The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1899-09-29
Mr.. BRYAN ON TRUSTS
&c Says They Are All Dangerous and
Should Be Suppressed.
ne HAS A REMEDY TO PROPOSE
Pc Would Have n National Corporntirn
commission and Compel tho Taking
Out OF Licenses, After iuveStiratlon,
before DOM: business Outside OF
Their Own State.


The trust question has grown i,
Importance. Within the past two years
more trusts have been organized, When
we come to consider the capitaliza.
llon IL the magnitude of the inter.
ests involved. than were organized il
all the previous history Of the country
n the people now come face to face
with this question: Is the trust ;
blessing or a curse? If a curse, wha,
remedy can be applied to the curse.
wan to start with the declaration
that monopoly in private hands is in
uelenslole from any standpoint and in.
toleraDle. One trust may be less harm.
1ul ,han another. One trust magnats
may be more benevolent than another
but there is no no good MONOPOLY in
private hands. and l do not believe
1T Is safe for society to permit auy
man or group Of men to monopolize
any article of merchandise or any
branch of business.
"fhe defense Of the monopoly is al
ways placed on the ground that
II you Will allow people TO control the
market and fix the price, they will be
good to the people who purchase of
them. The entire defense of the trust
rests upon a money argument. II the
trusts will sell to a man an article
for a dollar less than the article will
cost under other conditions. then. in
the opinion OF some, that proves a
trust to be a good thing. In the first
place. | deny that under a muncpoly
the price will be reduced, the obicc-
ons to a monopoly from other stand
points far outweigh the financial ad-
vantage that the trust would bring.
IN the early days OF Linc0ln's adj
mlnistration he sent a message To con-
sreSs, and IN that message he warned
MS countrymen against the approach
OF monarchy. He said it was the at
Tempt to put capital upon an qua
looung With, If not above, laDor in the
structure OF government, and in hat
attempt he saw the approach &C mon
archy. Lincoln was right. Whenever
you put capital upon an equal footing
with labor. or above labor. I, the
structure OF government, You are on
Tue ROAD 10 ala a government that
iests not upon reason, but upon force.
Nothing is more important than
mat we shall, in the beginning, right
~ understand the relation between
money and man.
When a branch of industry is en-
'lrely IN the hands of one great mo-
nopoly. so that every skilled man in
that industry has to go to the ore man
TOT employment, then that one man
VIII TX wages as he pleases, and the
laDorlng men will then share tie suf-
1ering Of the man who sells W., raw
material.
When the monopoly has absolute
control brains will be at a discount
and relatives, will be necessary to fiji
these positions.
The first advantage of a mrnopolv
IS TO lower the price of the rav ma
terlal furnished by the people to that
combination.
Inc next thing is. after o have
bought up all the factories, 10 close a
part or them and turn out of CinplOy-
ment the men who are in
them, and. If you will go about over
the country. you will see where these
enterprises, having come under the
control OF the trusts, have been closed
up and stand now as silent monuments
to the wisdom of the trust system. In
case Of local strikes and fires, the work
goes on elsewhere, thus preventing
serious loss. What does II mean?
1t means that il the people employed
IN one factory are not satisfied with
the terms fixed by the employer and
strike, they can close down mai fac
tory and let the employees starve,
while they go on in other factories
without loss to the manufacturers.
There Is no question abou. 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 lie has
to do is to write to the one man who
has them for sale. and say. What will
you let me have it for today He
cannot only fix the price of What he
sells. but he can fix the terms uDon
which he sells. You have to trust to
that mans generosity and his decision
upon what is fair.
What is the first thing 10 be ex-
pected of a trust? That it will cut
down expenses. What is the second?
That 1t will raise prices. We have no
had in this country yet a taste OF a
and we cannot tell what will DC the re
complete trust. q complete 1ncnopoly
suits OF a complete monopoly By look
ing at the results we have followed
from an attempt to u :. monop-
oily, a in the attempt to secure
a monopoly the monopoly las been
lowering prices in order to rib itself
OF competitors; but when it has rid
itself Of competitors. what is going to
be the result? My friends, all you have
to know is human nature. God made
men selfish.
"Selhshness Is merely the outgrowtn
of an instinct of self-preseryation. 1t
is the abnormal development, of a
mans desire to protect himself.
w must recogiZe s%elfshness and
we must SO make our laws that people
shall not be permitted to t~resspass
upon the rights of others in their eff
forts to secure advantages for them
selves. l believe that society is inter-
ested in the Independence of every citi-
zen.
Society is interested in this because,
if a man dies and leaves no provision
for his wife and children, the burden
tails upon society.
Il believe that the principle of mo-
nopoly finds its inspiration in the de-
sire OF men to sccur by monopoly
what they cannot secure in tho open
field OF competition. II
Another thing that. to my judg-
ment has aided monopoly, is a high
tariff. Nobody can dispute that a tar
in law, an import duty, enables a trust
to charge for it's product the price of
a similar foreign product, plus the
tariff.
Now, some have suggested that to
put everything on the free list 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