The gold leaf., 1899-07-13
THE OCTOPUS TRUSTS.
BOTH POLITICAL PARTIES Will
DECLARE AGAINST THEFT.

Gigantic Combinations of Corporate
Capital Community Call d Trusts,
but Platform rIanks Alone Will Mt
Remedy tn Hiighting Evil.
(BditI ore SUM
Tine Chicago Trjb"ne quotes Sena-
tor Drpew a. saving that ..lIn,loubt-
e'liv the Republican partv will adopt
Il plank condemuing trusts" when the
time comes to frame tir. ncNi ma
tIonal Platform. and n adding: IL
think the Democratic party " ill adopt
II similar plank. The Tribuue rx-
presses the opinion that this is alto
gcthrr likely. anh that if the Demo-
cratic party hnld, its national con-
vrntipn last. ~ is most probable its
plank will be the more emphatic Of
ihc two. ,'Ehr Democrats" saws
he 1ribnvc, will make all the
pledges the Republicans do and a
few more be-iIcS" A more impor-
tant question is what will the
promised '.plank,' amount to. and
what effect. if any, will they have in
arre>liny the enormous growth and
Development of those gigantic COM
binati"nS of corporate capital which it
has become the fashion now to call
..tru>t-2
The New York Journai publishes
list of two hundred and eighty of
such trusts which have been recently
organized in this country. with an
aggregate capital OF >ir billions eiJhiy
mine 1njfiiOn& Scren hunireH mt torty-
hro Mrlsn7.d nnd Mro huu1lred doltura
(S6. .OS9. 7l2. 200 These SO-callel
.lruSt-' are, "a we have said. for the
most part. simply gigantic corpc ra-
tiOn> formed bv the consolidation of
smaller corporations engaged in the
same line of manufacture or business.
They are distinguished from trust
companies, properly so called, by
being designated as commercial or
| industrial trusts. They embrace
almost every field of human inter
| prise and industry, and cover almost
every article of production, extending
/ from milk and infants food to burial
caskets. Trusts they are certainly
are not in the sense in which that
term has been used for centuries,
and applied to those relations which
have been fostered, safeguarded and
protected by generations of great
chanocllors, and by courts of equity
| in England and in this country.
The development of this new de-
scripticn Of trusts has been so sudden
and 50 rapid as hardly to afford op-
pOrtunitv for estimating their full
"a
thoroughly established in operation.
The prediction hazarded by Senator
Depew and indorsed by the Chicago
Tribune that in the year 1900 both of
the great political parties will be
found bidding against each other for
popular favor, by the strength and
vehemence of their declaration hostile
to trusts, embodied in their national
platforms, assumes OF course, not
only a growing sentiment in op-
position to these aggregations of
corporate wealth and power. but such
an experience of the evils likely TO
result from their existence as to make
it incumbent upon both political
parties to promise the people relief
from a burden which by that time
may come to he intolerabe.
1t is true that the promoters and
organizers of these vast enterprises
promise as one result in their favor
1.-The greatest good to the greatest
number" in the form Of better
service and lower prices to the con-
Sumer, consequent upon the check
ing of excessive and thereby in
furious competition, and the great
reduction of expenses effected by the
substitution of a smaller number Of
large for Il multitude of smaller and
weaker establishments, thereby
chcapening the cost of production
On the other hand there is the in
} evitable result to be foreseen of s
hard and rigorous application of the
} rule of the ..survival of the iittest'
in the extinction of host of small
J industries. the breaking up of In
dustrial Establishments and OF homes
} For redress of such evils much more
will be needed than ''planks" il
party platforms, even though framed
in the most glittering and unctuou!
. phraseology of such master o
phrases as Chauncey Nj. Depew. The
Chicago Iribunc. from which we have
> quoted. recognizes this fact ana
insists that while the Democrats ma,
: have the opportunity of making thu
! biggest and loudest promises, th'
\ Republicans have the advantage, i
= they will but utilize it, of being il
control of Congress, and of having
full half year before the next election
is held in which to legislate agains
trusts, and thereby win the conf
dence of voters by 'deeds whiol
speak louder than words" 1t Is
ease. it argues, in which the mel
who make laws count for more thar
: the men who make platforms. and re
minding Senator Depew that he i
now himself one OF the lawmakers, i
asks him 'what efforts is he going t
put forth to secure antitrust legisla
tion at the next session of COdgre>s?
There is another aspect of til
question to which neither Senate
Depew nor the Chicago Tribune az
pear to have given sufficient cor
Sideration. While the concurrenc
OF both the great parties in cor
!, demning trusts might have mos
| gratifying effect. and would be eS
i pecially valuable because of it
i tendency to prevent this particula
| question from becoming an issue
! national politics, it must not be TO
- gotten that the jurisdiction of Coz
!. gress and of the Federal Governmer
3 over the subject of trusts Is nece