The herald., 1897-08-12
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: KILLING TRUSTS
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When I first began to write I sent off
an article in which l had the sentence
-"Reforms are easy
The article was, for many good rea-
sons, returned, but some critic had writ
ten in pencil by the sentence, Reforms
are easy" the words Are they?"
The absurdity of the statement had
not before struck me, and when 1 came
to examine the article more closely
found some more statements foolishly
based on what ought to be instead OF
what is One who is young in business
is quite apt to think reforms are easy
and that is the trouble with most re-
formers. They are young in knowledge
of the worlds business methods, and toe
many of them are also young in the busi-
ness of reform. The fact is that nothing
is harder than reform.
This is why the east appears to move sc
slowly in the matter of trusts Many OF
us seem to think eastern people ike
trusts They like them still less than we
do and they see more of their evils. They
are better posted on them, just as they
are on the tramp question, because they
have it nearer home and had wrestleG
with it years before we knew anything
of it. Where the business of the country
is done is where the evil Is most appar-
ent. There the remedy will be. worked
out and we will have to bide our time
in patience.
The reason of the delay is not very
hard to find The west is not the bust.
ness part of the Union and knows lit.
10 of ht1-s st,a t- ;-t,, y,
it is disturbed the producer suffers as
well as the business man. But the bust.
ness men of the land know too we'll what
trifles disturb business and how impos.
sible it is even for the wisest to foretel
the effect of a change in laws that affec
business methods. A good instance Of
this is the New York code drawn many
years ago by one of its ablest lawyers
and approved by commission of low
yers and by the bar generally, to simplif!
proceedings in court. The result was
twenty odd years of the most vexatious
litigation ever known-vexatious to tn,
lawyers who had to pay costs and never
knew where they We're standing-twenty
years more of considerable litigation anG
uncertainty, a perfect library of decis-
ions explaining the meaning of the sim
plest sentences, and none too much GER
tainty yet. Those states, like New Jer-
sey, Illinois, Pennsylvania and many oi
the southern states, that clung to the
old practice, provoking as it was, have
Jared far better in the long run and
with few notifications, have today g
practice that is even better in many
ways than that of New York and moi
half so voluminous. This is the way
many great reforms have worked, and il
is not strange that people in the older
countries where stability is the first ell
ement of business should want to move
slowly in the war on trusts.
The first principle of trusts, that OF
limiting production to the demands OF
business SO as to have no waste, is good
in itself. The trouble has been in its ap-
plication. We have seen more people
injured in California from -produc-
ton than were benefited by the temper
ary low prices. Potato raising has been
a notable example, one year people
bankrupted by too many raising pota-
toes the next year the consumer paying
twice too much because the low prices Of
the preceding year drove too many ou
of the business. So it has been in iron
coal and hundreds of things, and mos
of the ups and downs of business have
been caused in this way. So, too, the
combination of capital is just as essen
tial for many Of our most necessary i'm
provements as labor and it is equally
certain that combination of capital car
make things cheaper for the consumer
and in some cases should be allowed
TO do ;e- - I.
right line. For too many of the principles
that sustain trusts are also the founda.
ton of all legitimate business.
Secretary Sherman is no doubt right
when he says the trust question is the
most serious one with which we have to
deal. But the laws of business, which
are not found in books, are also the most
delicate things with which we have tc
deal, and the laws that are in books have
been made by them. For mercantile
law is crystallized mercantile usage and
business will either make its own laws OF
get around laws that do not suit it, The
maxim that bad law that is certain is
better than good law that is uncertain
is by no means confined to the lawyers
1t is the foundation of all business The
instant you introduce uncertainty you
begin to paralyze business, although the
effects may not at once be seen.
The older community is in business
prosperity the more certain are it's trad.
ers that they cannot tell the effect of any
change. The keepers of peanut stands
who have been in the business a year
know all about it. Hence old countries
move more slowly in matters of reform
and consequently we cannot expect tc
see the east move as fast as we wish
We shall gain nothing by clamor and in
sisting that all the great business sec.
tions of the nations are under the con.
troll of the trusts while we are the only
independent freemen. There are states
where more business is done in a single
county-not counting the big cities
than is done in any state in the west
These sections are feeling the effect Of
the trusts more than we are. The con.
suiner has no special compla int agains
the sugar trust or Standard Oil company
because the price of each has been re.
duced in a great degree. 1t is the rail
road that is bulldozed by them, the re.
taller and manufacturer that is driver
out of business by them that has the
fault to find. They have been complain.
ing long time. The trust nuisance is
nothing new to the east, and there are
few outside of the trusts there that like
them, but the question is how to muzzl.