The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-11-21
THR TRUST PROBLEM AND THR
CRY AGAINST WEALTH.

''senseless Cry against wealth" ana
everyone who dares champion any
measure for the protection OF labor lie
dubbed a ''demagogue," socialist.
or anarchist"
But all admit that great changes in
the relation of capital to labor are tax
ing place. And to get a proper and
Just conception of these changes and
the final re adjustment, we must come
apart from the throng and view the
matter with as little feeling as possible.
or course, there is such a thing as q
"senseless cry against wealth" There
are some who never consider the rights
of property or rather the rights OF
the property owner. There are some
who foolishIy hold that no one labors
or benefits the world save by muscular
labor. Then, too, we have people who
would give the same remuneration to
a Shakespeare or an Edison as that
earned by an ordinary day laborer,
forgetting that the inventor or poet, to
render proper service to mankind,
needs much that the day laborer
neither requires nor desires. The
theories of these persons are, Of course,
basically wrong.
There are, on the other hand, per
sons who recognize no rights save those
of the property owning individual.
These cry "demagogue" and social
ist'' at those who oppose I'M Istice and
with these epithets attempt to muzEle
the opponents of oppression. They
abuse the striking day laborerfo using
his power, his muscle, to prevent com
petition but have a word against
the equally wicked course Of capital
which often forces strikes by using its
power, the dollar, to restrain liberty
and establish monopoly. These people
tell US that the same regulations re
garding the accumulation Of wealth
that we're in force a century or halt
century ago should apply now. They
tell US that the trust evil will settle it
self: that the trust problem is solely q
business problem, demanding no atten
ton from our law makers. These dec
trines, like those of the anarchists and
socialists, are dangerous and I'M Amer
lean.
Aud WhyG Why do we hold that re-
strictions different from those in force
so years ago should be placed upon the
accumulation of wealth, aud that trusts
r dangerous now, though trust
movements a half century ago would
have constituted no ground for fear3
Why is the trust problem one of the
greatest questions Of the centuries9
These are pertine nt q lestions.
Let us consider them. They are seri
GUS questions because many intelligent
men believe that as the trust has
sprung up within the past few years,
that it will of itself vanish within the
next few years. This is q serio ~, q
fundamental error The trust is made
possible by the changes that ninteenth
century progress, the advent Of steam
and electricity, have wrought in our
industrial system. Monopoly, a thing
impossible before, is made possible by
these changes, but is not an inevitable
result Of them. Corporations and large
congregations OF capital are the neces
sary result of these changes, but the
trust ia not.
To build railroads, factories, or i'm
prove in almost any way the oppor-
tunities afforded US by the inventions
and discoveries of this century we
must have corporations, and if these
corporations r properly restrained
and not allowed to stihe competition,
they are not Injurious. But the trust
or monopoly which attempts to rob the
people Of all the benefits of nineteenth
century invention by taking to itself
all their pro1ta and benefits ia ir lrious
to the people and dangerous to liberty.
Before the steam engine commenced
it's work Of revolutionizing our indus
trial system, capital and labor went
hand in hand. Bat there have been
changes: capital and labor are now
largely dissociated. The stage coach,
driven in many cases by it's owner, has
given place to the steam engine man.
aged by servants of the railroad mag
nate. The individual weaver, with
his own hand loom, has been super
seeded by the fac:o,y hand, hired by
the manutac 5urer. The machinist,
using his own capital in his own shop.
has b9en forced out of business by the
employees of the great foundry man
ager. Hundreds of similar illustrations
might be given. To make a long story
short: the machine has divorced cap