Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1896-12-24

-ANAN oV"VVAohV VI uuo OuJbCbb huU
purposes of trust. =
Judge Scsrritt referred TO the great
nail trust, whose capital has increased
from nothing to $2OO,OOO,OOO in TWEEN.
ty-fve years, and also the anthracite
coal trust Of Pennsylvania, which
owns six railroads aud two-thirds OF
the anthracite coal lands in the Unit
ed States. He continued:
ut was only during the past week
that the announcement was made in
the daily papers that all the coal
mines in Kansas had been formed
into trust, and only within the last
few days the representatives Of the
same interests in the state of Missouri
had met for similar purpose. 1t is
easy to comprehend what this means
for the people Of Kansas and Mis-
souri,. 1t means q fixed and arbitrary
price for coal without reference to the
supply, and Of course, the price will
be such as to render handsome profit
to the members Of the syndicate"
"The rate of insurance you pay
upon your property, whether person
al or real, IS fixed by one man, who
sits in his Office and decides the
amount you shall pay without refer
ence to the ability and willingness OF
any well-equipped and well-managed
company to sell you insurance at a
much lower rate. Such method
necessarily fixes the rate high enough
to afford profit to the most extravs-
giant and prodIgal company In the
combine, while the more economical
and carefully conducted companies
receive a profit much greater than
they would be willing to accept
under the ordinary rules and compe-
tition of trade.
This excessive profit is the Cohe-
sive power that holds the combine
together. So compact and strong
has this organization become that il
has crushed ont every vestige of op-
position or competition, and controls
and rules the agents Of it's members
with an iron hand. Any attempt on
the part of any agent to violate the
most Inconsiderable rule of the asso-
citation or to discriminate In favor of
a deserving and helpless customer, is
met with the severest and most hu-
initiating punishment, and if persist
ed in his business is absolutely de-
stroyed by the heroic method of pro.
vlding his customers or clients with
policies at a much lower rate than he
can afford, thus compelling the COM
panles he represents to withdraw his
agency or compel him to submit to
the diCtations Of the autocrat who
rules the combine.
During the last sixteen years near
ly every insuranceagen Of import
ance in this city has experienced the
conflict with the trust, with the result
that they are now all subservient mem.
bers of that powerful organization,
regulating the rates Of insurance to
be charged the people at the dictation
of one man, from whose ultimatum
there is no appeal. These illustra-
tions of the power and effect of
monopoly in our own midst are too
powerful to be omitted in a discus
sion Of the subject.
"The latest and most dangerous
tendency toward monopolization in
this country lies up the proposition
Of some Of our most respected, but,
it seems to me, misguided citizens, to
place the power of issuing money in |
the hands Of private citizens or cor
porations. The power to issue the
currency Of the country should reside |
in the government alone. If such |
power IS given to individuals or cor
porations no restrictive laws would |
be strong enough to prevent the use
of that power for the benefit of those
holding il, to the detrIment Of the
people. The same temptation to Gre
ate currency demand would arise as
now arises to create q demand for q
commodity. So called elasticity Of
the currency IN the hands OF private
would be an 'iridescent
dream Its elasticity would be meas.
ured by the financial interests Of those
who control the right to issue it. It
may be a beautiful scheme in theory,
but in practice it would be TO much
Of a strain upon the cupiditY ct the
Of such extraordinary aud