The San Francisco call., 1898-12-29

of redemption accepted by commerce is logically adapted to the established system of industry. The present order of industry and its means of exchange have grown and developed together for centuries and have reached their pres
 ent position by the consensus of the
 commerce and industry of the leading nations of the world, and are so adapt
 ed and cemented together that they
 cannot be separated without revolu-
 ton in the order of industry. It is for
 this reason that the gold standard is an accomplished fact. The movement for free coinage of silver and new sys
 tems of money grew out of falling prices and the increase of the unem- ployed. Now more careful examina-
 tion of this matter has led me to con-
 clude that the money question is not
 the important factor in such results,
 but that falling prices and displace-
 ment of labor are to be attributed al
 most entirely to improved methods of production and distribution of pro-
 ducts, and this brings me to consider the question of production by corpora
 tions or associations employing im- mense capital
 The managers of the Democratic party are dropping the silver issue, and
 now propose to pretend to the people that the Republican party Is responsi-
 ble for the fact that business enter
 prises which employ large capital can
 produce and distribute products more cheaply than can be done by concerns with small capital, and that the Demo-
 cratic party will reverse this matter.
 This claim is wholly unfounded. The
 Democratic managers call these busl- ness associations trusts" As a mat ter of fact, most of them are simply single corporation with large capital.
 Where separate concerns agree to act in restraint of trade they can be en- joined, and the Republican party has
 been active in making and enforcing
 laws to this effect like the Sherman law, under which some great comb1na- tionS have been dissolved, but this can not prevent the same persons from con- Solidating their capital and business m one corporation or partnership to do the
 very same thing, and for this reason
 most so-called trusts" are no longer
 such, but are in lawful form, and all
 may easily assume the lawful form;
 nor is there any method by which men can be prevented from so doing unless it be proposed to enact laws absolute
 Iy forbidding individuals from engag- ing more than a small amount of capi-
 tai in any given business or enterprise.
 This would be retrogression, and the
 physical destruction of all great enter
 prises; it would be industrial and com mercial anarchy. The Republican party
 is not responsible for the development
 of those so-calIed trusts" It has done
 all that statute law can do in the mat
 ter. It might as we'll be said that
 party was responsible for department
 store; or for the fact that a man, Or
 men, who purchased 10000 acres Of land and by the use of steam blows, com- bined harvesters and large capital can produce wheat more cheaply than a
 farmer without capital or improved
 machinery can produce 1t on small farm. The fact is, that great capital by producing practically the entire out put of a product can utilize land, labor, machinery, material and distribution so
 as to undersel any small producer, and this inevitably leads to such combina- tion This is clearly not the result or
 any statute law, or any party pollcY. It is the natural evolution Of industry and the course it thus takes under in
 dustrial law has been long seen and predicted by great thinkers of the
 world. It is apparent from this that the proposed declaration of the Demo-
 cratic managers against so-called
 trusts" or combined capital in pro> duction and distribution, is to be a mere empty political harangue, an- other effort at new and false issue. It often happens that persons Of a
 generous nature believe that the hard ships of life that so many undergo can be easily remedied, and under this lIn- pulse it is easy to mistake the manl- fold causes of a condition and to seek to apply a false remedy and to arraign conservative organizations as the cause and protector of existing evils But 1t is not easy to find remedies for these things Notwithstanding the excellence of natural law, nature presents many enormous evils, or things that so ap-
 near. The best efforts of labor are at times destroyed by floods, droughts, hurricanes, blizzards, frosts, disease or herds and destructive pests Famines ravish nations and valuable cargoes are shirWrecked by the elements. We see and lament these things, but who can suggest the remedy?
 If we observe in the evolution or so- ciety and industry natural law so operating that great capital py proouc- ing more cheaply than small capital advances to the entire control of a
 given line of business it is unjust to charge any political party or class Of men with this result. It is not true therefore that the Republican party is the friend of Syndicates or combined
 capital in any sense save that 1t de- clines to promise that which no party can perform, or to attempt to move against the laws of industrial evolution and by false remedies produce reac- tion and enormous injury without ac- complaining any good whatever. It is not certain that this evolution of in dustry is unfortunate. Evolution is
 scientific. Science is true, hence the evolution of industry cannot be bad in
 a. universal view. It must not be for
 gotten that good frequently evolves l through things apparently evil. In
 progress along the line of natural law apparent evils find their own remedy. | One thing is certain, repression of evo- Iution Is no remedy, but is an impossi- 1 bility But it is claimed by Democrats that free trade will prevent these vast 1 enterprises. This claim is without
 merit These so-called trusts exist in England Free trade will permit for
 eigners to sell goods in our markets
 made by cheaper labor. at less than
 cost of production here, and this could
 destroy these large industries or reduce
 the wages of labor, but it could not put
 concerns with small capital upon their l feet again, for these have already been 1 displaced by the fact that combined
 capital produces more cheaply than they could. How then shall they exist under free trade in the still cheaper
 production from other countries? The Republican party has elevated to the
 Presidency men who have sprung from
 the ranks of labor and many of these | have commanded a worldwide admira