The record-union., 1899-09-17

VIII De reduced. In the second place,
II under monopoly the price is re-
duced, from objections to a. monopoly
from other standpoints far outweigh
the financial advantage that the trust
would bring.
In the early days of Lincoln's ad-
m1nistration he sent a message to Con-
gress, and in that message he warned
MS countrymen against the approach
OF monopoly. He said it was the at
tempt to put capital upon an equal
footing with, if not above labor, in the
structure of Government, and in that
attempt he saw the approach of mon
archy. Lincoln was right. When
ever you put capital on an equal foot
ing with labor or above labor in the
structure of Government, you are on
the road to aiding a Government that
rests not upon reason but upon force.
Nothing is more important than
that we shall in the beginning rightly
understand the relation between money
and man.
What is the purpose of trusts or
the monopoly? For when l use the
word trusts, 1 use it in the sense that
the word means monopoly, and what
! is the purpose of monopoly?
The first advantage of a monopoly
! is to lower the price of the raw ma
| terial furnished by the people of that
combination.
The next thing is, after you have
| bought up all the factories, to close a
| part of them, and turn out of employ
ment the men who are engaged in
! them, and if you will look over the
| country, you will see where those en-
terprises having come under the con-
troll of the trusts, have been closed up
and stand now as silent monuments to
| the wisdom of the trusts system
I'm case of local strikes and fires,
| the work goes on elsewhere, thus pre-
venting serious loss. What does it
mean? 1t means that if the people en-
ployed in one factory are not satisfied
with the terms fixed by the employer
and strike, they can close down that
factory and let the employees starve
While they go on in other factories.
| When a branch of an industry is en-
tirely in the hands of one great monop-
oily, SO that every skilled man in that
/ industry has to go to the one man for
employment. then that one man will
| fix wages as he pleases and the labor
of the man who sells the raw material.
When the monopoly has absolute
| control brains will be at a discount,
! and relatives will be necessary to fill
these positions.
There is no question about it. A
trust. a monopoly, can lessen the cost
of distribution. There will be no need
! for commercial travellers. because when
anybody wants goods all he has to do
| is to write to the one man who has
| them for sale, and say: What will
yo-' let me have it for to-day?
HE can not only fix the price of
whal lac sens. but can hA the terms
upon which he sells.
You have to trust to that mans
! generosity and his decision upon what
/ is fair on one side and upon the other.
What is the first thing to be ex-
pected of a trust? That it will cut
I down expenses.
What is the second? That it will
raise prices. We have not had in this
! country yet a taste of complete
trust, a complete monopoly, and we
cannot tell what will be the results of
a complete monopoly by looking at the
/ results which have followed from an
attempt to secure a monopoly, because
/ in the attempt to secure a monopoly
the monopoly has been lowering prices
/ in order to rid itself of competitors,
/ but when it has rid itself of competi-
/ tors what is going to be the result? :?
/ My friends, all you have to know is
/ human nature. God made men selfish
/ Selfshness is merely the outgrowth of
an instinct of self-preservation. 1t is
/ the abnormal development of a mans
desire to protect himself.
| I'VE must recognize selfishness and
/ we must so make our laws that people
shall not be permitted to trespass upon
| the rights of others in their efforts to
/ secure advantages for themselves.
believe that society is interested in the
| independence of every citizen. Society
is interested in this. because if a man
dies and leaves no provision for his
wife and children the burden falls upon
society
Il believe that the principle of mo-
nopoly finds its inspiration in the de-
sire of men to secure by monopoly
what they cannot secure in the open
field of competition.
Another thing that to my judgment
has aided monopoly is a high tariff
Nobody can dispute that a tariff law
import duty, enables trust to charge
/ for its product the price of a similar
/ foreign product plus the tariff.
Now, some have suggested that to
! put everything on the free lists that
/ trusts make would destroy the trusts.
l do not agree with this statement as
1t is made so broadly. l believe that
| the high tariff has aided the trust to
collect more than the trust otherwise
could collect. But / do not believe
that you could destroy all trusts by
putting all trust-made articles on the
free list Why? Because if an article
can be produced in this country as
| cheaply as it can be produced abroad
the trust could exist without the bene-
fit of any tariff at all, although it
| could not eXtort so much as it could
with the tariff and while some relief
may come with notifications of the
tariff, we cannot destroy monopoly un-
til we lay the ak at the root of the
tree and make monopoly impossible by
law.
1T has been suggested that discrim-
ination by railroads has aided the
trusts. There is no question that dis
elimination and favoritism, secured by
one corporation against another. has
been largely instrumental in enabling
a desired monopoly to become practi-
| cally complete monopoly.
Now, that can be remedied by laws
that viii prevent this discrimination.
and when we prevent the discrimina-
ton still monopoly may exist. The
I remedy ra3aSf ba copnpIata a,o,,rb ~