Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1899-06-29
TRUSTS AND COMBINATIONS.
Hundreds of Responses to Invita-
tiOns to Attend the Proposed Com
ference 1n Chicago In september.

Chicago, June 26.-Secretary Easley,
of the civic federation of Chicago, un-
der whose auspices a conference will
he held in Chicago September 1916 to
consider trusts and combination and
legislation for their control, has re-
ceived hundreds of letters from prom
| inent men all over the country ac-
cepting invitations to be present at the
meetings.
j. Sterling Morton's Views.
In acknowledging the receipt of an
| invitation to attend ex-Secretary of
Agriculture j. Sterling Morton, of Ne
| brasI<a, said: TRUSTS which are over
capitalized are born of the machina-
tons of shallow and impractical men.
| They will fail, and no one be harmed
except those whose credulity led them
to invest in their securities.
| Much Misrepresentation Exists.
''There is much misrepresentation as
to incorporated capital in the United
| States. OratoricaI vagarists have en-
deavored to make common people be-
| live that interpretations are not sub
|
| tition. and that the relation of supply
| to demand is not the sole regulator
of value. The fact, however, remains
| that money invested in manufactures
| or railroads belonging to incorpora-
| tons is no stronger, no better, and
| no more exempt from the operation Of
! commercial laws than money which is
| owned by individuals. There need be,
in my judgment, no apprehension as to
| the trusts crushing out all competi-
| ton. With the exception of the Oil
| trust and the sugar trust, failure
among trusts has been universal. The
whisky trust, the tobacco trust, and
all the other trusts of Importance up
| to date, except these that have been
| formed very recently, have been COM
| plete failures.
Causes Leading to Failures.
These failures have come, firstly,
from over-capitalization: and. second
| ly, from mismanagement. Intelligent
competition can enter the field against
any trust on earth except one which
has natural monopoly (by this |
mean one which, like the Standard Oil
Co., owns the only oil-produeing lands
in the country, and puts its products
upon the markets with the sympathy
of the consumer all on its side. By
this | mean that outside of the trust,
co-partnerships and stock companies
may be formed with capital. energy
and ability to successfully take the
market against any and all trust prod
ucts except those which are the re-
suits of a natural monopoly.
No Remedy in Legislation.
"What can be accomplished by leg
islation or regulatory laws | can not
see, nor do I look TIC such enactments
for a remedy for any evils that may
grow out of trusts. OF course, it is
fashionable, it is epidemic, to denounce
all large aggregations of capital as
trusts This mania will at. last eX-
haust itself, and the country will find
that those who have been damaged by
trusts were those who bought their Sc
curities for more than they were
WORTH
DIR. Lyman Abbott Has Views.
DIR. Lyman Abbott, of New York,
says: Il think what we most need on
the subject of industrial, commercial,
labor and transportation combina-
tons, is just what your letter indi-
Gates this meeting will endeavor to Sc
cure: Light, not heat. What we need
to understand, and what only expert
ence can teach us, is the relation be-
tween competition and combination,
the one the centrifugal, the other CEN
tripetal force of society. He who be-
lives only in condition will logically
be led to socialism; who believes only
in competition, will logically be led to
Nihilism. Neither of these results can
furnish the solution of the problems
which now confront US. We must
learn how to secure the advantages of
combination without destroying the
individual to maintain the brother
hood
Sympathy with the Movement.
Hundreds of letters have been re-
ceived, the writer's in nearly every case
expressing sympathy with the pnr-
poses of the conference.
Acknowledgement Monet of Ohio
fears he may not be able to be present
on account of having to attend the
Ohio courts, but he says he viii try
TO be present and participate in such
a way as Il may be able along the
lines that 1 am especially interested
in
Cannot Bind the Board in Any Way.
Frank S. Gardner, secretary of the
board of trade and transportation OF
New York, writes concerning the ap-
pointment of three members of abe
board which the president has bren
authorized to make:
Il beg to say, however, that this
board has never taken any action on
the subject of trusts and comb ia.
tions. and the fact that we send thsee
delegates cannot, nor can the views
that may be expressed by our dele.
gates commit this board in any way"
Burned to Death in His Homo.
jamestown, n. Y, June 25.-I'he |
house of Andrew Johnson, a lake en-
gineer at Mayville, was burned this |
morning. Johnson burned to death. |
AIger VIII Not Go to Europe.