Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-03-31

newspapers 81 40 expenditure ~ huout
sixty.hve thousand dollnrs.' This
stereotyped literature which the patriot
| hnanclers OF William Btreet are so
desirous to place before the people
| consists mainly of subsidized argu.
menls on the monetary question and
| rsady-made editorials delamibg any
and all persons who do not aIhere to
| n certain finanuisl policy.
After four years. treatment In this
seductive "swing swong" OF meta.
| physical finance, and other pseujo-
ethical ministrations from the William
street headquarters, society'S sub.
| stratum Is expected to 20 thoroughly
understand ths "fallnoy Of It's discon-
TENT that 1t Will never again shOck
the ideals with the preppstrrous
thought that 1t Is not perfectly happy,
anu withal tho chief beneficiary Of
tho greatest and most beRignant gov
er mept ON earth. Whatever else toe
said sub'strGtnm may know or not
know about Itself, 1t must be fought,
at Whatever cost, to cay over at It,
prayers and reiterate at Its meals. the
coDsoling doctrine that "those who
derive tho greatest benefit from the
| protection OF tho state are the poor and
| the weak, women and chil1reu anu the
aged, the infirm, the ignorau, the
INDECENT" This remarkably allUring
Idea must pass without comment.
In the mesutime,I am quite sure that
| none save anarchie IN ICED viii wish
| for sDy nut the best results from these
generous efforts fr IN New York and
| Boston 10 these tfouplous timee. That
| feelings OF privation could be argued
| out OF being with plausible theories OF
economics, is, however, quite q new
| idea wnicn win be believed when IL H.
proved. Plausible theory may DO
many things that are W jnder,ul. One
| OF them 10 to reconcile the consciences
OF our finnnciers to prevailing coDdi-
tious; but there Is no account given OF
an empty stomac1 that mas bsen ap.
| peasej or @ half lrozen body that has
been made satisfied by any sort OF
lecture on the fnliacy OF lie discomfort.
lit were true that the spirit OF diR.
| content which ia disturbing not only
his country, but the world ut large, 10
he'd at IT. present tension through
the eti0rls Of ambitious p iiiticisns ami
lTrupt publicists, anu that the only
thing necessary to quet the socia,
brOil is 10 ms ruct the pio starian that
the gist anu substanci Vi ais trouble 10
40 over production, not OF food anu
clothing, By tue way, but Of eloquence,
then there need be no further alarm.
the geuius OF revolution does not
exist in tho in,Gginatious. Tie man
wno has only an Imaginary grievance
with which to &c to war, will never be
sden In the front OF battle. There can
be no real terror In u threat without d
wrong at the base OF IL. 1t is only
vagaDonds and the partially civllizsI
VINO fight without cause. IL would
theu be very swallow sort OF dema-
gogue who would vase his energies In
stirrlng up appFehension where there
is no substance upon which to base u
ear. IL IL likewise tue shsliowest OF
infaluati0u that would prompt the
Chief bnneficlaries OF government to
persist in the hope OF withsianding
the tue substance OF conflict with
the reiteration OF political sopnistrles.
But tue time is FAR spent, AID We
have scarcely passed the threshold OF
this forever expanding subject. But
before ciuaing we must know sons
thing about our own Tree ountry on
this line OF thought. l will intro.
ducs the extremely delicate question
from the home view by quoting from
u resolution which signaizsd tue be-
ginning OF the prossnt ses.ion OF the
New York legislature. Here Is an ex-
tract winch is very much 10 the point:
ST 10 charged that combinations OIL
capital In the nature ui trusts are
increasing in number and Influence in
this commonwealth, where BY various
important branches Of lpdu try have
become concentrated in the hands oil
q lew, creating monopoliee, shutting
out competition, dispiscing the la.
borsr anu driving the citizen OF
moderate means out OF business, anu
prouuctlon anu prices are regulated
not by tue natural laws OF supply and
dema ID or the ruies OF norma |
anu healthy competitions, but by ths
arbitrary decision OF combinations
operating together TO destroy cOmpeti.
ton anu exact unreasonable onarges
from the people,"
On the Initiative OF this resolution
committee was appointed with Bens-
tor Lex0w as chairman, with power
to call up the kings OF Industry and
question them about their affairs.
The investlg Ito 3 lasted several weeks,
IN the course OF which capital
to the amount OF over billion dollars
was represented, and in every case
the absolute Correctness OF the charges
quoted was proven out OF the m1utas
OF the offenders. The design OF such
combinations, though always disputed
by their officers ami attorneys, has
Deen well k-own by the public from
the time It first knew them, but the
tIae result, though strongly sus-
picioneu, has never before been go con.
spicuousiy exposed. Some lees than o
dUzsn OF ths largest trusts In the coun.
Try were III evidence, aud not one
succseued In cOncealing tho fact that
1t was organized TO monopol!zs tInde,
limit production ana regulate price
without respect, 10 cost OF manu- aclure;
anu not one failed to exhibit the pay.
ment Of enormous dividends In one
way Oh another on stock whose face
value bad Teen fraud ulontiy enlarged
10 many times the amouat OF tue
capital actually invested. The evil
deDce revealed such similarity Of
method that one or two examples will
Oe sufficient for illustration. The evI-
dence In the case of the sugar trus,
went to chow that while Its en-.
tire plant could be duplicated
or ten, or at the utmost
twenty miilione, It's stock had been
"watereu" up TO about seventy. five
millions anu on this latter amount il
hal been paying from ten TO tltesn
per Cent IN dlvidenus annually; more.
over, that alter putting Itself in contr d
OF eighty per cent OF the entire pro-
duct OF the country, II had ON one &C.