The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-12-27

smaShes when the evil day arrives
Coming now to the still greater COM
bination Of corporations into trusts, we
find that they are uniformly unsuccess-
full. For a time everything goes well,
the grip Of the monopoly upon the peo-
pie does not relax. prices and produc-
ton are controlled better, and the
consumer is an unresisting victim. But
'the opportunities for acquiring i'm
mense fortunes are too great for hui
man cupidity. Men within the trust,
seeing 1T gather millions, turn It's OPP
erations SO that part Of the golden
tide will flow into their private Golfers.
Men without the trust speculate in it's
securities. and bring it to utter col
lapse, even If it's internal affairs were
well managed. So far, every trust that
is not fortified by natural monopoly
of supplies has gone to the bad The
trust perishes from bigness. 1t falls
apart Of its own weight 1t has trans
crossed what we believe to be an inn
mutable natural law by attempting to
carry on through human agencies en-
terprises that are larger than the hui
man measure.
Now, this same principle applies with
the idea Of indemnifying every body
against loss. The insurance compa-
MES have done their work admirably
and are immensely successful, because
they confine their risks to a field which
it is clearly possible for ingenuity and
capital to cover. Loss Of life, loss by
fire, loss by shipwreck, loss by storm
are calculable over periods Of years
by averages. 1t is a simple transac-
ton to figure out the premium and to
give an absolutely good guarantee. II,
however, any insurance company
should attempt to pay losses to every
applicant for life policy, without re-
gard to physical condition or medical
examination, to owners Of all struc-
lures without regard to construction,
situation or use, to all vessels wheth-
er seaworthy or not, either they would
go into quick insolvency together, or
they would have to charge such pre-
not afford to pay. At once appears the
impossibility Of extending the guar
antee system beyond certain limits.
The bond indemnity companies oc-
field. They do large and fourishing
business. So with the various other
forms of insurance for benefit or
against loss that have been devised
and adapted to limited ideas and areas.
Somewhere the line must be drawn.
When it comes to guaranteeing the
bonds of great cities, which issue them
by the millions, the question at once
occurs, where can we find capital ade-
quate to the task, and willing to go
into it, for such compensation as
would be given? No city with good
credit would pay any premium worth
mentioning for guaranteeing it's bonds.
No investor in such bonds would sac
rifice any considerable part Of the
profit, because, unless the guarantee
was backed by hundreds or thousands
of millions of actual capital, it would
not be worth any more than the guar
antee Of the community itself against
which the bonds are issued
five take the next step, to a guar
anteeing of bank deposits, we seem to
get out Of the region of the feasible
altogether. These deposits run up into
the billions in the United States. There
is already pledged to their redemption
a great part Of the free capital of the
country. Under the law of stockhold-
ers' liability that prevails in most Of
the states, the depositor has recourse
to the best protection that he could
get. Who would be the members Of a
. corporation able to guarantee such Sc
curities if not these very bankers
themselves? Their is no outside capt.
tai adequate to the task. tt would
amount, in the long run, to about as
much as the offer of a man to indorse
his own promissory note, as If that
gave additional security.
We come back to the old question,
quj custodes custodiunt, who shall
guard the guardians? Who shall take
care Of the caretakers? We can easily
pass the limits of the practicable in
the endeavor to reach an impossible
security, that is beyond the human ac-
complishment? Just as there are GER
tain misfortunes incident to the course
of nature, storm, famine and pesti-
lence which we cannot withstand, so
there are mutabilities in human affairs
against which we must eventually
strive in vain Combination can do
much within the limits to which 1t is
restricted 1t is not strong enough to
change human nature. When we have
reached "a certain point, we fall back
upon integrity, prudence and skill in
the man. esThat is the soil out Of which
grow all enterprise and all success
That the world can ever be guaranteed
against absence or failure of these is
utterly chimerical.
NOT STRICTLY DEFINED.
To the Editor of the Globe.