The labor world., 1899-09-30
THEY HAVE no REMEDY.

The whoe aggregation of antitrust del
eeates to the conference recently held in
Chicago, outside of the socialists, did not
present a single remedy to the evils Hhey
con,plained of. Not one of them explained
wherein the trust differed from the lnoi-
vidual capitalist in it's mode of procedure.
The trust effectually crushes it's Compel
itor by underselling him-exactly what the
individual tries to do, and sometimes suc-
ceeds in doing. How are you going 10
stop this by legislation? Would you have
the state interfere in the commercial war
fare and set a price on all products, oe-
low which it would be crime to sell!
such proposition would excite only rid
icule, and yet it is the only way IN whlch
the trusts could be prevented from ami
hilating opposition.
One of the speakers at the conference
demanded the destruction Of the trusts be-
cause they throw out Of employment some
thousand commercial travellers, for whom
they no longer had any use. And VINO are
these travelling salesmen that they are
entitled to so much more consideration
than other thousands Of printers VINO
have been displaced by the onward marcn
of mrogress in the perfection Of the type
setting machine? Scarcely single dairy
newspaper Of note in America now EN-
ploys hand composition in the preparation
of it's matter. The machine is thoroughly
docile, and much more efficient, and the
typesetter has to walk the plank. Yet we
hear no widespread demand for the de-
ssruction of the machines that nave
nlaced so many thousands of printers IN
the ranks of the unemployed. Under the
old commercial system the commercial
traveller went from town to town, and
from store to store drumming up trade
for his special employer. Perhaps half a
hundred men in the same line Of busi-
ness would make" town tho size of Du-
luth in the course Of a season Each OF
these distributed large sums of money to
railroads, hotel keepers, 1iverymens e,c.'
In the regular discharge of their outies.
Under the new system Of trust or nonop-
oly production, a postal card, at cost of
one cent, now does the work Of the sales
man just as efficiently.
= The merchant 70 whom 1t is sent can
take the product at the price quoted or
leave 1t alone. In this respect, he has the
same, latitude Of choice that the work.
tngman has-if he doesn't see fit to work
at the wage set by the employer he has
the privilege of starving. If the merchant
don't want the goods of the trust at the
price set, he can do without them-no-
body will force him to buy. 1t will con-
sole him, no doubt, to learn that this
great range of liberty, in common with
that of the >workingman, is guaranteed by
our glorious constitution. The trust is to
commerce what the machine is to indus
try, a cheapening and quickening of pro-
duction and distribution.
The whole underlying thought Of the
trust conference seemed to be to devise
ways and means to prolong the life of the
middlemen-the fellow who stands be-
tween the producer and consumer and
takes toll Of the latter. Every middleman
is an added burden on the consumer. Ev-
cry dollar Of the travelling salesman's ex-
pense account and salary was paid by the
consumer and if the trusts do away with
him and also with the wholesale mer-
chant, as they eventually will, they will
have cheapened the cost of distribution by
just so much and done an economic in
justice to nobody. The mere fact that
the present complicated system "gives
more men work. is not an argument in
its favor for if the distribution of wealth
can be carried on just as we'll without
middlemen, then they are an incum-
ibrance rather than an aid, and from an
economic standpoint a worker engaged in
useless or superfluous labor is just as