Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-06-29

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Der Goth. Among other responses re-
ceived by him is one from Governor
j. r. Rogers of Washington, who says |
that it will be impossible for him to
attend the conference and proceeds to
impart some practical views upon the
Trust agitation. He believes that many
people are favoring State control of
Trusts with insincerity, thinking in
this way to pass through the next
national campaign with safety to
themselves, feeling sure that whatever
State legislation may be enacted which
will really curb the power of Trusts
will eventually be declared unconsti-
tutional by the United States Supreme
Court With those who thus and for
this purpose advocate State legislation
regarding Trusts, Governor Rogers says
he can have no sympathy, and is bound
to believe, too, that legislative action
which seeks to control the formation
and management of Trusts will prove
Intellectual. He adds:
| In the first place, the word Trust is
misleading when applied to great
many industrial combinations now
threatening tho prosperity of the
poople. In many instances so-called
Trusts are merely larger corporations.
1t has occurred to me that corporations
will be declared to possess vested and
constitutional right to buy and soil.
Clearly it seems to rue that corpora
tons, as well as natural persons, have
right to buy, and hence right to
sell, whatever is offered for sale in the
market. Ii sufficient weight of capt.
tai be employed, corporation or
natural person has the ability and the
constitutional right to buy all of
certain product offered for sale; and
this will unquestionably operate to fix
the price at which such product will
in future be sold. We can see that, as
in the case of that parent Of Trusts,
the Standard Oil Company, the power
to buy and sell possessed by that COM
pany is entirely sufficient to regulate
the Price at which oil will be sold.
The Standard Oil Company thus gets
the power 20 drive out of business all
competitors, and in this way to estab-
; lish the price for which their product
must be sold.
am at loss to see, too, how the
. moral and fundamental right of either
natural or corporate persons to buy and
sell can be interfered with by legal
enactment, under our Constitution.
For these reasons can see no remedy
+ for the Trust evil save public owner
ship.
1t is refreshing at this time to read
such practical deliverance with re-
, spect to the proposed crusade against
oil combinations of capital, under the
guise of popular movement to protect
! the people against the aggressions Of
Trusts.
There is no doubt that the proposed
!, crusade is designed as a politica
= scheme, in the hope that it will rrov'
y popular rallying cry in next year.
campaign, and serve as substitute
7 for issues that are more important il
their bearing upon the welfare of tn
Y people--such as the improvement o
= our financial system, the repression O
our national advance into the realm
~ of imperialism, the reduction of tn
= burdens of national taxation, the per
- manent reform'iof the tariff 1.-The mothe
~ of all Trusts, according to higl
y authority-and various other subject
intimately related to good government
" We are of the opinion that thos
- thoughtess political leaders who thin
y they can carry the people with vii
hurrah in this matter will find them
selves mistaken. The American votei
of read and think; they argue from exis
~ ing conditions, and they know no
nj their material welfare is affected, muo
he better than any political orator ca
40 inform them.
~ Immediately after the McKinlt
la Tariff law went into operation, IL
Il. working people of the country realize
a. painfully that their wages stood ST
while the prices of most of the nece
". saries of life went up with decidt
m bound. And at the ensuing Eclectic
pm they voted for a change. They kne
IL. by actual experience how they we
~ affected.
.ns 1t will be the same when these peor
he are called upon to inaugurate whol
be sale crusade against Trusts. When
ne iniquitles of the Sugar Trust are he
ion up before Them, they will recall
40, fact that tho retail price of sugar
ny, ny lower now than ever: when the {
ed. actions of the Standard Oil mono
cal oily are painted in burning colo
their minds will revert to the extrem
y a moderate price at which oil is sold
his retail.
an And so it will be when their
itor tention is called to any Trust or &C
the bination the products of which ii
The can obtain more cheaply than .
~ before. But in other respects it v
hey be different. They will be asked
heir look at the Trust that for years
be controlled the prizes Of shovels, for
Q of stance, and they will realize that
Ad- retail price Of shovels has advanced
Gov per cent in the past year. They !
ably also learn that there has been
ina terial advance in the price of agri,
tural implements, while it is
Adj notorious fact that these impleme
h in and shovels, also, are sold ut cher
at of rates in Canada and other for,
has countries than in this country.
lost Here it is where the protective t,
elm comes in. 1t protects the Trusts
gton control these manufactures
ction foreign competition, while the IA
ubli- ties for construction and the sups
Kent skill of American workmen ena
acts, the manufacturers to go into for