Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-09-25
TRUSTS AND TARIFF.
The Repeal of Special Favors the First
Step 10 be Taken.

The Repeal of Special Favors the First
Step be Taken.
The recent Chicago conference upon
! TRUSTS had one result of great value 1t
brought out clearly and unmist akably that
| the first step to be taken in the matter
must be the abolition of every protective
| duty that favors d trust.
! All shades of opinion were represented,
! from actual commentator to vlolenl de-
nunciation. and every position had fair
I hearing. 1t only needed such a discussion
| to reveal at the same time how superficial
were all the arguments advanced in sup
! port of trusts and yet how impracticabie
/ was almost every remedy proposed for the
| evil. But throughout the discussion and
even because of it, one proposition and one
! remedy stood out with greater and greater
! clearness each time they were advanced
! the proposition becoming almost an axiom,
| whose mere statement at once demanded
| the only logical step a remedy:
| Protection favors trusts;
| Then remove the favors.
Other propositions were of doubtful con-
| stitutionality; there was no such question
| as to this one. Some were unjust; this
was justice itself Some proposed consti-
| tutional amendments, involving doubt and
| delay for many years; this could be settled
| in one Congress. Legislation compelling
| publicity would be admirable in its way;
| but publicity would serve rather as a
means of discovering ultimate remedies
+, than as an effective remedy most needed
! now.
| A POPULAR DEMAND.
| The demand for a removal of the protect
! i've taxes wherever they grant privileges
! to trusts is not only logical and just, but
| it has arisen spontaneously among MEM
! bers of all political parties and in all sec
| tons of the country. The American people
abhor privileges. They will not knowingly
| consent to it, and when they have sup
| ported legislation which granted special
! privileges it has only been through misun-
| derstanding. The prominence of the great
! combinations called trusts" has already
| removed much of the msunderst landing
| which protective taxes have hitherto been
| supported, and the people are eager to-day
! to listen to the evidence and ready to give
! the case a fair hearing.
| The press can render no greater service
than by spreading the facts; and, believing
that the statement of them will strengthen
the popular conviction that the tariff is
the mother of trusts, and render the pop
resistible, hope to see in your columns
| frequent articles from eminent men well
| posted upon the subject, explaining in de-
| tail the nature of the connection between
the protective taxes and the trusts which
| they support (such as those in tin plate,
| window glass lead, steel rails, paper, etc)
| and showing the extent to which they en-
able the trusts to extort from our people.
am assured already of the assistance of
many men whose information and opinions
are of the highest value
BOURKE COCHRAN ANSWERED.
One of the most eloquent men in the
| country, the Hon. Bourke Cochran in
| quired at the recent trust conference
| whether a monopoly that Expresses ex-
| lists, and where it is. Who is hurt and
where? Where has the octopus got pos
| session of somebody? On whom is it act
| ing? Where is its lair?"
The answer is easy and is based on evil
| dence familiar to all. American producers
for years have proved their ability, if freed
| from tariff restrictions, TO compete with
! foreigners Wherever then, a trust is pro-
! ducing a protected article, and is extort-
] ing from our people more than the price
: at which it could be imported free of the
| protective tax-there is the lair of a mo-
! nopoly or octopus which has possession of
the whole American people and is acting
| upon them but is able to hurt them solely
| because of the power which it derives
from the protective tariff.
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED.
All trusts are not supported by the tar
| iff; but that is no reason why those which
| are supported should be allowed to bleed
/ the people while we are cropping for more
| complete remedies. Removing the taxes
which support those trusts will not, it is
! true, reach all the trust evils; neither will
/ it remove all the traiff evils. But that is
J no argument against extending relief where
| il is possible We do not give up courts be-
! cause they cannot do full justice to every
| one, nor discard medicine and surgery be-
cause they cannot cure every Ill.
Both our great political parties denounce
trusts, and the platforms of both will
| continue to promise remedy. If there is
| one thing, however, that this self-govern-
! ing people should have learned by exper-
/ fence, it is the danger of trusting to such
promise unless they are too definite to
be safely evaded after election. But if our
people concentrate their energies upon the
demand for the removal of the power for
extortion which the protective taxes give
to trusts immediate relief will be sure; for
the trusts will no longer be able to con-
front the people with the old complacent
inquiry. What are you going 10 do about
it," and the party that succeeds in the
election will not dare to evade such a
| definite declaration from the people of
what they mean to do.
] HENRY W. LAMB,
Pres n Eng F. T League