The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1898-03-10
TRUSTS: THE dlUSES THAT
PRODUCE TeEM--THE REMEDY" /"
Trusts are Industrial Canoe on the Body PoIiticThey are
Growing and Multiplying in Number Each DayWhy Soca|ed
Antitrust Laws are Failure Kill Trusts We Must Remove
the Causes that Produce 1hem1he Causes are Evident There
fore the Remedy is Plain
BY U. S. SENATOR MARION BUTLER IN MARCH ARENA

Of people more powerful than q half
dozen OF that numberf They are if
they have equal opportunities. Then
how is it possible for very small
number OF men to drive out Of busi-
ness and crush their thousands Of
competitors, secure q complete mo-
Dopoly, and maintain it in the face Of
the remainder of the nation 7 There
Is but one way in which it can pos
sibly be done: the monopolists must
first GET CONTROL OF THE INsTRU-
MENTs OF COMMERCE. Those who con-
troll the instruments of commerce can
of course control commerce itself,
can destroy all competition, and can
put any kind of business and every
business into a trust at will.
Now, what are the instruments of
commerce They are three in num-
Der.
The first is money,-the measure OF
values, the medium OF exchange
which is vital element in every bus
mess transaction. Money is the life
blood of commerce, and business
stagnatss and congests when the sup
phys is cornered, and when the
quantity in circulation does not in
crease with the increase of popula-
tion and business, just as the hu-
man body grows weak from conges-
tion or loss of blood.
The second great instrument Of
commerce is transportation. Cheap
transportation that can be used on
like terms by all, is an essential fac
tor of business in any country; but the
larger the country, the more impor-
tant is transportation. In a coun-
try the immense distance of ours the
transportation question is of equally
vital importance with the money
question. But the opportunity and
the right to use this instrument of
commerce to transport products from
one end of the country to the other
at the same prices and on the same
terms that your competitor pays or
enjoys is Of even more Importance
in preventing the building up of
trusts than the question of cheap
ness. Wherever there is discrimina-
tion in freight rates, no matter
whether the freight charges are high
or low, powerful leverage is given
to those who have the benefit of re-
bates and favoritisms to crush out
competition.
Do such Determinations exist? Yes,
and necessarily so when few great
bankers and sydicates own and con-
troll this powerful instrum ent OF COM
merce, and can therefore regulate
rates and make determinations in
favor of monopolies and trusts with
which they are allied. What do we
see to-day? One man, j. Pierpont
Morgan, representing foreign gold
syndicate composed of London Jews,
owning and absolutely controlling,
as the agent of that trust, eight of
the biggest railroad systems in the
nation. Which are they? The New
York, New Haven, and Hartford, ex-
tending from New York to Boston
and throughout New England; the
Erie, with all its branches and feed
ers; the New York Central, extend
ing from New York to Chicago, with
all its ramificatlons; the Northern Pa
cific, extending from Chicago across
the continent to the Pacific ocean,
with all its rami6cations; the great
Lehigh Valley system; the,Big Four,
covering the great fertile Central
West between st. Louis, Philadel.
phia. and Chicago; the Chesa peaks
and Ohio, running from Baltimore
out to Chicago and the great North.
west; and the Southern Railroad, ex.
tending from New York south tc
New Orleans, with all its ramifica-
tlons in more than q dozens States
| These powerful systems, with the
tributaries which they dominate and
control, comprising more than So, ,00(
miles, govern every means of mod
ern transportation in all the great
populous, and important sections o1
the nation from Chicago east anc
south, except the Pennsylvania Rail
road, the Baltimore and OHIO, th'
Seaboard Air Line, and the Allan
tic Coast Line. Morgan and hi
gold hackers have their greedy eye.
on these-have them surrounded
and cornered-a and will press tn
button and gobbled them up in thei
own sweet time. In short, this maj
Morgan, representing the cold-blood
ed Shylocks, the descendants of tn
money changers whom Christ drov
from the Temple, can to-day sit dow
, around table with six other rail
road magnates, all of whom are al
, ready working in harmony and con
/ junction with the gold syndicate
!, and control absolutely every mile Q
, railway in the nation. By a strok
of the pen they can lock the wheel
of every locomotive, they can put u
, rates or they can put them dowr
: they can build up one section an
q tear down another, they can forl
r partnerships with other industris
, pirates, and they can organic
: trusts until there will not be an IL
dependent business left IN the nj
ton.
The third AMI great vital instr,
!. ment of commerce is the TRANSMIT
y sion of intelligence. AS far as th
. business world Can use the Post o
= fee Department everyone stands Q
a fair and equal footing; but the il
e formation that controls the marke
4 and affects vitality the business worl'
q from the Associated Press dispatch'
q to the daily newspapers, the stoe
"a reports, and so on, are transmltt<
Al by telegraph. The tremendous in
q portance of this instrument of cor
a merce is not generelly realized. II
l. actions of men are controlled
" their opinions; their opinions q
o. formed on the information they +
s, ceive. Therefore the opinions al
o. actions of the wisest and best m,
Id are sadly at fault if the truth b
A. been kept from them, or if it h
of been colored or perverted. Tho
,e who can control what We read c,