New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-07-10
TRTSTS IN ENGLAND.

Mr. H. o. Havemeyer should take steamer at
once TO England and labor in that benighted
country TO kill the octopus Of Protection when
must be devastating there If his words are
true Trusts he tells us, spring from tariffs,
his own and the Standard Oil trusts being the
exceptions which prove the rule. Therefore,
when we find trusts fourishng may be
assured that Protection prepares the way for
them England has often been pointed out as
a Free Trade country where the trust monster
could not dwell. but there must be some mis-
take about 1t, for, as our London correspondent
reported on Saturday, gigantic aggregatl0ns OF
capital are quite as much in fashion there as
here Mr. HOoley. who made trusts and com
binations with the facility with which other
men make hats and shoes. has not yet been
forgotten If he had been operating in this
country with his rubber tire and other com
binatiOns he would have made Mr.. Bryan ana
Governor Plngree froth at the mouth with in
dignation over the gigantic extensions or the
money power. We should have been deluged
with frantic demands for the removal OF the
tariff on tires and beef extract. and Heaven
knows what ALL so as 10 give the worthy poor
a chance to establish competing factories or
their own But when he goes over to England
and engineers great aggregations or capital,
our philosophers Of Free Trade and Populism
strangely neglect TO apply the lesson OF the fact
TO their arguments
The new consolidation of the linsced oil in
terests into a company with some $11,OO,Uo
capital causes no surprise in London. Similar
combinations are well known there and excite
no antagonism if they are honestly formed and
represent actual value. The thing Britons most
object to is being imposed upon by watered
stock. sensitiveness which Americans might
profitably learn from them. Blind pools and
companies with an indefinite capital represent
ing an uncertain asset are endured here with
wonderful compacency considering our right
eous hatred Of the great corporations them
selves In England they appear to have learned
that combinations are n natural step In indus
trial evolution. They may be good or evil in
their effects but they are inevitable, regardless
Of Protection or Free Trade, in spite Of the
efforts of lawmakers and the shouts of dema-
eopues If they cannot be formed in one way
they will be in another, so long as and within
the limits that business on an immense scale
can be carried on more economically than bust
moss on n small scale That such great con-
Germs cause inconvenience to many people IL
doubtless trne So does the Introduction Of n
new machine supersedng hand work In any
trade The period Of adjustment Is one or
hardship always. hut we cannot stop the invcn-
ton Of machines, neither can we stop the CO.
hpsiop of manufacturers OF similar lines Of
goods when that cohesion Is mutually advan-
tageous 4 tariff does not in the least AFFECT
the possibilities of economy by combination or
the benefits to he derived from the harmonious
operation under n single Intelligence of plants
which ofhnrv,se might be wasting efforts in
sheer ignorance
Il would be interesting to have Mr. Have
meyer tell us how Mr.. Bartlett would have been
assisted by Protection in buying up twenty
eight mills and twelve oil refneries, and how
the lack Of Il Is going to prevent the success
Of his venture.