The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-07
AN UNNOTED FEATURE.

AN UNNOTED FEATURE.
Fifty and more years ago the spell
Ing books that taught the budding in
tellects the wonderful and inexplica-
bic mysteries of our orthography re-
lieved the tedium of memorizing arbi-
trary words with interludes of moral
allegories, illustrated with rude wood
cuts. One Of these represented a father
endeaVoring to overcome the quarrel
someness Of his sons by showing them
how easily a rod was broken when
taken sfngfy and how impossible Of
fracture when the several rods were
grouped into single bundle. The
moral was obvious; united the boys
had power of accomplishment and re-
sistance that, individual lized by antag-
onisms, they could not have The gen
erations since have utilized the lesson
of the allegoTy, if they have not over
come fully the difficulties of orthog-
raphy. The development of the appIi-
cation of the counsel of the old man
of the spelling book, especially within
the last quarter century. has taken a
direction and at length reached a point
where it is attracting the attention Of
the country; and, while Legislators, rep
resenting a popular feeling of opposi-
ton, are attempting 10 suppress the
outgrOwth, others are asking whether
it is the crisis of a disease or the de-
velopmert of new and permanent con-
ditiors under processes strictly evoIu-
tiOnary
The tendency toward consolidation of
effort is natural and universal Labor
as represented by the artisan class,
unites to resist decrease Of wages, Sc
cure advance and to compel attention
and respect by movements in mass,
command. Railways early began the
process of consolidating individual lines
into systems. Men dealing in articles
of limited area of production, like pc
the strength of unity and secured it,
either by common consent or compuI-
sion. The movement grew with the ac-
celebration of the SNOWFALL rolled over
damp snow and gathering magnitude
by virtue of it's own accretfons. With
in fifteen years we have seen the de-
veIopment of the trust in all branches
of industry and, rising with and against
it, a popular antagonism that has
found expression in hostile enactments
strengthened as trial proved their in
efficiency. Political platforms have In
Weighed against them. and presidents
have pointed them out as objects SO
formidable and threatening as to war
rant a place in their fnaugurals and
messages Committees of legislative
bodies have investigated them, and the
powers of the judiciary have been in
voked to suppress them.
And still the trusts and combinations
exist, and the tendency to absorb and
consolidate goes increasingly on. Ju-
dicIal prosecutions have failed, and
legislative bills have proved innocu-
Gus. Where judgments have been OBJ
tanned, as in the case of the whisky
trust, another one was Immediately re-
organized upon the same lines and re-
ceived judicial recognition in the order
confirming it's purchase of the property
of the trust il superseded. Some have
gone to pieces under the impact Of in
herent forces, but the Older ones, like
the Standard Oil and sugar, and some
of the younger ones, like rubber and
lead, pursue the even tenor of their
prosperous ways. 1t is this tenacity
of life, this persistence in being, in the
face OF such tremendous opposition, that
makes thoughtful men ask themselves
If they are not to become permanent
features Of our industrial future.
There is feature Of the situation
that deserves attention While there
is deep resentment against the conbi-
nation controlling anthracite coal, there
is none existing against the Standard
the sugar trust, we hear nothing about
the biscuit monopoly. Men cover the
defunet nail trust with oblequy, but
are silent under the operations of the
leather trust, while only from our ag-
rfculturists come complaints Of the 4
great dressed meat companies The
line of distinction appears to run be-
tween the effect of these combinations
on the prices of their products Where
asked are regarded as fairly reason
able, no clamor is aroused. Where the
opposite course is pursued, and power
is used to extort, protest swells into an