Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1899-06-15
A cursory View of the Dominating
Trusts.

Mr.. EDITOR: / wish 10 present few
thoughts that were recently set in mo-
ton upon reading the editorial COM
ments of certain state papers upon the
subject of trusts. In 1871, when the
| Standard Oil trust was formed, had
Iany student of social problems dared
to predict that in a few years almost
every great business enterprise in the
country would abandon all compete
ton and in defiance of law control the
Ioutput and prices and place the mil
lions of our laborers and consumers
completely at their mercy, he would
have been called a visionary crank.
But such is the case.
This vile excrescence of American
60 nmercialism is not the natural re-
suit of trade, as some assert. but is the
loutgrowth of centralized wealth and
class legislation, and is no more a rem
edv for excessive competition than a
cancer is a remedy for impure blood.
Cooperation is the natural remedy and
can always be made effective without
/ destroying the neutrality of trade. The
| thrust places fictitious values upon cap
ital and then throws artificial stock on
the market for gamblers TO manipulate
and compel the people to pay eXorbi-
tant prices for commodities controlled
by the trust, so that dividends may be
realized. and this demoralzes all bust
ness activity. BY its improved meth
DDS of saving labor and limiting out
puts to secure high prices, il has driy-
eli thousands Of producers from their
industries and robbed them Of their
God-given inheritance-the right to-
work for their daily bread.
II is also well to remember that the
autocratic combination OF Onebuyer and
one seller is not calculated 10 improve
the quality Of a commodity but com
pels us to pay high prices for inferior
goods This combination Of corporate
powers has worked disaster % com
mercial neutrality by tearing down
small business concerns and building
up large ones on their ruins. and this |
commits treason by giving aid and |
comfort to the worst enemy that con- |
fronts the free Institutions that our lib |
erty has reared, and the greatest foe
to the industrial prosperity OF the
masses, viz, the Capitalization of
wealth.
TO gain the greatest national pros
perity, wealth and commercialism |
should be neutralized and uniyersalized 1
to degree that will secure the great
est good to the greatest number. The
trust makes immense private fortunes
the impoverishment OF labor
and il only requires surface thought
TO see that many small fortunes will
benefit the masses vastly more than a
few large ones. 1t is not for the bene-
tit OF society to have one hundred poor
persons to one rich one and thus in
crease the iniquitous inequality Of the
II is thought by some that i'll
he trust is let alone it will hatch out {
parasite that will be self-destructive.
Don't believe It American rapacity is
90 level-headed to commit suicide. as
i seen by the Standard oil trust be- |
coming more and more invincible each
year until today il is masquerading in
lefiance OF all law and restraint and re-
yards itself as impregnable. No! the /
trusts must come under the ban of fed :
raj law before they can be wiped out. I
IND let me say 10 the intelligent jour |.
lalism OF the state that are drawing the !
,arty lines to screen this monster, that +
his is the peoples issue; that our free
that are seeking the inter- {
sts OF the masses cannot prosper side !
" side with the trust, that is seeking !
he selfish interests OF class. a
That public policy unquestionably u
enies the right of existence 10 this des- a
,otic power. The common people are :
low to comprehend the magnitude OF i
his evil, but they are fast coming to a /
where they can feel and act {
hey are beginning to see that the .
american eagle, in his lofty flight, has (,
higher significance than TO stamp his .
mage upon the almighty dollar They q
ealize that justice feels the scale tip 4
s beam only when virtue is counted G
nd not when gold is weighed. They :
re beginning 10 see that monied mo- h
opolies are giving banquet dinners b
uence and office TO rob them of their y
ldgment and thus gain their support. Z
md that proud figure of the statue of !,
berry that looks ont so boldly from 4
edloe's Island and holds forth the CT
aiming torch that enlightened the
'orld is something dearer and holier G.
nan the liberty to foster institutions y,
lat produce national injury and ma q
onal shame. v
The trusts must goi And when the ii
,deral courts become imbued with hi
nat sentiment of true patriotism so =.
luch needed in times of peace, they y
Ill rule that public policy favors q,
ompetitions and trusts, like the Lou 81
lana State Lottery, VIII become &C
ling Of the past. Sc
LYMAN f. FARRAR. Randolph. pi
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