The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-06-26
Letter from j. Sterling Morton, Who
Does Not Think "Combines" Will
Crush Out Competition.
INVESTORS WILL SUFFER
FOR NO TRUST CAN LIVE LONG, THE
NEBRASKAN SAYS.
DR.. Lyman Abbott OF Opinion that the
Conference should EndeavOr to Sc.
cure Light, Not Heat.

CHICAGO, June 25.-Secretary Easley, of
the Civic Federation of Chicago, under
whose auspices conference will be held In
Chicago. Sept. 1916. to consider trusts and
combinations and legislation for their con-
troll. has received hundreds of letters from
prominent men all over the country accept
ing invitations to be present at the meet
ing. Among those who have signifed their
intention Of attending the conference in per-
son or who will be represented are: Gov
ernors Pingree. of Michigan; Roosevelt. of
New York; Stanley, Of Kansas; Sayers, of
Texas; Mount OF Indiana; Fancher, of North
Dakota; Thomas, of Colorado; Tanner, of
Illinois; McLaurin, Of Mississippi; Mcmillan
Of Tennessee: Pointer. OF Nebraska, and
Lee, OF South Dakota; John 3. Clark, pro-
fessor Of political economy, Columbia Uni
versity, New York; J. B. jerks, professor
Of political economy, Cornell, and expert In
trusts and combinations for the Industrial
Commission; p. E. Dove, president Of the
Comercial Travellers National League;
Francis B. Thurber, president Of the Ma
tional Exporters Association; Max Adler.
president OF the Board of Trade, New
Haven. Conn; Henry c. Adams. statistician
Of the Interstate-commerce Commission;
members Of the Interstate-commerce Com
sion; Willis Young, president of the North
western Travelling Mems Association; James
OConnell, president of the Interns tional
Association of Machinists; Attorney Gener-
ais Davies, of New York; Hicks, of Wiscon-
sin; Honnett, of Ohio; Douglass, of Minneso:
ia; Remley, Of Iowa; Davis. of Arkansas;
Billinger, Of South Carolina; Bishop. of
Utah; Taylor, of Indiana, and Goddard, of
Kansas; Commissioner of Labor Thomas p.
Rixey, of Missouri; George Preston, secre-
tary and treasurer of the International So
ciety OF Machinists; Ex-Governor Hoard, of
Wisconsin. president of the Farmers Ma
tional Congress; John B. Conner, chief of the
Bureau of Statistics, Indiana; Richard T.
Ely, professor of political economy, Univer-
sity OF Wisconsin, and John p Jones. COM
missioner OF labor and statistics, Ohio
j. STERLING MORTON'S VIEWS.
IN acknowledging the receipt Of an invita-
tion to attend, ex-Secretary of Agriculture
j. Sterling Morton, of Nebraska, saws:
Trusts which are overcapitalized are born
Of the Vaccinations of shallow and imprac-
teal men. They will fail and no one be
harmed except those whose credulity led
them to invest in their securities There is
much apprehension as to Incorporated can
ital in the United States. Oratorical yaga-
rists have endeavored to make common peo-
pie believe that interpretations are not SUBJ
5ect to economic laws of competition and
that the relation Of supply to demand is not
the sole regulator of values. The fact, how
ever, remains that money invested in man.
| ufactortes or in railroads belonging to in
corporations Is no stronger, no better and
no more exempt from the operation of COM
mercial laws than the money which is owned
by individuals
Inere need be. In my judgment, no ap-
prenension as TO the trusts crushing out all
competition. With the exception of the Oil
trust and the Sugar Trust. failure among
trusts has been universal The Whisky
Trust, the Tobacco Trust and all the other
trusts OF any importance up to date except
| those that have been formed very recently
| have been complete failures. These failures
| have come, firstly, from overcapitalization.
and, secondly. from mismanagement. In
| teiligent competition can enter the field
| against any trust on earth except one
which has natural monopoly (by this
| mean one which. like the Standard Oil Com
pany, owns the only oil producing lands in
| the country and successfully puts its
products on the market with the sympathy
| or the consumer all on its side BY this
| mean that outside OF the trusts copartner-
| ships and stock companies may be formed
| with capital, energy and ability to success
| fully take the market against any and all
| trust products except those which are the
result OF natural monopoly.
What can be accomplished by legislation
| or regulatory laws 1 cannot see, nor do
| look to such enactments for a remedy for
evils that may grow out of trusts Of
| course. ii Is fashionable, 1t is epidemic to
| denounce all large aggregations of capital
| as trusts. This mania will at last exhaust
| itself. and the country will find that those
who have been damaged by trusts were
those who bought their secur' DIES for more
| than they were worth"
LIGHT, NOT HEAT, WANTED.
| Dr. Lyman Abbott. Of New York, says:
II think what we most need on the subject
| of Industrial. commercial, labor and trans
| portation combinations is just what your
| letter indicated this meeting will endeavor
| to secure-light, not heat. What we need
| to understand and what only experience
| can teach US is the relation between COM
| petition and combination. the one the
centrifugal. the other the centripetal force
| OF society. He who believes only in COM
bination will logically be led to socialism,
| he who believes only In competition will
logically be led to nihilism. Neither of
these results can possibly furnish the solu-
tion OF the problems which now confront u.s.
We must learn how to secure the advan-
! tages OF combination without destroying the
individual; TO maintain brotherhood In prac-
tical forms without sinking. obscuring or
belittling personality"
Hundreds Of other letters have been re-
writ in ri ca