The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-11-02
TIE APo1oe1sr FOR TRUSTS.

IFrom the New York Journal:l
The progress Of the pulpit toward
position of complete subservience 10
plutoeracy has been materially aceeler-
ated by the Rev. Heber Newton, of
church mistakably christened by its
founders "All Souls" DR.. Newton. it
appears. is for some souls. not for ALL
and just at present is expressing the
kindliest sentiments for trusts and cor
porations, which according to a stu
dent whose fame has Outlived two CEN
turtles. have no souls at all In the
trust DR. Newton finds a distinct eco /
nonic blessing to mankind 1t makes,
he thinks, great economies in produc-
ton and cheapens prices to the con
sumner. Workingmen. he believes.
should exult in the existence Of trusts
because by preventing overproduction
they avert the reaction which follows
a glutted market, and thereby save
labor from being periodically deprived
frankly" continued the reverend gen
tleman in somewhat apologize phrase,
that from my own study of the curl
Gus and remarkable development in the
modern Industrial order, known as
trusts. I believe that the history Of some
of them is full of gray and dangerous
abuses. CT harsh and h -rrowing meth
DDS. of cruel and savage warfare, Of re-
Ientless persecution of opponents, of
bribery and corruption in our legisla-
lures, and of other evils following the
train of such abuses. This, however,
does not prove that trusts in them
selves are an essential and necessary
evil"
This is a curious way for a man pro
Tossing to be a fearless defender Of
of
to express his discovery that under a
certain system of capitalism spoliation,
bribery and corruption have been IN
blushingly practced. Instead of draw
ing a scathing indictment. he offers
hesitating confession The attorney for
the people confesses-the despoiler Of
the people goes unwhipt of justice!
1t would be interesting to learn
through what agencies this shepherd of
All Souls pursued his studies of what
he describes as curious and remark
able developments, but what the Unit
ed States statutes and many state laws
declare criminal conspiraciesand which
most Of the people look upon as indus
trial vampires feeding on the hfe's
blood of producer and consumer alike.
He can scarcely cite an economist of
any standing who viii agree to his
sweeping statement that trusts are ben
efcial either to labor or to consumers
More workingmen have been thrown out
Of employment by the operations OF
monopoustic corporations than that
bosv of the unlearned "overproduction'
ever displaced. More millions have been
unwarrantably and unlaWfully hlched
from the pockets of the people by the
estortions of the Standard oil company,
the coal trust. the nail trust or the
leather trust than were ever made ne
cessary to pay for the alleged lack Of
"lfttle economies under individualistlc
production
Parrot like. Mr.. Newton has but
echoed the arguments OF the ordinary
trust attorney-such as Attorney Cen
eral Olney. for example. He describes
the trust system as cheapening prices,
but does he discover in an age of uni
versaI falling prices that prices OF
goods produced under the trust system
have fallen as fast or faster than those
in which there is free competition be-
tween manufacturers In those Sludies
whereof he speaks with such grave re-
snect has he vet considered whether the
admitted reduction in the price Of oil
under the regime of the Standard Oil
company has proceeded al pace equal
to that. of the decrease year by year in
the price Of oil before the Standard
MONOPOLY became complete2 And has
he stopped TO question whether it is
economy in production or oppression Of
the producers which has enabled the
/ Standard to reduce prices and still earn
Tor its few stockholders wealth beyond
their capacity to spend2 And what Of
the coal trust. of which DR.. Newtons
vice presidential candidate is a princi-
/ pal figure? Is its recent arbitrary adj
vance in the price of coal a boon to
producers or a sign that the miners who
have been suffering gaunt poverty for
years are about to enter upon winter
of plenty and prosperity
The regulation of trusts is as Chi
merieal a notion as would be control of
rattlesnakes through moral suasion
/ They are essentially dominant. If they
exist they viii govern-as they govern
today If they cannot make the laws
they viii elect officers 10 leave them
unenforced-as they have done already
in the United States. A cancer in the
/ body polite, they are to be treated only
with the knife.
DR. Newton has put his pulpit privi-
! Ieges to poor use in apologizing for or
ganized rapacity and oppressiOn.in gid
ing the sins of the rich and forgetting
the sufferings of the poor. in praising
the burden and being deaf to the signs
Of the bearer
/ GOTHAM MODEL TO MARRY.