The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-13
OUR GREATEST TROUBLE.

One who is searching for the cause of
business depression and of the general
distress and Encouragement prevailing
in a country rich in resources and in
the vigor and ability Of it's people may
read a lesson out Of the results Of the
bursting Of the steel rail pool. That
pool, aided by the robber tariff. has
kept the price Of steel rails I'D to
point which was practically prohib-
tory of purchasers. It did not mat
ter that this price was secondariIy as
injurious to the manufacturer, as it was
primarily to the consumer. 1t needed
but a short glance ahead to show that
railroads would not be built, and, there
fore, steel rails would not be purchased
as long as the material could not be
had except at boom prices in what
were very far from boom times. The
greedy trust preferred a present sacri-
flee, closing down mills everywhere. or
running them on part time, and keep
ing men out Of employment indefinitely.
In order to curtail production, rather
than to meet the market and make
reasonable terms. It chose to sell a.
very few rails at an abominablv ex-
orbltant price rather than to invite the
public demand and meet it. The re-
suit has been a practical prostration
OF the industry until one great manu-
facturer broke away from the combine
and who
What is the consequence of this rup
ture Of trust and this permission Of
the demand and supply to equalize
each other? The first consequence,
seems to have been the sale of $4,000
tons of steel rails by one concern at
the reduced rate. Prices tumbled ev
erywhere, and orders rolled in until if
is reported by Bradstreet's that 300, 600
tons of steel rails have been sold since
the collapse of the pool and that these
orders alone will keep all the mills busy
for months to come and occupv the
largest plant in the country for a full
year.
This is sample Of the irregular and
destructive development Of industry in
country where trade is not free. First
drought and then a food is the Amer
lean business principle. For Years wa
nave the great steel mills hampered nv
an insufficient demand and their en-
pioyes idle a great part Of the time.
During all this period plenty of orders
could nave been had, meaning activity
IN railroad and other construction and
a larger distribution Of general pros
perity, if prices had been accommodate
ed to the market. Those prices were
maintained by the pool solely by virtue
or tariffs on foreign-made rails
winch kept the English and German
product out Of our market and enabled
the domestic maker to maintain a price
80 a ton above the normal Just the
instant that one firm breaks awav
and the price is made a fair one, we
learn how enormous is the accumulated
demand. Buyers rush their orders in
TO tNe different steel plants, and the
work that should have been done in
the past three years will all have to be
crowded into the next
The believer in Democracy who ex-
amines the details, the forerunners and
the subsequent developments of such
an event as this, will see wherein our
great trouble lies He will find that
the complaint of the unemployed is
Just; that it lies against these powerful
combinations in trade which so poorly
take the place of demand and supply.
and that they, in their turn, maintain
their existence, despite the disintegrat-
Ing effect Of competition, mainly
through the favoritism of a protective
tariff. If the tariff on steel rails had
been repealed at any time within the
last year or two exactly the same
effects would have followed as have
been seen since the dissolution Of the
pool 1t would have meant a lowered
price. big orders for goods and &C.
tive production, with employment and
wages for all. The reduction Of So per
ton IN price made by the break of the
Carnegie company is exactly the same
In It's effects as would have been the
break Of So in price produced by re-
2ealins the tariff amounting to that