The Topeka state journal., 1899-09-25
DEFENDS TRUSTS.
Senator Foraker Takes the Side
of the Combinations.

Hamilton, O.. Sept. Ex-senator J. 3
Foraker delivered an address here at
the Emancipation celebration on the
Butler county fair grounds The fea-
lures of his address We're his declara-
tfons for expansion and his argument
on trusts. He said, in part;
We hear it said that the tariff is
mother of trusts and that they are the
cause of all sorts of evils. We do have
trusts and some of them as bad as they
are represented, but they are not the
production of the tariff, and if they
were. the tariff with its attendant pros
perfty and trusts, is better than free
trade and idleness, ruin, want, hunger,
soup house and rags.
That the tariff is not responsible for
trusts is shown by the fact that while
they have free trade in England, yet
they also have more trusts in that coun-
They had their origin there and
there they have had their most COM
pIete development.
But we should distinguish. Not all
combinations of capital and business
are trusts: not all OF them have Hlegiu-
mate purposes and not all are attended
with diSadVantag geOuS consequences. On
the contrary. the great ma a1OrlUy OF DuS-
mess combinations are legitimate ana
beneficial But whether they are of one
kind or another, they are not partisan
IN character. trusts are not q EAtA@LOll-
can institution enjoyed by Republicans
eaIone. nor a Democratic institution en-
jOyed by Democrats alone, but they are
composed of Democrats and Repub1-
cans alike; men of both parties are en-
gagged in them and Interested in their
promotion and their protection under
the law. They are simply feature OF
our modern business conditions Win
respect to which party lines can not be
drawn Accordingly we find that not
only men Of all parties are in common
engaged in creating great combinations
of capital, but that men OF all partleS
are alike enga ged in the condemnation
of such combinations These trusts,
while restricting competition, are yet
the result of that same competition,
and the natural result of natural con-
ditions They first started in England
because we We're pressing the manu-
facturerS of that country with our COM
petition in the markets of the world to
such an extent that they We're COM
PEELED to economic in every way pos
sible to hold their own against US in the
martS OF trade Ihe same cause lIlaL
led to the formation of trusts in Eng
land afterward led to them in America.
BY consolidation of capital, plants
and mana cement. expenses of various
kinds are eliminated, and it is made
possible to continue the employment
of our capital and the employment of
our labor and the development of our
resources. and the multiplication of our
wealth; by a resort to the economies
that follow consolidation we are en-
ZDl@0 TO meet the prices OF Eng ldlltls
Germany and the older countries of
Europe.
These consultations mean loss of
position and loss of employment to
some classes and some individuals. SO
did the Introduction of the sewing ma
chine and other labor saving devices
that have been invented. But the fact
remains but for these consultations
thousands would lose occupations who
are now employed in producing the
surplus manufactures Tor which We
find markets outside of our own cOun-
try. But for the advantages we ac-
Quire by these consultations of capital
and industry we could not be supplying
as we are today. locomotives to the rail-
ways of England, or building bridges
in the SOudan for the British army. in
successful competition with the bridge
builders of Great Britain. We could
not be sending our myriads of products
- TO South Africa. China. Japan and
Australia We have come to the place
where we must sell abroad or restrict
production. To sell abroad we must
compete, to compete we must ecOnO-
mize. and TO economic we must lower
wages or combine Lower wages we do
not want and Will not have and there
fore we accept the alternative and
combine.
And now, just when the necessity is
upon us, TO find markets for our sur
plus products. the way to the best
markets Of all is opened by the an
ne91ation of Hawaii and the war with