The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-11-03
SOME FURTHER TRUST" DISCUSSION

SOME FURTHER CARBOHYDRATES
A correspondent writes US as ioiio"s'
The constantly increasing grown "a
controi,ing ana monopolizlng In trade ana
commerce is an interesting STUDY; I
nous and vast interests in artlcles oi
necessity and daily use have peeh ~
soldated and monopolies crea'eu n,trnn,ng
the STANDARD OIL Company CONF , g..'7
the light of the people; the SUGAR ,thaIr
their sweets; the Leather Irus. iaca.
shoes; the Tobacco Trust their s soia
the Whisky Trust all but the rnoonsn.i a,nh
the Beef Trust their meat; the Ma'c,,
Trust that striking necessity, ana 30 vi
further .,.,, Tho
Napoleon l.. being struck WIZ, IN the
wealth OF her jewels displayed py tne
wife Of the gentleman holding lne cVn-
cession of the tobacco trade OF franee'
conceived the idea OF the tobacco nv
nopoly, which still Is a large sour o az
revenue TO the French Government. do
we'll as the governments of Italy, Aus
tria and Spain. The German poE.iu
ment has been trying for years 10 es,tt.,
lish a tobacco monopoiy. pui Cue ovpprcorne.
Here in the United states tne nholop1
lies are private institutions, incorpol,a'e 81
and licensed by law. what the P.uRt,e
the old monarchies consider an unDeaI-
able invasion Of their rights is IN t,ias
free country made easy to establish uhuer
the law and is looked upon as siea1
achievement and tolerated as .iluls s.i. Ia
gradually and by degrees. just recently, 70
10 saw: but. Ike the avalanche, gaming
at every turn. Several or them are az
ready OF gigantic power We may a.
ford TO see them earn and amass
fortunes through their shrewdhess anu
capaclty IN business; but does our III.
terest ston there No, ii ia just where IL
begins. The amassing of vast wealth.
with its attending influence ana power -
the point of danger to the people, Decon-
ing a source Of grave anxiety for our
The session Of the last Congress has al.
ready sounded a warning. should IL Ioe
be Needed? Corporations, although S Soii-
posed of individuals are unlike indiv,e-
uals in their methods and dealings-like
S'o''s anu Drop IN THE BUCKET.
November ], 1885.
The analogy which our correspondent
finds between the tobacco monopoly
established by the governments OF France
Austria, Italy, and Spain, but which the
people of Germany have refused 10 per
nit their government to establish ana 'he
so-cslled monopoly OF a business which
CORPORATION secures ia this country Win
ont the aid of law does not really exist.
When the government OF a country taxes
possession OF a business IL does 80 py
the physical power OF that government
which every one of its citizens must, oil
course. submit to and obey. But the mo-
nonoIv OF a business which a corpora
ton. unaided by law, secures In TINS
country. is a monopoly acquired by SUI
perior industry. management. energy, ana
thrift The one monopoly Is odious. as
beina In derogation of common right. The
question to be determined is, is the other
no
way? The Times cannot see that II Is.
1t is secured fairly by the efforts OF IN
dividuals alone and with no aid OF any
sort from the laws. We hold out TO every
merchant the inducement TO energetic ac-
ton by allowing him TO acquire all the
money he fairly can, and we say to men
that they may work together IN partner
shin and become as rich as possible. Are
we 10 make a distinction between Inc
cases of men who are enormously sue
cessful and become enormously rich, when
working singly or in mercantile co-Opera-
tim and the cases of men who WORK
,oqether under a charter Of incorpora-
ton? 1t seems to The Times that that
is the real question presented for discus
sion. II seems to The Times that the
which are. in fact, but large industrial
corporations, that receive no ala or pro
lection from the laws, is a statement OF
the proposition that limit should De
put to the sphere Of operations or cor
porations. and to the wealth that they
NAV acquire. Ought this to be dohe'
The Times believes II ought not TO De-
If the capital in such corporations should
be limited, why not apply the rule 10
life insurance railroad, or steamship COM
panies?
Our CORRESPONDENT thinks that the dan
ger TO civilization rests I'm the amassinS
of great wealth. We do not We believe
II Is a distinct gain to civilization ana
progress whenever any man ADDS TO MS
stock. and we are always glad 10 near
that an individual Is becoming wealthy
we care not how wealthy-and we always
feel that society has suffered loss wheh
we hear of failure whether 1t Is
| very wealthy man or of one with mod
| crate means. But we repeat that, view
| this case as we may. it Will always come
| back to the question. should we put
| limit upon the sphere Of corporations and
| upon the amount Of money that they may
accumulated The Times believes civiliza-
ton and progress will suffer an ire
| parable loss if this is ever done.
| We know this is not the popular view,
| and If The Times was seeking tempo
| rary popularity at the expense OF SOUND
| principle il would howl with the anti
| trust crowd; but that is not the charac-
| ter The Times has When it sees truth
| clearly it will stand by it and fight for IT,
| let the opposition be what it may, with
| the abiding faith that it will only be
| question OF time when the public VIII
properly understand the case. The anti
| trust" "anti-monopoly" cry is OF piece
with the demand for the independent free
| coinage of silver at 16 to 1 by the United
| States. But there are some people who
believe in that, even now.