The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-09-14

In trust organizations TO control prices. re-
cent illustrations Of which are the straw
board trust, the starch trust, the FIRST wire
rail trust and the old stee! trust. There
are trusts. so-calIed. IN nearly every branch
of business. ana there Is good and bad in
al. but the coed so far Dredominafes that
such aggrexasions 81 capital should be en-
couraged. accompanied by safeguards
against abuses Additional safeguards need
ed are far stockholders and investors
whose interests are often sacrificed through
lack Of publicity. The average investor 10
the CHIEF sufferer. So far AZ the interest OF
consumers IL concerned II Is amply pro-
tsctsd now; hrst by competition. and sec
ond by the common law. which. II invoked.
WI nudity any contract IN unreasonable
restraint Of trade and any unreasonable
combination Is subject to indtcsmen; for
conspiracy. Special trust statutes are not
necessary. although many have been en-
acted
As to the right to combine, II 70 so
cioseiy related 10 the right to contract that
1t affords most interesting question. Com
msrce ID nothing bu; body OF contracts.
Every purchase and sale. from q peanut
10 gold mine, and every transaction n
the movement OF merchandise; every agree
ment between emptoyr and emp.oye In
wolves contract either verbal. written or
Implied. No right - more sacred and none
fundamental law.
1T seems to me that the tendency "
legislative and judicial bodies in this coui-
try just now 10 sweepingly condemn con-
tracts which In any manner restrict or
regulate trade h unwtse and against pub
Lie policy. II capital " dsn.ed the right
to combine. labor must be put under the
same disability.
Many good people have imagined u
bogy monster that doesn't exist They
have accepted ~ facts the fancies OF sen
satfonal journalism The natural advances
In price when demand exceeds supply have
been dsb.f<d and the declines when supply
exceeds demand have not been credited, 10
say nothing Of economies In production and
distribution which have made the present
age the consumers millennium.
Never before would a days labor boy
80 much OF the comforts and Injuries OF
tfe. but education of the masses to the
wants Of intelligence has progressed even
faster and the rewards TO the inventors and
the captains of industry ana finance who
have made this evolution possible are en-
We'd II is overlooked that corporations
are really corporations: that the number
OF partners as stockholders In any Industry
3 increased. that anyone can become !.
partner. and that instead OF being concen.
traitors Of wealth they are distributors Of
wealth. II has been assumed that labor
would be oppressed BY the organisation
OF capital. bat experience has shown that
organized labor has met organized capital
and that the largest organizations OF capt.
tai have furnished the steadiest employ
ent and have paid larger wages than IN
dtvtduat employers. The grievances of In
divsduMIs injured in this evolution OF Ia
dustries have been magn.led and the gen.
erai good mInimixed. The lesson of thu
stage driver thrown out OF work by the
locomotive. or the workman by the ma
chine. il forgotten when the travelling
salesman who loses his job through the
economies OF Industrial organization ap-
peals to public sympathy That wider mar
kess are necessary and that large CAPITAL
.nteiiigenily administered Is necessary 10
nnd them p not appreciated. That the rule
Of reason az expressed by the minority
of the supreme court OF the United States
IN tho transmissouri case. II In danger OF
being expunged from our statutes
Il have faith that with further study OF
this subject by the American people the
facts win become pia ncr and that they
viii appreciate that
Through the ages one increasing purpose
runs,
And the thoughts OF men are widened hy
the process OF thA sunA'"
Joseph Nimne. jr. OF Washington. was
the next speaker.
He discussed the American railway syS-
TENS. and maintained that tho merging
OF minor lines Of railways into great sys-
TENS had resulted in the keenest competi-
ton ever known.