who has to eat and live.
The hatred of corporations which is
the great popular feeling towards them
in this country has always been ag-
gravated by the realization of the people
that there is seemingly no way in which
to combat them. Many states have
passed trust laws, aimed specifically at
these greedy organizations. and rigor-
Gus and forcible in every detail. But
the trusts have managed to circumvent
these laws and it is a notorious fact
ton. yet known to man, stops at moth
ing where money will open the way, no
matter how used.
From the fact that the trusts would
seem to be all-powerful, from the fact
that it destroys the smaller concern and
is greedy to grinding, and from the fact
that TO gain its end it is unprincipled,
there are some thousands of eyes in this
country today watching the struggles of
the combines with interest. 1t is hard
to tell what will become of them. That
many are on the road to dissolution
there is little doubt. The railroads are
beseiged with receivers; and those which
are free, are quarreling all
the time among themselves, and
at rare intervals act with
anything like unanimity. The great
Dlstiiling trust appears TO be on its last
legs, and half dozen other organiza-
tions, it will be seen by reading the
news from Wall street, are tottering.
Nobody is particularly sad about it
either, nobody but the officers in the
concerns who are favored with enor-
nous salaries.
But in the struggle which the trusts
AMI the combines are now having there
is much hope. 1t leads to the belief
that it is quite possible that the trust
will collapse of its own weight. Power,
unlimited power, begetS arrogance in an
the same as in a man and
most of the combinations which have
been formed in this country have been
arrogant to the people. They have
raised the price rather than diminished
it in many cases. They have central
lied and concentrated their factories
and industries and thrown many out of
work and employment. That many
combines have carried their voracity to
an outrageous point has been said again
and again.
But right now it appears to be be-
ginning to react. They have over-shot
healthy and strong. But it has raised
the price of its product to point where
the consumption of crackers has been
and ii Will feel the effect
of that diminution soon, if that combine
has not already.
1t will be happy day for humanity
in this country when the combination,
whose chief characteristic is greed, is
gone. The small concern must and will
exist in normal conditions. And the in
dications now are that the combine is
going to disappear.